Cheap Chinese AIS Transponder

[Bi111ion]

I am neither saying they have or have not as I have no evidence either way. If you want to know for sure, check the certificate's number with the EU's CE compliance office, as any mainstream importer will do.

I would be interested to know how to do this. I couldn't find a web site to check. I am not near the boat and the unit and instruction manual is aboard, but if you look at the youtube video I posted if you freeze the frame at about 1:29 the back of the unit has the EU CE mark as expected. I should have thought to check this before the wild speculation about it not being CE approved started!

Just to emphasise Angus's point, if you import something yourself you should do "due diligence" to check it complies with regulations. This is of course the downside of getting something cheaper from outside the EU, along with the risk of not getting the goods or being ripped off in various other ways. As others have said the markup importers are taking for doing this seems unreasonable and market forces will lead the more adventurous to do this themselves. I expect it will not be long before these units appear from UK sources at a substantially increased cost.

 

[BruceDanforth]

The more adventurous will manage to sail without a Chinese AIS.

I would be interested to know how to do this. I couldn't find a web site to check. I am not near the boat and the unit and instruction manual is aboard, but if you look at the youtube video I posted if you freeze the frame at about 1:29 the back of the unit has the EU CE mark as expected. I should have thought to check this before the wild speculation about it not being CE approved started!

Just to emphasise Angus's point, if you import something yourself you should do "due diligence" to check it complies with regulations. This is of course the downside of getting something cheaper from outside the EU, along with the risk of not getting the goods or being ripped off in various other ways. As others have said the markup importers are taking for doing this seems unreasonable and market forces will lead the more adventurous to do this themselves. I expect it will not be long before these units appear from UK sources at a substantially increased cost.

 

[onesea]

OK Maybe one for Bi111ion here if I bought this unit for my boat. I could then plug it into my old laptop and have AIS and Chart plotter? For the price of a few connections and some UK maps?

Is there a cheap plotter I could use instead? Laptops use allot of power...

Strikes me that "due diligence" is it has a certificate and a sticker. Testing if they are fake for one of import I think would be beyond that, if it appears to operate normally.

Obviously if I was going to import commercially that might not be enough?

 

[BruceDanforth]

What products?

Examples?

The Certificate of Conformity list the manufacturer as Shenzhen ShenChuang Electronics Co., Ltd Huayang Tech is the supplier. Most of you will have products in your home and possibly on your boat made in this factory. Their website says they have over 800 employees 200 in Quality Control, and that they are ISO9001 certified. This does not seem to be a two bit operation.

 

[prv]

http://www.sc-digital.cn/about.asp

And they can make a quarter of a million different kinds of products. Most impressive.

Being snippy about their standard of written english doesn't do you any favours. They mean that they're shipping 250,000 units per month, comprising a range of different products.

Pete

 

[BrianH]

OK Maybe one for Bi111ion here if I bought this unit for my boat. I could then plug it into my old laptop and have AIS and Chart plotter? For the price of a few connections and some UK maps?

Is there a cheap plotter I could use instead? Laptops use allot of power...

I have been using a combined AIS/GPS receiver with OpenCPN on an Atom-powered netbook on the chart table for years now - the current draw is trivial, about 2-3A. That is as backup to an early small Garmin plotter in the wheelhouse and the screen and resolution is superior.

 

[Bi111ion]

The more adventurous will manage to sail without a Chinese AIS.

.
I meant adventurous in the field of procurement rather than sailing. For navigation I am fairly old school, l learnt coastal navigation when the echo sounder was our only electronic aid to navigation. I sill assume all electronics are fallible and prone to fail at sea.

One thing I really like about AIS is you can call up a specific ship using DSC if their "intentions are not clear". My Standard Horizon MX2100 is especially good for this as it is AIS integrated with the the VHF. Its a shame they did not also integrate the transponder. Switching on the transponder in bad visibility will allow others to do the same to me. I can't justify the current cost of a UK bought transponder to myself just for this. However this unit is also a back up AIS display and an accurate SBAS GPS at the same time.

 

[BruceDanforth]

I had a good look at the Haufeng Industrial Estate on the Hankkong Road on google maps and haven't spotted the big grand headquarters on the website. I expect I'm looking in the wrong place.

Being snippy about their standard of written english doesn't do you any favours. They mean that they're shipping 250,000 units per month, comprising a range of different products.

