cheaper large instrument displays - mast mount

I have been also amazed on the cost of electronics now that my B&G gear need replacing. Especially if you want, like i do, something that is useful when racing. In my view a paradigm shift to open and inexpensive marine instruments is bound to happen as all factors are ready for it: standards, technology, material cost, etc.

I have some experience from my day job with electronics and software, mostly project management and sourcing Here are few comments i have so far:

o Organic LED. I have been using OLED display for more than five years in products. This display type is very clear in daylight and at night. Does not require separate illumination. Downside is that it draws more current that LCD and is slightly more expensive.

o Wireless. I have used low-power WIFI-serial modules for more than 8 years. The modules today are inexpensive (around USD15 in volume) and provide good connectivity at least on non-metallic boats. My thought is to use a ready-built Wireless NMEA multiplexer to broadcast the data to air and then build wireless display units to capture and show the data where it is needed.
 
ahu said:
Wireless. I have used low-power WIFI-serial modules for more than 8 years. The modules today are inexpensive (around USD15 in volume) and provide good connectivity at least on non-metallic boats. My thought is to use a ready-built Wireless NMEA multiplexer to broadcast the data to air and then build wireless display units to capture and show the data where it is needed.
Click to expand...

Why use a ready made multiplexer? They are very easy / cheap to make, compared to the cost of an off the shelf product. Also if we want to make this open source, we need to stick to components that can be made easily.
 
northwind said:
Why use a ready made multiplexer? They are very easy / cheap to make, compared to the cost of an off the shelf product. Also if we want to make this open source, we need to stick to components that can be made easily.
Click to expand...

Agree, the multiplexer components doesn't cost that much. Just thought that if we want something done quickly, wireless transmitters are available off the shelf.
 
ahu said:
Agree, the multiplexer components doesn't cost that much. Just thought that if we want something done quickly, wireless transmitters are available off the shelf.
Click to expand...

I've already built this using an XRF and an arduino chip, it can also be done with an XBEE.

As I keep on about, the real problem is the screen, any input into a suitable one would be really useful. :D
 
Lilliput monitors?

Not sure If I am going to miss the point by posting this but has anyone Looked at the Lilliput range, Apparantly made for photographers who work outside so they can see photos on a larger scale, should work for large numbers???? also they do a USB powered version though I am not sure if that is as bright, 5" and 7" screens amazon recons about 110-1130 each, expensive but not as bad as B and G if the plan is to put them in a waterproof case.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Lilliput
http://www.lilliputuk.com/monitors/hdmi/569gl/
 
Hi all,

I think we have a key call to make here on the screen.

It seems there are a number available in the right size and differing technology, LCD,led, oled etc

The one bit I am stuck on is te interface to te screen

Serial seems to be te most common, which would then work with pic, ardunio, raspberry pi etc etc. is everyone happy with serial as the approach?

I am putting a spec together for a couple of vendors I have been speaking too and this the last part

Hands in the air please :-)
 
GM 10s are still small, you would need at least 4 or 5 of them to replace a 20/20 set up making it very expensive, and only useful on a small boat.
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
Only £200 now from MES.
Click to expand...

That pricing really shows that Garmin is a consumer company. If they sell it for 200 GBP, they will do £100 tomorrow, if they need to. On the otherhand with wind display they have a steep learning curve to catch Nexus for example.

Still, for racing, a clear and large mast display is on my wish list and the GMI 10 is not suitable for that.
 
Main characters 50mm high. Displays depth (m, feet, fath), wind speed and angle (true and apparent, m/s and knots), boatspeed, SOG, COG, VMG, XTE, off course error, set, drift, heading, COG or bearing to mark, distance to mark, volts, 10/5 minute countdown timers, elapsed timer, trip and total log, and number of bananas left.

All this is received in NMEA, but could do Seatalk as well.

Every NMEA sentence can be configured to cope with NMEA standard inconsistencies. 4 buttons on the box. 3 channels can be set, 1 for each button, the 4th going into setup mode.

SDC11457.jpg


SDC11458.jpg


SDC11456.jpg


SDC11460.jpg


SDC11461.jpg


Just needs a case to put it in, bish-bosh, jobs-a-goodun.

Next project?
 
that looks exelent. do you have anything to put the photo up against for relative scale? 50mm is hard to picture. exuse my ignorance but what system are you driving it off? b and G ? computer?
 
Wow....Angus...that is amazing...guess you have massively beaten me to this now...any chance of sizes so I can can sort the housing out

Any chance of components used, code ideas erc

To say I am stunned does not sum it up, thats frankly amazing
 
I like the Idea of white on black with red backlight...very b&g..from the looks of angus's screenshot it looks like a touchscreen...which really would be leaps ahead.


I really really want to build on of these and see if I can get an enclosure built...just found a place that will build 10 prototype pcb's for £88

If I can find finished sizes I can get a case hunt on the go...maybe some YAPP branding.. Unless anyone on the forum has an interst in pcb or enclosure manufacture

I guess the font could even be selectable...although that would just blow the competition into water

Angus - would a seatalk and nmea version be possible in one unit? (I know there are some custom nmea used by Tacktick, b&g, silva, nke and I believe ray marine that could be added to the code...)
 
Glass Bonding

It seems that i have now found the LCD suppliers for all the Major manafacturer's. In all cases they seem to use a Reflective LCD with a backlight with a Glass Bonded screen to reduce fogging.

so my question is....does anyone know further about Glass Bonding?
 
I was going to reply last week to the questions, but forgot.

Here's the display calibrated in International Hobnob Units...

SDC11464.jpg


This display used to be driven by a Cetrek instrument head which had NMEA multiplexed output. I no longer have that, so now I drive it from a NMEA simulator running on a laptop. Any NMEA could be used though.

Not touch screen. 4 buttons needed.

Seatalk and NMEA in one unit possible, at higher hardware cost.

This was a project from 13 years ago. Both the display and the processor (ST10) are obsolete. However, the display is similar to the RS one I and testmonkey pointed out. The code should port to a STM32 quite easily once new display and I/O drivers have been written.

You don't need to get a PCB made for a prototype if you choose a display module with a hand-solderable or wire-wrappable connector. A development board can be used for the processor and they are available as cheap as a PCB made in small numbers. Look on Farnell or RS for the STM32 Discovery stuff. The small amount of line driving hardware for Seatalk could be made up on a Veroboard.
 
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