Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: Electrical & Engines

MFD engine alarming improves, but still needs more Maretron-ization 11

Electrical & Engines / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

MFD engine alarming improves, but still needs more Maretron-ization

Garmin_741_engine_alarm.jpgOn Oct. 4th I’ll present a seminar titled “Electronic Engine Monitoring Comes of Age” at TrawlerFest Bay Bridge in Stevensville, Maryland. This Garmin 741 photo will be useful as it shows three new and different ways Gizmo’s old diesel engine can now indicate a low oil pressure problem. Thanks to the Actisense EMU-1 I installed in 2013, the simple low pressure alarm switch on the Volvo Penta can trigger an informative pop-up (and audio alarm) on all the networked Garmin screens regardless of what function(s) they’re showing. And if the engine gauge page is up, the familiar low oil pressure icon lights up and, better yet, the customizable digital psi dial can go red based not on the alarm switch, but rather on a minimum pressure I’ve set. That’s all good, but modern marine electronics can do even better…

Joe’s 1969 Allied 42 yawl, fully problem solved & awaiting owner #3 11

What's on board... / Electrical & Engines

Joe’s 1969 Allied 42 yawl, fully problem solved & awaiting owner #3

Allied_42_Furly_B_cPanbo.jpgFull disclosure: a major motivation for this entry is to help sell my old friend Joe McCarty’s boat by describing how well he rebuilt it, particularly in terms of reliable systems. The Furly B is being brokered by Robinhood Marine, where Joe was general manager for 20 years, and I had a good look at her just before the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Show opened last Friday. The visit confirmed what I pretty much already knew; Joe bought an excellent old boat and he made her better than new. Actually, the background story for a new owner is far better than that…

Volvo Ocean 65, powered by Mastervolt Li Ion 13

Electrical & Engines

Volvo Ocean 65, powered by Mastervolt Li Ion

VOR_65_power_overview_courtesy_VOR_Roman_aPanbo.jpgI’m happy as an oyster slow cruising Chesapeake Bay with my favorite first mate, but if I had a teleporter I surely would have jumped on an invitation to check out a Volvo Ocean 65’s systems in Newport yesterday. I doubt I would have encountered a scene as tidy as the photo above — which looks forward in the main cabin of Dongfeng with most of the engine, power, battery, and keel ram covers removed, as well as the pedestal galley — but then again all that technology has now zig-zagged almost around the planet in often demanding conditions. There’s a lot of gear on these one-design racers that has performed impressively, as best I know, but I’m particularly taken with the Mastervolt Lithium Ion battery system…

Lowrance MotorGuide Xi5 SmartSteer trolling control, life changing 2

Electrical & Engines / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Lowrance MotorGuide Xi5 SmartSteer trolling control, life changing

Lowrance_SmartSteer_MotoGuide_Xi5_in_action.jpgTwo Maine blizzards later it’s nice to recall that just a week ago I was casting a lure off a similarly tricked-out Yellowfin 24 Bay Boat. I didn’t land a pose-worthy fish like my friend Chris Woodward, but the important thing about this photo is how well that trolling motor is holding an “anchor” position. Note the nonchalant skipper, despite a brisk wind and strong current both pushing him toward the channel marker aft, not to mention rocks to starboard and us to port. The pro I was with — the impressive Tom Rowland of the Saltwater Experience TV series — seemed equally confident about the reliability of the MotorGuide Xi5 and its do-anything integration with the twin Lowrance HDS 12 Gen3 displays, and it was easy to buy his claim that the combination has significantly improved his boating life.

TorqTrac: Torqeedo electric outboards get app monitoring & more 8

Wireless & Apps / Electrical & Engines

TorqTrac: Torqeedo electric outboards get app monitoring & more

Torqeedo_TorqTrac_Module_cPanbo.jpg

I declared my love for the Torqeedo 1003 electric outboard in 2011 and the feeling only deepened after two seasons of long testing, despite a glitch or two. Well, wow, the same motor has run like a top ever since, and as of a few days ago, it has a very cool accessory. The TorqTrac Bluetooth module and apps were announced some time ago, but apparently the $149 kit is only becoming available now. The version 1.0 app does not look like what was originally announced, or even what’s shown at Torqeedo USA right now, but my first underway tests suggest that TorqTrac is going to add some nice spice and utility to my Torqeedo 1003 relationship…

USB charging on a 12v boat, fie on Apple? 37

Wireless & Apps / Electrical & Engines

USB charging on a 12v boat, fie on Apple?

