Demonstrated at the Miami Boat Show, and scheduled to ship this Fall, Yanmar’s Smart Check looks like a gem of an engine monitoring system. You will need to have one or more Yanmar diesels with electronic interfaces and a NMEA 2000 connection to a Raymarine E-120, plus about $800 for the software (loaded into the E from a CF card), but, wow, you even get detailed alarms with trouble-shooting suggestions, and a maintenance log with reminders. And of course the gauges are complete and handsome, as you can see in this press release. But I want to focus on Smart Check’s fuel management features, which are the most sophisticated I’ve seen so far. Check the bigger image
for not only the fuel values we’ve seen in other systems but additional goodies like “Est. Fuel to Waypoint” and Avg. Econ (nm/g). What you can’t see in this image, because the chart in zoomed in too far, is the dynamic graphical representation of Est. Range, at this flow rate a circle around the boat with a 109 mile radius. Note that Yanmar’s fuel flow data comes right from the engine ECUs and hence is likely more accurate than even the most carefully calibrated flow sensor. Note too—the math is easy at 1.0 nm/g—that Smart Check’s range calculation gives the skipper some reserve in the main tank, and doesn’t include the auxiliary tank. Conservative! The system designers also took care with the issue of calculating remaining fuel on either flow or level sensors. The preference goes to flow, as I’m seeing with most experienced manufacturers, but you do get a clear choice of source data when you fuel up, seen below and bigger here
. My hope is that Yanmar will develop this cool software to run on other multifunction displays, and that other engine manufacturers will follow suit.
Consider this test a work in progress! (Bigger photo here.) Those are two FloNet N2K interface boxes that FloScan loaned me with built-in simulation of something like a big sportfishing boat blasting along on a plane. I can modify the simulated flow value somewhat using the calibration controls built into the box, which also has an “instance” switch so that the left one (instance 0) is set up as as the port engine and the right one (instance 1) represents the starboard engine. As noted on first sight, FloScan has designed this adaptor so that a special display is not needed to manage all its calibration and flow meter diagnostics; all you need is a display that understands what to do with a fuel flow message(s). Well, easier said than done, particularly when you throw twin flow values at those displays first, and read the manuals later!
FloScan has been measuring fuel flow for over 30 years, so I’d guess they have a darn good idea how to do it. It’s refreshing that their new NMEA 2000 Diesel Monitoring System focuses on what they know well and let’s the resulting data go wherever you want. The flow sensors and those “hubs” seen above, bigger here, are all you need. Yes, you can buy FloScan’s round gauge upper right, but you don’t need to. All data is sent in standard N2K messages, and the little calibration needed is done right in those boxes. The rest of this NMEA Conference booth had Simrad, Lowrance, and Raymarine displays all showing the gallons per hour, remaining fuel, etc. Note that FloScan’s site says that, “Furuno is currently developing NMEA 2000 products which will interface with our system.” But we knew that, right, and will know more when NavNet #d debuts (hey, I might live blog it, if there’s WiFi there). Note, too, how the port engine is “Instance 0” in the N2K system and the starboard engine is set as “Instance 1”. You can set that with a switch in the hub. But who the heck decided to start instances at zero instead of one. Wouldn’t it be better if, say, GPS #1 was instance 1, GPS #2 instance 2, etc.?
I've been testing this PulseTech Xtreme Marine 12v “five-stage maintenance” charger for a month or so, and am impressed. What with Annie G's two batteries—one for the electric trolling motor, another for backup and electronics—plus some old batteries I’m trying to keep alive until someone buys Ralph, I’ve had plenty of material to work with. I really like how the Xtreme first tests a battery and then tells me with simple to understand LEDs what it’s up to as it goes through its multi step process. And while it’s impossible for me to really see the claimed desulphation process in action, the batteries certainly seemed very well charged. (Plus PulseTech has some scientific studies, using x-ray, that seem to back its claims). I was even able to use it to bring back a dead flat battery which someone around here had allowed to go completely dry; I did have to start the charge with a conventional “dumb” charger but the Xtreme (which first found it “bad”) took it from there and seemed to really perk it up. Charging a really low battery does take time, though, as the Xtreme only puts out 2.5 amps in bulk mode (5 amps claimed effective); hence the “maintenance” caveat. But you can just leave the charger attached to a battery indefinitely as it will stop charging and go into float/pulse mode when a battery is topped off. There are other pulse chargers and battery conditioners out there (a good explanation of charging, pulsing, and desulphation here), but Xtreme seems like a winner.
