Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: Editors’ Blog

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LiFePO4 / Editors' Blog / Electrical & Engines

Charging LiFePO4, what’s the impact of lower voltages?

What voltage should I charge my LiFePO4 batteries? That seems like a simple question likely to have a single, direct answer. But, the actual answers are often unclear. Many LiFePO4 battery manufacturers recommend 14.6 volt absorption. But, that singular recommendation doesn’t account for numerous factors like managing a larger system, battery longevity, and more. Increasingly, we are seeing good reasons to lower charge voltages to 14 volts or below. But, what impact does that lower charge voltage have on capacity and charge time? Let’s take a look.

8

Getting Technical / Editors' Blog / Network & control / The future / The Trade

Getting Technical: Standard upgrade

NMEA OneNet is the National Marine Electronics Association’s most recent standard, one of only three major electronics standards the organization has released in the past 40-plus years. First came NMEA 0183 in 1983, then NMEA 2000 in 2001, and now OneNet. The previous standards stood the test of time. In fact, despite being 41 years old, NMEA 0183 continues to be built into many electronics and remains the preferred standard for many light commercial vessels.

42

LiFePO4 / Editors' Blog / Electrical & Engines

Update: Epoch’s 460ah battery, what we’ve learned

In January of this year, I published my review of the Epoch 460 amp-hour, 12 volt battery. My review was quite positive and reflected how the battery performed in my testing. But, once the battery was in the wild, reports began trickling in of troubles with some installations of the 460s. That lead to weeks of investigating the issues. At this point, I believe I have a solid command of what’s happening with these batteries and some of their limitations. While this better understanding of the batteries does serve to take a little shine off them, I still believe these are very solid batteries and capable of delivering excellent service. But, for best service, some tuning is required.

NOAA's visual database of ENC "rescheming" progress shows that many large scale (small area) charts in New England are already available ~ Ben E 10

Editors' Blog / Charts / The future

David Burch wants to educate us about Electronic Navigation Charts (ENC)

I’m hard put to name anyone more knowledgeable and passionate about marine navigation than David Burch, long-time director of the Starpath School of Navigation in Seattle. These days, David is especially concerned about the Electronic Navigation Charts rapidly replacing the official paper and RNC charts in the USA and elsewhere. So he recently followed up his comprehensive Introduction to Electronic Chart Navigation with a booklet titled ENC Essentials, whose preface and first chapter are excerpted below…

2

Editors' Blog / Cabin & deck gear / How-to

Panbo(at) gets more stable: Seakeeper 1 install in progress

It’s been over six years since I got involved with Ben Ellison and Panbo. When I first started working with Ben E. timelines were one of my biggest struggles. I figured, the longer I do this, the better I’ll get at pacing things out, knowing how long a review and article will take, and scheduling things. Well, six-plus years later, I’m no better. In fact, my current project, the installation and on-boat testing of a Seakeeper 1, might be the longest in the making of any I’ve done.

57

LiFePO4 / Editors' Blog / Electrical & Engines

Epoch’s new 460 amp-hour, external communicating battery arrives and testing begins

In a short time, Epoch has made a name for itself producing high-quality batteries at a remarkable value. I first tested their 100 amp-hour batteries and thought they were the best blend of value, features, and quality I have encountered. In fact, there were only two areas I thought Epoch could improve upon. First, higher density, and second, external communications. Epoch seems to have addressed both those issues and more.

3

Editors' Blog / Electrical & Engines / The future

METS 2023: EPT Technologies solid-state battery destruction demo

You can bet that when a company puts out word that they’re going to destroy a new battery technology on the show floor, both Panbo Bens will be there. Ben Ellison even had the honor of playing Vanna White for the demonstration. EPT Technologies, with permission from show management, pierced a solid-state battery cell with a screwdriver. Not once, but twice. Want to know what happened? Read on, but, spoiler alert, both Bens are fine.

18

Editors' Blog / Navigation / Green Boating

Gizmo’s new (though previously owned) compass, thanks to Max Marine Electronics

Perhaps you too remember seeing decent-looking marine electronics peeking out of boatyard dumpsters? While I fear that such waste is probably still happening, thankfully websites like eBay and Craigslist have made it much easier for buyers and sellers of niche gear to find each other. But did you know that a company in South Florida has brought high levels of expertise and professionalism to the used boat electronics market? In fact, the main goal of this entry is a hearty endorsement of Max Marine Electronics…