USB_12v__power_hungry_on_Gizmo_cPanbo.jpg

It was easy to gather a slew of devices currently on board Gizmo that hunger for a USB power supply at least occaisionally. Heck, when the Verizon Android Galaxy phone is providing an LTE WiFi hotspot and also streaming Bluetooth audio to the Fusion IP700 stereo as it is now — I’m online while listening to a Maine radio station — it needs to be charged almost constantly. The hard-working phone is also why I keep those two USB charged/charging batteries topped up for shore trips (and, yes, they do make great press event swag, thank you Simrad and FLIR). The Phonak hearing aid accessory needs nightly charging and while the DeLorme InReach Explorer in the background can go for days doing satellite tracking and a few messages, I prefer to keep it plugged in so my Share Map stays complete. In short, I need multiple 12v USB power sources to keep this crew happy and thus this entry will cover several types I’ve tested. There are a lot of cables involved too, but it’s nice that all the gadgets pictured use a standard USB mini or micro size power/data plug, with one very significant exception…

Appreciating fuel management, wanting more 17

What's on board... / Electrical & Engines / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Appreciating fuel management, wanting more

Gizmo_running_down_LIS_cPanbo.jpg

Gizmo is fenders down, awning up, in bustling Baltimore Harbor, and I have tales to tell. This old powerboat sails! That’s no surprise given her windage, but now I have precise data about how much wind (and current) can help her along thanks to a fuel management system. In this photo, for instance, we were making around 10 knots over the ground at 1,350 RPM but still getting over three miles to a gallon thanks to a stiff easterly wind pushing us down Long Island Sound. That’s a wake-pulling, inefficient RPM when running on flat summer water in Maine, but is much easier on crew and autopilot when in following seas like these. While I’m usually willing to spend more fuel money to shoulder through conditions like this, I was pleased to learn that the dollar difference wasn’t great…

The DIY lithium battery bank; Bob Ebaugh has 330 cycles so far 37

How-to / Electrical & Engines

The DIY lithium battery bank; Bob Ebaugh has 330 cycles so far

Bob_n_Elaine_Ebaugh_cruise_courtesy_MarAzulAdventures.jpg

Bob and Elaine Ebaugh did it, leaving Florida in April, 2011, on their Defever 44 Mar Azul and spending more than two years cruising a big Carribean loop. Their blog, Mar Azul Adventures, is a good read, but you might miss the fact that during the cruise, Bob managed to research, assemble, test, and install a 1,200 amp hour do-it-yourself lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery bank to replace the 12 golf cart batteries they’d worn out. He also wrote a thorough white paper about why he chose DIY lithium and how he put the system together…

Gizmo 2014, glass bridge shakedown cruising #1 7

Network & control / Navigation / What's on board... / Electrical & Engines / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Gizmo 2014, glass bridge shakedown cruising #1

Gizmo_2014_fly_bridge_cPanbo.jpgRedoing almost all of Gizmo’s electronics has taken longer than I would have guessed last fall, when it seemed like a good idea to rip everything off the boat. And sadly I’m not done yet. But the hoped-for glass bridge theme is revealing itself and I like it a lot. But then again new equipment and even just re-installed old gear also means fresh opportunities for things not to work together correctly. In this entry I’ll go over much of Gizmo’s test setup for the next year and a half — though by design there’s room for more — and also note a couple of features that have worked well and not so well during recent shakedown cruises…

Smartgauge battery monitor, RC proclaims “paradigm shift”! 73

Electrical & Engines

Smartgauge battery monitor, RC proclaims “paradigm shift”!

Smartgauge_testing_courtesy_Compass_Marine.jpgIf you like sailing with some electronics running, or just anchoring without a generator, you’re probably very interested in the State of Charge (SoC) of your battery banks. Voltmeters, however, only hint at what’s going on, and true battery monitors require careful calibration and the installation of shunts, but still tend to go out of whack over time. Well, darned if the great RC Collins of Compass Marine didn’t go to extraordinary lengths to prove that the Smartgauge — a little known product that’s been around for almost a decade — can somehow accurately measure SoC without calibration and without a shunt, and yet still get even more accurate over time. Apparently when it shows your Charge at 92%, as above, your battery bank really is at 92% capacity…