2 – Electronics INTRODUCTION - My needs in software I use

2 – Electronics
INTRODUCTION - My needs in software
I use
-
MAXSEA: (navigation, weather forecasts, performance routing with Europe Map) or OPENCPL (navigation with
world maps): the waypoint name is in clear and the database (waypoint and route) is common & transferable
between MAXSEA, TACTICK and OPENCPL
-
POLAUTO is used to create polars from NMEA data and fed to MAXSEA and OPENCPL
-
TINY COACH to improve the speed compared to the polar connect to the radio (4x 60 watt with external HP
connect also to the VHF with automatic switch in case of VHF reception)
-
ZYGRIB (used to receive and view Grib files which are then transferred in to MAXSEA to make the routing
predictions)
-
FREE COUNT DOWN TIMER I really appreciate being woken up with Gregorian music (Lady in Red by example)
-
FROGGY HOME (barometer in development)
I use a powered hub with 10 slots with the following data feed connections:
- A common small mouse
- MAXSEA Dongle
- NDC ACTISENSE (TACTICK + GPS)
- UGC Antisense (AIS receiver from VHF)
- FROGGY USB (barometer)
- Tiny Coach USB (Logger)
- SI TEX USB (AIS transceiver)
- USK key (to transfer data and backup documents)
- 1 empty slot sometimes used for a connection to a non-powered 6 slot hub) on which there is
- External hard disk 120 million KB for backup needs two USB slots
- CD player (for backup and installation of drivers) needs two USB slot
- Spare mouse GPS
- 1 empty slot for telephone (used as modem for internet connection) or for a wifi antenna booster
2-1 What Data is used to run the Aliment software
Below is a picture taken at night (I use a red night light to avoid dazzling)
From left to right you can see:
- GPS is a FURUNO GP32: easy to connect with NMEA 0183, unbreakable, reliable, easy to program
- VICTRON Battery Monitor; able to analyse 2 batteries, give the time left, voltage per battery, the instant AMP
current draw (useful to determinate the consumption of each item on board)
- Switch Panel (upper left part is day (VHF computer and pilot), bottom left part is exceptional use (battery charge
and car adapter, and battery charger) upper left part is night use (light, spare light, steaming light and berth light)
bottom right part is engine light, music and pump)
- TACTICK multi-function display which is useful when you are on the computer to get other information or to
follow time variations (wind evolution…)
- Mer Veille is a tool which detects radar (in France a lot of fishing boats do not use AIS so as to not be seen by
competitors but they use radar….…)
- VHF (AIS receiver) NAVICOM 25W/1W plus 2 remotes (useful to control the VHF in cockpit)
- SI TEX AIS Transponder with silent mode
- TOUGHBOOK PANASONIC CF M34, rugged IP 67 (rated to still work after 2 minutes in 1m of water depth), spends
some time in the kitchen and it is still working…
- RAYMARINE SXP5 autopilot + RAYMARINE 81250 NMEA (to convert & transfer the NMEA data from the TACTICK
instruments to the pilot) + 2 RAYMARINE wireless remotes (with LCD displays giving instrument data which can be
read in the cockpit or anywhere on board
- Antennas (inside for reduced cabling)
o GPS
o MERVEILLE
o FROGGY barometer
o Mouse spare GPS
2-2 ELECTRONIC CONNECTION
Connecting all the instruments together can be interesting: when I select a route on MAXSEA, I transfer it directly to the
GPS and can also see it on the remote displays (TACTICK multi-function display and Raymarine Pilot display) and on the
Tiny Coach. With one transfer I can check my road (XTE cross-track error & TTG distance) on both the TACTICK display
and the Pilot Display. I do not need to go down below to check when I am at sea. Close to the coast I put the laptop in
the cockpit as the power lead is long enough.
Laptop
LAPTOP
NO
TINY
Hub
WHAT IS CONNECTED WITH WHAT
BARO
TACTICK
GPS
Hub
NDC
NDC
Tiny
Barometer
TACTICK
GPS
VHF (1)
PILOT
AIS (2)
Hub
Hub
UGC
NDC
UGC
NO
HUB
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
Direct
NO
UGC
NO
NO
NO
Direct
NO
UGC
NO
NO
VHF (1)
UGC
PILOT
NDC
AIS (2)
Hub
NO
NO
USG
UGC
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NDC
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
(1) Receiver only
(2) AIS Transceiver
2-3 WIRE CONNECTIONS
Every thing is connected in Antisense NDC: The colours on this drawing correspond to the colour of the wires (ex GPS
main wire is grey, inside this grey cable you will find a green a blue a black and a red)
ACTISENSE NDC4
Alim GPS and Actisense NDC4 +
PILOTE
Alim GPS and Actisense NDC4 +
GPS
° ° Empty
° °
Empty
Empty
Empty
° ° Pilote and Tacktic NMEA Out ° ° Pilote and NMEA Tactick Out +
Tiny
Tiny
° ° Empty
° ° Empty
GPS
GPS et SHUNT vers Noir USG
° ° Empty
° ° Empty
USB
TINY
VHF
Tactick
NMEA
UGC
Tactick GPS
CONCLUSION CHAPTER 2
I carry a full suite of digital equipment manuals on board, in digital format, as a safety precaution. On MAEVA I have
114 manuals or drawings. This represents 375 000 KB of data.
Below is an abstract of this zip file called Manuels
A second precaution to avoid any problems is to make a full backup each month on an external drive which can be
loaded on to the spare laptop (exactly the same that the main rugged laptop PANASONIC TOUGHBOOK CF M34). I
always sail with these two laptops on board.
To be even more secure I carry on board a 62 USB stick on with I have a backup of all my documents
Plus original CD (never used)
Plus 5 IMRAY paper charts (never used)
Plus nautical almanac (Marin Breton)
Plus a old nautical almanac with all maps of the French and English Coast & maps of the harbours