TDI inverters & converters, modular & hot swappable
Aug 17, 2007
This week I spent some more time aboard the fabulous Electra, back at Lyman Morse after a month long trial/pleasure cruise to New York. I’ve come to realize that her owner, George Wallner, has a deep understanding of electricity that’s similar to the way some fine chefs I’ve met know the science and mechanics of their basic materials like, say, butter. Wallner is not only a talented electrical engineer but also a guy who’s run a company that manufactured mission critical electronics—credit card swiping systems—and a yachtsman who’s been seriously cruising a boat similar to Electra for ten years. Don't you want to see how he’s equipped his new ride?
Though CruzPro deserves more attention than it gets, as Panbo has noted before, I managed to let this neat new MaxVu110 multifunction display slip ever since METS. Too many electronics subjects, too little time! The Max110 is a monster, able to display up to five pages of data (from 16 stored configurations) in the three numeric fields and two bar graphs seen above. It has numerous possible inputs, knows just about every NMEA 0183 sentence written, and “contains built-in calibration curves for all popular engine temperature, oil pressure, fuel and tank level senders manufactured by VDO, Teleflex, Faria and Stuart-Warner”, including both American and European resistance ranges. And any field can be high/low alarmed. Finally, it comes with a Windows program that seems to make setting up all this instrumentation power easy. I can’t find the Max110 on CruzPro’s Web site, but it’s well presented in the online PDF catalog. I’ve got to think that this display could be useful to a geekish boater or imaginative installer, and hope we’ll get some reports about how it’s used.
IBEX, a great show I’m missing (it’s OK), announced its innovation awards today. One winner is Paneltronics’ PowerSign, which is:
“a multiplexed system for intelligent power distribution and management for any vessel using DC loads — meaning you can control and monitor all onboard electrical systems from one location, even remotely. The system comprises four main units: switches; power distribution units; graphical user interfaces; and communications cables.”
Sounds good but will it also handle AC eventually, or offer a NMEA 2000 interface, like OctoPlex? And how does it compare to DNA’s digital switching system, which just got a NMEA 2000 gateway. No answers yet at Paneltronics’ Web site.
Another interesting winner is Torqeedo’s folding electric outboard, which looks like it might be terrific for a cruising boat’s tender, though pricey I fear (made in Germany in small quantities). Meanwhile, here are the nominees for the METS DAME award this year; I look forward to seeing all the products, and who wins.
This Friday’s gizmo is the big kahuna of all the portable power packs that can typically jump start a car (or boat), run 12v gadgets, inflate a tire, and more. Xantrex’s top-of-the-line 400R also includes a 400 watt inverter, an emergency light, and an AM/FM radio with alarm! Inside is a replaceable 20 amp hour AGM battery which seems to have guts (and contributes to a total unit weight of nearly 30 pounds). In my experience, the 400R powered quite a bit of reciprocal sanding, and then smartly alarmed and eventually cut out when the battery went too low, or if I bore down too hard. That’s a digital watt meter showing in the picture (bigger here); when the inverter is turned off, it can show percentage of charge. This thing is obviously designed for emergency backup during hurricanes and the like, but I found it darn useful around my little back field boat yard, and it might have a place on some cruising boats. It’s fairly well made, certainly better than other jump start packs I’ve had. Xantrex’s page on the 400R is here, and a fellow named Jack has written a lengthy and careful review here (he’s right that it takes a long time to recharge, but I thought the radio performed OK, at least a low volume).
One of the things I enjoy about the marine industry is how an inventive boater—there are lots, particularly sailors for some reason—can still get a product to market. You’re looking at the world premier of Navlight Indicators…Larry Schaffer sitting in a rented booth at Strictly Sail Miami, ready to explain his very clever navigation light accessories. He has since put up an informative Web site, so I’ll just note that he’s created little LED’s that will show you just how your running/anchor lights are switched, plus a current sensor system that will make them blink if a light fails. You can get a dedicated panel that showcases the idea, or parts so you can upgrade an existing panel. Good job, Larry!
