a couple of Qs for users of chain counters

[vas]

hello,

finally I got me chaincounter working properly after breaking the previous sensor due to daft placement and rewritting the code on a new board re counting.
So now go a few Qs for users of such things

A. how accurate are they? values change per .5m, 1m or 20cm?
B. are values shown consistent? I mean you drop 30m, later on you lift your anchor to go someplace, what will be the value shawn when fully retrieved? Same as before dropping in the first place (ie. 0 I guess) or after a few drops/retrievals you end up with something like .5 or 1m and have to zero the counter again
C. does the thing work if you free fall your anchor without using the windlas motor?

My Lofrans Tigres 10mm gypsy circumference is 356mm, I plan to use one magnet so step will be .35m, if I go for two magnets I'll end up with
.17cm (which tbh I find silly) wondering what others do.
Also wondering on accuracy after drop and retrieval as the only way I can think of getting the direction of rotation of the gypsy is through monitoring if the up relay is operating and subtracting turns when it is.
But then again, when you leave your finger from the up button/toggle whatever you have, due to inertia the gypsy tends to turn a bit more. Now this bit more if it goes once or twice through the sensor will count as chain dropped not retrieved and after a few times will start giving you false readings especially on retrieval when the anchor is about to surface.

I could go seriously silly and have three magnets on the gypsy at different intervals so that I can establish if it's going up or down based on the timestamps but again that could give false readings at the point the anchor is leaving the seabed where at least mine struggles and speed drops dramatically.


Not bothering with the down relay means it will count ok on freefall as well (although I don't use it)

your views please!

cheers

V.

 

[jrudge]

Mine is highly accurate. I needs an end of season clean as you get shards of chain that are a bit magnetic on the drum and this leads to slight inaccuracy. Other than than mine reads zero each time it comes in

With chain in free fall it should work as long as the unit is on. Mine goes off after 90 secs. If you turn it on all it is then doing is counting pulses. I have never tried free falling it.

 

[vas]

Mine is highly accurate. I needs Ans end of season clean as you get shards of chain that are a bit magnetic on the drum and this leads to slight inaccuracy. Other than than mine reads zero each time it comes in

We chain in free fall it should work as long as the unit is on. Mine goes off after 90 secs. If you turn it on all it is then doing is counting pulses. I have never tried free falling it.

thanks J

you remember how much is the increment on the display?
I'm toying with the idea of keeping it in integer values to avoid useless clutter and only sent decimals once under 3m

cheers

V.

 

[jrudge]

I think .1 of a metre but i don’t really look. I just look at the big number and I have a anchor cam to see when it is about to park up.


There are functions for auto deploy of 20m etc but I never use them. The winch is I suspect “average “ speed and putting out a typical 20-30 m of chain does not take long.

Of course you could make yours read the depth gague and then multiply by three and auto drop !

 

[LittleSister]

My Lofrans Tigres 10mm gypsy circumference is 356mm, I plan to use one magnet so step will be .35m, if I go for two magnets I'll end up with
.17cm (which tbh I find silly) wondering what others do.

Would it not be more accurate to take a longer measurement, e.g. how many turns does it take for 10m of chain, and then divide that length by the number of turns?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I have a Quick chain counter on my boat and we can double check its accuracy because our chain also has paint marks on it. The Quick counter is consistently accurate to within 1m and I've been very impressed with it since it must be the original counter fitted 13yrs ago when the boat was manufactured

 

[vas]

I think .1 of a metre but i don’t really look. I just look at the big number and I have a anchor cam to see when it is about to park up.


There are functions for auto deploy of 20m etc but I never use them. The winch is I suspect “average “ speed and putting out a typical 20-30 m of chain does not take long.

Of course you could make yours read the depth gague and then multiply by three and auto drop !

.1 means they've filled the thing with sensors (or magnets, or both...)

thought about the autodrop but doubt I'll bother doing it as I often anchor and put a line to rocks/trees whatever and you need to take things as they come, slowly...

Would it not be more accurate to take a longer measurement, e.g. how many turns does it take for 10m of chain, and then divide that length by the number of turns?

true, boat is on the water now, when I'm back on the hard I'll do some tests by releasing, removing the 20kg anchor and stretching the chain on the bow for ten m and measure accuracy. TBH, don't think it's going to be more than a mill off per turn so whether 100turns is 35.6 or 35.7m wont make any difference

I have a Quick chain counter on my boat and we can double check its accuracy because our chain also has paint marks on it. The Quick counter is consistently accurate to within 1m and I've been very impressed with it since it must be the original counter fitted 13yrs ago when the boat was manufactured

since there's no mechanical things gears or anything sliding/turning/whatever unless the sensor gets a good slap from the chain and breaks, and unless a cable is not damaged, it's going to work.

thanks all, will proceed with a single magnet and do the no decimal from 3m on.

cheers

V.

 

[BartW]

Vas, some years back we have installed that Quick marine remote controll with chain counter.
we had to fix one magnet in the border of the gypsy, and program the diameter of the gypsy in the settings.
We almost alway's drop the ancher in free fall, and It worked perfect, alway's return to zero,
but I believe that the "length out" is automtically reset at zero when we unplug / plug back in the remote controll.

I have to admid that we hardly ever use it, as swmbo can't read the dsiplay in bright sunchine, and last season the dsiplay very often went blank. She prefers the old remote controll (both work in parallel)
we still have these plastic collor clips in the chain every 10m, and thats ok for us,
(in summer we anker multiple times on one day, and never found this a problem)

I had this remote with counter only a couple of times in my hands, don't remember the resolution of the chain length display, but 1m seems more than enough to me