Chart Plotter from PC

A

Andrew_McEwen

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I have an old laptop, running Windows Vista. Any - practical - suggestions as to whether it could be used as a chart-plotter? (I'm 99.99% certain it hasn't got a GPS module in it, so that's something that'd need to be added). I'm also aware that it'd need mains power, but I have an inverter that should handle the relatively low power consumption.

Cheers

A
 
Andrew_McEwen said:
I have an old laptop, running Windows Vista. Any - practical - suggestions as to whether it could be used as a chart-plotter? (I'm 99.99% certain it hasn't got a GPS module in it, so that's something that'd need to be added). I'm also aware that it'd need mains power, but I have an inverter that should handle the relatively low power consumption.

Cheers

A
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Get a Globalsat BU353 or the later one that plugs into a USB port. Download OpenCPN, free which is excellent but you will still need charts, the CM93 worldwide folios are still around on the net free but pirated and you need a Torrent downloader to download the huge files,

OPenCPN is fabulous and you can link it with google earth too. The downside is you cannot see laptop screens in sunlight. WE run OPenCPN with free charts courtesy of UNcle Sam for the whole of the USA in both raster and vector formats, but I do also have the worldwide folio as well for non-USA areas.
 
Add chart stick from visit my harbour, for all uk BA charts. up to date and no fear of any problems with CM93, which is getting rather old now. Yes I know the rocks dont move etc, but.....



very useable and practical on motor boats, and personally used this year for a single handed voyage Amsterdam to River Severn.
 
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I use an old XP laptop with a a BU353 and SeaClear2. You can scan in your own paper charts (if you can really be bothered) or buy a complete UK set of UKHO charts from VisitMyHarbour for around £25. AIS works fine too.
 
I recently did the same thing but with a Windows 7 machine. You will need a USB GPS dongle or a feed from an existing GPS set. Open CPN is excellent particularly for AIS (which is cheap and easy to add if you want.) I find that vector charts are much better than raster charts on a low spec laptop. Scrolling through big raster images can get very slow. Also as Jimi says a dedicated 12V power lead for the laptop will be better than an inverter. My inverter doubles as a cabin heater if I try to run the laptop off it! And a bit of non-slip mat seems to keep the laptop in place on the chart table.
 
Everybody -

Thanks to all for the various suggestions - including the one about running the PC itself from the 12 volt ship's supply. That makes sense: if only because it'd avoid losses through the invertor/transformer system. The battery pack - which is pretty well on its last legs - is nominal 14.8 v, which sounds suspiciously like what the alternator kicks out when the engine's running. And as it's a motor boat, the engine is running most of the time.

Sounds like I've just given myself another project!

Cheers

A
 
Andrew_McEwen said:
I have an old laptop, running Windows Vista. Any - practical - suggestions as to whether it could be used as a chart-plotter? (I'm 99.99% certain it hasn't got a GPS module in it, so that's something that'd need to be added). I'm also aware that it'd need mains power, but I have an inverter that should handle the relatively low power consumption.

Cheers

A
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This is how I did it... may be of help?

http://fantasie19papillon.blogspot.com/2012/04/cheap-plotter-update.html
 
Andrew_McEwen said:
Everybody -

Thanks to all for the various suggestions - including the one about running the PC itself from the 12 volt ship's supply. That makes sense: if only because it'd avoid losses through the invertor/transformer system. The battery pack - which is pretty well on its last legs - is nominal 14.8 v, which sounds suspiciously like what the alternator kicks out when the engine's running. And as it's a motor boat, the engine is running most of the time.

Sounds like I've just given myself another project!

Cheers

A
Click to expand...

I wouldn't trust powering the laptop direct from the unregulated 12v supply. There are pretty cheap laptop DC-DC adapters available on Amazon or eBay. Mrs and I have the Lavolta jobbies. I have one for my MacBook Pro, Mrs has one for her Dell. Work great. Got 'em off Amazon.
 
The cost of the visitmyharbour charts is often quoted here as "£25" but isn't this the update price, exclusive of P&P and your P&P in sending the dongle back? The actual cost to acquire them seems to be £57 which might well still be good value but presumably for UK boaters brings some of the cheap commercial products (like Bellfield) which also feature full UK charts into a comparable price range with the cost of the OpenCPN solution. Many people may still prefer OpenCPN for a variety of reasons but with the cost of even the cheapest UK charts, other products may be worth at least considering.
 
LadyInBed said:
The tablet thingy will have to be a Windows one as Opencpn doesn't work on Android tablet thingy's ;)
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Nice and easy though... Tesco Hudl for what £50 if you use vouchers?? Navionics HD for £45.. job's a good'un and no faffing with laptops, Windows, USB pucks, baud rates, XPORT etcetc.. an I speak as one who has the latter! :D
 
laika said:
The cost of the visitmyharbour charts is often quoted here as "£25" but isn't this the update price
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I think people get confused between the various products that VMH supply; their rambling website doesn't help. £25 is the price for online access to charts via their website - like the free harbour charts but covering the whole UK. This is what they started out selling, and I think for some time was much more prominent on their site than the offline charts, so some people have fixed in their mind that "VisitMyHarbour == £25".

You're quite right about the higher price for "for navigation" offline charts.

Pete
 
I use "Software on Board" (SOB) software, a Comar AIS black box, C-Map charts NT cartridges. There is a data feed from my Seatalk network too this provides GPS data. This arrangement has worked well for several years. I like the PC plotter because it is so easy to extract data. SOB also logs all data in an Excel spreadsheet. Useful for analysing instrument faults, and for producing graphs to go into logs. One of my logs can be seen at http://www.ariadnetrue.co.uk/eu_2010log.html
 
LadyInBed said:
The tablet thingy will have to be a Windows one as Opencpn doesn't work on Android tablet thingy's ;)
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I am now thinking about the Tesco Hudl together with the software from visit my harbour. Thanks for telling me that Opencpn won't work on an Android. Android to me is something out of Starwars or Dr Who :D:D
 
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