Navagear found a solid state bilge pump switch that can discriminate between fuel/oil and water, so presumably you will not pump the bad stuff overboard. I’m just a wee bit skeptical about how well this works in the real world. What if there is just a little oil swirling around your bilge; might the switch shut down when you didn’t really want it to? A while back I tested SensaSwitch (above), another solid state “float” switch that I liked a lot. It does not claim to “discriminate” against hydrocarbons but one reader wrote in claiming that oil films made it stick on or off, which of course is what no-moving-part switches are supposed to avoid (my test didn’t include oil!). The company tried to investigate the claim but the guy said he’d thrown the switch away, and his email went dead, so this report is very much hearsay. Does anyone out there have either SensaSwitch or Water Smart Switch installed in their boat?
Me matey Charlie Doane just returned from skippering a New England to Caribbean delivery that included its rightful share of electronics drama. One night, sailing to windward and heeled down hard, he heard the “instruments down!” call from the cockpit. His first reaction — after yelling back “cope!” — was to nose around the power supply system, a whiff of sizzling circuitry leading the way. Low and behold, down in a low locker was a 24v-12v step-down transformer immersed in a puddle of saltwater that had apparently been collecting from a slight deck/hull joint leak that was getting a prolonged dunking. Electronics breakdowns, and other problems, tend to make deliveries challenging, and it’s telling that this was a seasoned 48’ Swan, the Mercedes of production boats. She’s been in service eight years, but apparently the little leak and the low gizmo had never interacted before. Another interesting aspect to this tale is that Charlie's crew were clients of Offshore Passage Opportunities, delivering the boat to learn offshore seamanship by doing. Not only did they sail on to Bermuda without instruments, but there helped Charlie locate a functional stepper installed elsewhere on the boat and swap it out. There were more invaluable lessons, including some fuel management theater, and I'm hoping Charlie will write up the whole trip for Sail.
Isn’t it neat that a lot of boaters gleefully invent stuff to improve their vessels? A fairly extreme example is one Roger Jones who put together his own elaborate boat monitoring system, wrote the necessary software too, and then created a site where anyone can download this software for free and read Roger’s well written instructions about how to assemble the hardware from off-the-shelf parts. Roger’s screen shots indicate that Version 2, currently in “beta”, can not only mind batteries, AC power, pumps, lights, and NMEA 0183 nav data, but can also display weather buoy data (from where I don’t know) and video. Nice work, Roger! (By the way, I learned about this because Roger posted a message on our Electronics Forum at PMY).
Wouldn't it be great to watch the sun going down while listening to a mosquito powered entertainment set in your boat's cockpit...;-)?
"We know what you're thinking. A robot that totes around human sewage, digesting living beings for energy? What, you�re not inexorably excited about this? The EcoBot II (ah, what a benign, nonthreatening name) is fed flies into 12 sewage-based bacterial fuel cells, which break them down, digest them, and use the electrons released as current."
Came across an article over at SailNet on 'standard' and 'smart' alternators. Might be of interest to you if you still have your regular automotive alternator installed...
"How does the performance of a standard regulator compare to that of a three-stage regulator? Not very well if the regulator is an automotive unit with a cut-out voltage around 13.8 volts. A 13.8-volt regulator may be satisfactory on a powerboat, but it does a lousy job of charging sailboat batteries. Raising the battery charge level from 50 percent to 90 percent with a 13.8-volt charging source takes more than five hours. Few of us can stand to run the engine at anchor for that long, so unless there is an alternative charging source, the batteries get fully charged only when the boat is under power for a long period. The rest of the time the batteries remain undercharged. The inevitable result is a condition known as sulfation, which is the number one cause of battery death."
AC eventually, or offer a NMEA 2000 interface, like 
Me matey 
Isn’t it neat that a lot of boaters gleefully invent stuff to improve their vessels? A fairly extreme example is one Roger Jones who put together his own elaborate boat monitoring system, wrote the necessary software too, and then created a 
Came across an