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Star of the Orient
#1
This isn't so much a "Brag" as a confession. This isn't pretty. I post this in hope that folks will advise ways to make this cleaner and easier to work with. I have not done much electronics tinkering, and lack craftsmanship.

My boat came with a set of dead Datamarine instruments. I had all of the old transducers removed and glassed over when I last hauled the boat. In retrospect I wish I had tried to save the paddle wheel. It also has an older 5 inch Garmin chartplotter with sounder.  I  also have a USB GPS dongle for location, but the Garmin is my only source of NMEA depth; it has a transducer epoxied inside the hull. I  use the Garmin at the helm, augmented by tablets and smartphones (Wilhelm SK on iOS is a brilliant app for instrument data). I don't have one of those newer angled pedestal guardrails, so I fashioned this arm that sets the GPS back freeing up room to mount gadgets.  

[Image: d4fdlPK5GuV9jWBAQWjPLqUTA20g9ol104TxRJe9...12-h950-no][Image: F5iKGGK6oCYfJHOxPl-IE-ceZDjd1Ox0dDWTcRWb...34-h949-no]

I added a masthead NMEA wind instrument, from Nasamarine. It didn't last long before water entered it and shorted/rusted out the electronics. I ordered a new circuitboard and gasket from England, and sealed some problem areas with silicone. This time it has lasted much better. I don't like the process of aligning it - shorting a couple of wires while the vane is pointed dead ahead - and wish there was a software offset in Openplotter for wind direction. 

When I pulled out the Datamarine instruments I saved the enclosure that was used for the "brain" of the system. Since there was a big hole cut in my hull liner for it, I thought it might be good to store the Pi there. I replaced the front (top, as I have it oriented) panel with a sheet of black hdpe, so I can put buttons and LEDs and such wherever desired. At the moment I have a momentary button I use to shut down the pi, a power LED, and a power switch. It's basically a bin that I shove the hub, the pi and its proto hat, and a wad of wires into. 

[Image: 0uGKuQcwHSPJvzrAqh7KPMBgDuEoMCyVsn_yJkxp...66-h949-no]

[Image: bXkANRJm7dzq492admD6qmy2xNXKnrlOPZWtXilN...12-h949-no]

Hanging out the bottom of that is a brass terminal strip to which I've zip tied some DB9 breakout boards connected to the USB/Serial converters. The power supply and NMEA 0183 feeds from the Garmin and the masthead terminate here. Yeah, it's a mess. But it's all out of sight when I cram it back in the enclosure. 

[Image: TFySpJ5RZAbbvRqMa3wwj3JmObIMPg8mlNFy4snw...66-h949-no]

[Image: SGVJ1J7IhoJ_14ePFG2AHvED_oX2fuJcWhrFwc5U...66-h949-no]
[Image: 29EqRbbssmx33CHz1]
I have the two i2c components, the IMU and humidity sensor, mounted inside an RJ45 surface mount jack, as I have seen others do. I have this screwed to the bottom of a shelf in my nav station so that it is away from interference and heat of the pi. I also run the 1 wire stuff off of here for no good reason.

[Image: CsgDjtPDpnn6ucidiLsNe-5tnnX7qQfZ_otva20K...66-h949-no][Image: rm5xNI5jQepKlDY-JuOSEKEf7GRI1HKziMD6n3lZ...66-h949-no]

I have 4 one wire temperature probes. One is zip tied to the brass engine water intake thruhull. I call that sea temperature. I have one on the engine exhaust, and the radiator, and one in the ice box to monitor the beer temperature. 

On the proto hat I soldered my first surface mount chip... badly. Broke a leg but got the ADC to work. I measure house bank voltage using a little divider breakout. 

Just in front of the nav station I have a TV for the salon. It is on a mount that pivots 90 degrees so that it can face the seating area or serve as a monitor at the nav station. It is also visible from much of the cockpit in that position.

[Image: LONtLEZzMrRgjczEYTe-FuNCaBIsumKMGFIKVv78...66-h949-no]

Very excited to have installed the Kip app for SignalK. FINALLY a practical (and attractive) instrument display for Openplotter. I also think it looks better than anything that is available for Android. Eager to get it customized to my liking.

I have an SDR going to a rail mounted antenna. This has stopped working, can't be enabled in Openplotter, on this trip to the boat. Not sure why. My home PC sees it. For that matter I have a wifi adapter doing the same thing. Seems like it might be the power from the hub is too weak or cables too long. 

Not pictured I have some inductive sensors, as suggested by Ole Saastad, on a water tank. I don't have them working through Openplotter yet. 

Any suggestions for cleaning up the wiring would be appreciated; connectors, busses, etc. 

I am not sure why my boat shows that it is moving a fractional knot most of the time. It started several openplotter versions ago. 

Greg Vaughan
Laguna 33GT "Star of the Orient"
Slidell, Louisiana, USA
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Messages In This Thread
Star of the Orient - by Saqqara - 2018-01-15, 04:27 AM
RE: Star of the Orient - by Saqqara - 2018-01-18, 12:58 AM
RE: Star of the Orient - by Saqqara - 2018-01-22, 05:53 AM
RE: Star of the Orient - by Havnjero - 2018-01-31, 09:05 AM
RE: Star of the Orient - by Saqqara - 2018-02-01, 04:19 AM

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