Pete

 

[Bi111ion]

OK Maybe one for Bi111ion here if I bought this unit for my boat. I could then plug it into my old laptop and have AIS and Chart plotter? For the price of a few connections and some UK maps?

Yes the HP-33 A has NMEA output so it should spit out position, course, speed etc as well as AIS output. I have not tested this yet but I have a laptop running OpenCNP and that takes the AIS output from my Standard Horizon GX2100 in to a serial port. I will check the manual when I get a chance for the details but I think you might need two serial ports, one for GPS data and one for AIS. I am thinking of replacing the laptop with an Intel atom based computer with a solid state drive to reduce the power consumption. There are pros and cons of a chartplotter versus computer but maybe that is for another thread?

 

[BrianH]

Yes the HP-33 A has NMEA output so it should spit out position, course, speed etc as well as AIS output. I have not tested this yet but I have a laptop running OpenCNP and that takes the AIS output from my Standard Horizon MX2100 in to a serial port. I will check the manual when I get a chance for the details but I think you might need two serial ports, one for GPS data and one for AIS. I am thinking of replacing the laptop with an Intel atom based computer with a solid state drive to reduce the power consumption. There are pros and cons of a chartplotter versus computer but maybe that is for another thread?

Both my original receiver and the new transponder both output the two signals, GPS and AIS, via a single RS232 socket. I have a standard serial to USB adapter and feed the PC with just that at 38400 baud. OpenCPN correctly decodes both, the GPS input at 1s intervals to update the screen's own-ship icon, the AIS dependent of transmission rates to update the target list and icons.

Important is that the AIS receiver is a genuine parallel 2-channel one that doesn't miss synchronising to the less-frequent (6 Minute) static data.

 

[ffiill]

I bought a silverline Chinese chain block with all the EU markings etc-rated at two tons that didnt stop the chain snapping with just over 1.5 tons of concrete mooring block two foot off the ground!

 

[ffiill]

Many Chinese suppliers can be just agents acting on behalf of... and getting to the source can take some time and effort.
Its also more than likely that the product supplied is surplus capacity of a branded product sold around the world rather than a specific Chinese product.Anchor windlasses are a case in point as I suspect are diesel powered heaters.

 

[JumbleDuck]

We aren't assuming anything. Go ahead and adorn your boat with cheap tat gear from ebay...

Some people do seem to be forgetting that AIS is a standard used around the world and that while CE marking is undoubtedly helpful, it is not a necessary condition for adequate quality. Neither is price.

In other news: the RCD didn't suddenly stop boats sinking.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Only you have suggested that, no one else.

I am not the only person to point out that a Chinese made AIS system might possibly work perfectly well in Chinese waters without the Magic Stamp.

 

[BruceDanforth]

Well you put one on your boat.

Drill some nice holes for it.

Some people do seem to be forgetting that AIS is a standard used around the world and that while CE marking is undoubtedly helpful, it is not a necessary condition for adequate quality. Neither is price.

In other news: the RCD didn't suddenly stop boats sinking.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Well you put one on your boat.

Drill some nice holes for it.

Sorry, I must be missing something here. I presume that's supposed to be an acerbic comment, but I'm not sure why or how. Can you explain? Is the niceness of the holes relevant somehow? Do I need to use a CE certified drill bit to make sure I get the right diameter?

 

[BruceDanforth]

Honestly. It looks like a good bit of kit. Give it pride of place.

Sorry, I must be missing something here. I presume that's supposed to be an acerbic comment, but I'm not sure why or how. Can you explain? Is the niceness of the holes relevant somehow? Do I need to use a CE certified drill bit to make sure I get the right diameter?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Honestly. It looks like a good bit of kit. Give it pride of place.

I might, if I ever feel a need for AIS. Thanks for the help.

 

[Bi111ion]

Important is that the AIS receiver is a genuine parallel 2-channel one that doesn't miss synchronising to the less-frequent (6 Minute) static data.

I am looking at the specs for my GX2100. It does not say if it monitors both channels. Any way to tell? I notice it often gets the MMSI of a ship (with a class A transponder) before it gets its name. Is that normal?

 

[BruceDanforth]

It might be fine, or it might be dodgy. Having brought electronics goods over from China in my job in the past it really is a bit of a gamble as to what exactly you get even amongst a batch of things that are supposed to be the same. You can always put it in the skip.

I might, if I ever feel a need for AIS. Thanks for the help.