winter electric projects

[Cutwater28GG]

Hi all Merry Christmas!

Im toying a couple of electric projects over the winter on the C28.

I havent dug too deeply into the back of the helm yet and seen if there are spare slots for additional gear. I assume there is a bus bar back there that I can tap into?

have you guys added extra gear to the helm? if so where are you tapping into to pull power from?

DAISY AIS, raspberry pi, and wifi booster are on the list along with a balmar smartguage (but that has its own direct power situation)

anybody got some experiences in this install area they'd care to share?

Gavin

 

[knotflying]

I have an R-27 so your configuration may be different. Behind the helm is an access door, I got power for my AIS off of the fuse buss in there. I mounted the AIS unit below that compartment since all your required connections to the VHF and Garmin backbone are there as well. The woofer may be a different story. They are known to draw lots of power. You need to check the amp requirements and determine if the wiring feeding the buss or any other connecting point is capable of handling the overall load.

 

[Cutwater28GG]

thanks!

 

[plewis]

Your post inspired me to investigate the uses for Raspberry PI and Daisy... very interesting stuff! If I'm correct your planning use the RPI with the Daisy to build an AIS on the cheap, using openCPN and a GPS puck - wow, that sure beats spending a few k on a garmin! Too late for me, since I've already got the Garmin. But when I have the time I'll try the Daisy thing speaking NEMA to my Garmin. Hey, with a little code on the RPI and some research you may be able save some more bucks by eliminating that Balmar Smartgauge from your list!

 

[Cutwater28GG]

DAISY is pretty interesting! in fact you can use an old usb tv decoder with some code to create an AIS reciever!

yep thats basically the setup using the Raspberry PI 3.

if i can reverse engineer the the detection algorithm for the balmar it would be very straight forward to code it. Im not sure I want to step on their toes though, nor in fact rely on having the Pi on to see the battery SOC. I want a standalone system for that.

 

[Cutwater28GG]

Anybody know the spec for the onboard 12 v TV in terms of current draw? wondering whether I should go standalone 10 inch LED display. you can power these off USB now as well.

 

[stwendl]

One of the problems with electronics in the marine environment is humidity. Unless you properly protect it the electronics will eventually be harmed. Learned with my icom ham receiver on a sail boat in San Francisco. Even so it was below deck In protected cabinetry events mold would grow in it in a short time.

Marine electronics is usually filled with nitrogen and sealed airtight as far as I know. For that reason I would not even rely on an iPad for navigation. For one thing they are portable and one of my crew donated an iPad to the Neptun society involuntarily already 🙂