Red hot studs and melted wires, could have been worse
The sad looking picture above is the back of Have Another Day’s 240v AC panel. Though it doesn’t look good here, it was scarier looking when I first opened the panel the dull grey stud...
Category: Electrical & Engines
An ode to buck-boost DC power converters
In a comment on my recent Ubiquiti EdgeRouter configuration article, frequent Panbo reader Hartley noted the unfortunate 24v DC power requirement. The ER-X model of the EdgeRouter is actually capable of running on 12v, but that version can’t...
Gadget’s new battery, the Chrome Pro Series iGel
This was such a pleasant surprise. Perhaps you recall how I built a solar-charged bilge pump system into my tender Gadget in early 2016. It’s worked very well but also taken abuse, and the 3AH battery died last December. There were a great many choices on Amazon, but if you want the amazing technology seen above, get…
BoatUS Warns Against President’s Proposal to Sell E15 Year-Round
ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 17, 2018 – A proposal by President Trump to allow the sale of E15 (15 percent ethanol) gasoline year-round has set off alarm bells at the nation’s largest boating advocacy group, BoatOwners Association of The United States (BoatUS)…
New at ICAST: Evinrude iDock and Raymarine Axiom Pro
I won’t be at the ICAST fishing show this week, but I do know something about two of the major pre-show product announcements that came out today. For instance, while the introduction of yet another outboard engine joystick control system might seem insignificant, what if the technology is deeply integrated into the outboards, requires little rigging work or locker space, and costs a whole lot less? Say hello to iDock as it joins Evinrude’s Intelligent Piloting System…
News+: Victron Venus, CruzPro SOG2, DY WindSense, Vaavud Ultrasonic, & Panbo “News+”
Victron’s new Venus GX is a dauntingly complicated looking blue box, but it could beautifully simplify and improve the monitoring and control of a boat’s electrical power system. Essentially, Venus is a Color Control GX without the screen, which makes it less expensive, and it also has extra goodies like 3 tank level and 2 temperature inputs, built-in WiFi, and yet more I/O that hasn’t been enabled yet. The Color Control has evolved (and been used) a lot since I wrote about it in 2014, and Venus can do more…
Sabre 66: excellence in digital switching and control
Frankly, there’s no plan behind the Panbo trend of more detailed entries posted less often, but sometimes it does seem like a feature rather than a bug. For instance, Sabre gave me a long and impressive systems tour of their first Dirigo 66 while she beautifully occupied this slip at Yachts Miami Beach 2016, and while I didn’t intend to delay the write-up this long, last week I got aboard just-launched hull #3 the day before heading from Maine to Florida at about 25 knots. So I have additional detail on how well the original system design has worked out – also impressive…
MV Dirona: deep cruising, deeply shared
If there were a lifetime award for cruising excellence, I think that Jennifer and James Hamilton would deserve at least a nomination. I mean excellence at the core practical cruising skills — seamanship and boat care — plus inspirational levels of curiosity about the vast world cruising makes accessible, and perhaps at the top of my imagined award criteria: distinction at sharing all of the above with the rest of us. Visiting M/V Dirona in Belfast, Maine, last October was a treat, but you too can ride along as this Nordhavn heads to Ireland and beyond…
MIBS 2017: Furuno standalone 1815 radar, DFF-3D multimodal sonar & more
While Furuno USA had a lot to show off at the Miami Boat Show, let’s start with the new 815 standalone radar. Recent Panbo entries about Raymarine’s sleek new Axiom Series multifunction displays and Navico’s ambitious systems integration strategy drew some keep-it-simple skeptics. But it is still possible to find single function marine electronics if that’s your preference, and the 1815 may be an excellent small radar choice packing a whole lot of performance for the price…
Navico Hawks 2017: “Full boat integration into one display cluster”
The Miami Boat Show was loaded with marine electronics news, but first let’s visit the Navico writers event held at Hawks Cay, Florida, earlier this month. Deeper still – Mercury engine integration, B&G Zeus PredictWind weather routing, the Halo radar VelocityTrack Doppler upgrade, Navionics SonarChart Live everywhere, Simrad’s new 3kW 3-channel S5100 super sonar, and Lowrance Carbon (Gen3) MFDs are some of the goodies that were demonstrated and/or discussed. But I was especially taken with CEO Leif Ottosson’s opening “big picture” presentation and think it’s valuable to anyone interested in the future of boating…
