T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Helm Instrumentation Project

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Helm Instrumentation Project

As for the wifi instruments, what is really needed is a super-low-power wifi base station that can also run a basic web server and some custom scripts to consolidate the data and present it to clients. The various battery-powered mifi routers are good candidates except for the lack of running custom code. Most of the wifi enabled boat-toys I have (mainly a Brookhouse iMux) are wire-replacement configurations. That is, the wifi is strictly a single-device, "wire-replacement" ad-hoc network designed to remove the need to run a wire. I want my iMux to send instrument data to my pc, my phone and a bulkhead mounted android tablet, not to mention to my race-crews' arm-mounted phones. This needs a web server, a data-processing script and a wifi network that is in Infrastructure mode, not Ad Hoc mode -- a lot to ask for less than 40mA. The problem is the wifi chips that most manufacturers use are ad-hoc-only for memory and processor efficiency reasons. But some of these mifi routers are very efficient and with custom code could serve very nicely. That DX.comsite has several routers that will fit the bill for under $50, provided they are hackable in order to run the extra code... Add that to my project list ;-)

/Jason

On Apr 7, 2013, at 11:47, Kevin Pemberton <pembertonkevin@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Mike,

I grew up using LED. I still do, for all my lighting needs. I have a lot of research to do to get an e-book reader to do the job but am thinking it would be best. I have seen some posts from people planning Arduino projects on this list. Boards for WiFi can be purchased for the board and many analogue ports are available. What I am hoping for by posting such a post is to get these people thinking about such a project and see who comes up with a usable product we might all incorporate in our projects. Imagine a touch screen to move between screens for much of the info we need to monitor. Water resistant device that for marine use beats most other displays we use.

A page could be produced on the Arduino and called for and displayed on the tablet device as web pages. Web pages are easy to make, your blog is proof of that. Wordpress could be used to produce such pages. or standard html editor would save required computing power. Hardware to use the Arduino as a server is easy to find. Really all that is needed can be found as black boxes. Because the system is Open Source collaboration would likely be easy to find.

As a summation of our three posts.

Your idea is great.
If others like your lead, I thought I would introduce my thoughts for a power stingy option.
Sharing what I am thinking with all on the list so it may prompt getting a project started.

It might be noted that the arduino has hardware on board for PWM projects. This means that logic for a motor control is onboard should someone have experience enough for high power end of a controller. The arduino can be purchased online or at most Radio Shack stores for under $50.00 and can be programmed easily with the downloadable IDE. Many projects can be used free of charge that will get someone a good start.

Kevin Pemberton

Kevin Pemberton

On 04/07/2013 09:13 AM, Mike wrote:

Kevin:

Yeah I found out the hard way that LCD displays do not like the sun which is why I had to remount my XBM battery monitor under the starboard hatch. The LED displays of my Instrumentation panel should hold up better at the helm position and so far so good. As far as power consumption I have a switch that will turn the voltage displays on and off since I don't need to watch them that closely much of the time. The current display gets it's power from the helm power and so is only energised when I'm using things like my chart plotter or AIS display. I agree a Kindle type of display would be nice and WIFI connection would also be nice but, was a little to complicated for my needs.

Capt. Mike
http://biankablog.blogspot.com

________________________________
From: Kevin Pemberton <pembertonkevin@gmail.com>
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, April 7, 2013 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Helm Instrumentation Project

Nice Mike,

I also have been looking into a way to get feedback from my bank.
I admit my needs are different than a boater needs, but I like
your system. I am thinking of a dedicated E-book reader that
receives the information via WiFi from an arduino board set to
monitor my system locations of interest. The right reader will
give me a sun safe and easy to read display. My past experience
with LED displays is they are a little power hungry. The Problem
with LCD displays are sun will black them out and destroy them
with time. The idea of electric paper type display may well
overcome these problems. I just need to find the right tablet that
I can do some Java programming on (modify it's intended design),
and build an apt. I suppose I could use a smart phone and keep up
with the data remotely but that is more involved than I have
desire for.

Kevin Pemberton

On 04/07/2013 06:42 AM, cire wrote:

>Thanks Mike,
>
>Quite interesting.
>
>If you do your post as Rich-Text the addresses come out as
links, eliminating the need to copy and paste.
>
>eric SV Menader
>
>--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, Mike <biankablog@...> wrote:
>>
>> Recently I built a helm instrumentation panel so I
could keep an eye on battery voltages and current draw on
the propulsion bank without leaving the helm while
underway. It worked out pretty good though I still have to
mount it permanently. The links to the process I went
through are here:
>>
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/02/instrumentation-project-part-one-plan-a.html
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/02/instrumentation-project-part-two.html
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/02/instrumentation-project-part-three-plan.html
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/02/instrumentation-project-part-four.html
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/03/instrumentation-project-part-five-panel.html
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/03/instrumentation-project-part-six-choose.html
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/03/instrumentation-project-part-seven.html
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/03/instrumentation-project-part-eight.html
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/03/instrumentation-project-part-9.html
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com/2013/03/instrumentation-part-10-current-meter.html
>>
>> Capt. Mike
>> http://biankablog.blogspot.com
>>
>
>

--
Committing murder in exchange for lifestyle
makes you a "thug" not a "Rights Activist"
--   Committing murder in exchange for lifestyle  makes you a "thug" not a "Rights Activist"