Console upgrade continues

[harvey38]

Having saved my pocket money and obtained a 16" and two 5.7" MFDs, I thought it time I made a few mock instruments consoles from MDF before committing teak to saw. This is the final version that I'll take to the boat next week to trial fit. The plan is to have both engine instruments displayed on the two smaller MFDs converting the analogue readings to N2K using an Albacombi unit.

 

[vas]

looks nice, however when doing such templates, it's good to put e v e r y t h i n g in! switches, controls, bow/stern thrusters, vhf, a/p controller, alarms, buzzers, whatnot.
when remodeling my helm, it probably took me more time doing templates and testing them on the spot than actually making the thing

 

[harvey38]

Thanks for the advice. The autopilot head is a very dated Autohelm ST6000 unit that will sit below the two MFDs, I had hoped to use a new P70 head but I've not been able to find out if it is direct plug and play replacement so I'll be using the pig ugly original unit.

The other controls and switches will be mounted on the plinth which the new console will sit. Attached is a photo of what's left of the original instrument panel, hopefully this shows why I'm doing a refit.

 

[vas]

lovely mess, typical of older craft

so, you are getting rid of all the 52mm gauges on the stbrd side, right? You must be v.confident of the Albacombi, have you actually run it in parallel to the analogue gauges?
From my experience with dealing with all that now for a good 6yrs, I'd take it step by step. Does the albacombi "steal" signal from a sender by removing the respective gauge, or does it need it there to provide the juice for the sender to run? Hope you've checked and tested all that!

V.

 

[harvey38]

I'm hoping to run the gauges and convert to N2K simultaneously, the gauges will remain under a hinged flap until I have confidence in the Albacombi. I only plan to put RPM, temperature and oil pressure onto the network, turbo boost and voltage will remain hidden. Water/waste/fuel quantity etc will go onto the network later but I'll need another Albacombi by then

Fortunately there's a Sparky in Ramsgate who's versed in such voodoo/Black art

 

[vas]

OK, makes sense. that's what I initially did with my NoLandEngineering device.
Eventually, grew out of that and now have rpm, oil, turbo, seawater pressure, oil, coolant, egt temps and a few other things all on NMEA2000. Kept, rpm, temp, oil press and boost on lower helm, rpm only on the f/b.
I think it's easier to "steal" signal from the gauges, plus obvs you have a reference to know if you've messed it up big time! So you may end up with the gauges staying for ever under their flap.

having spent hundreds of hours sorting all that and coding to convert analogue signals to N2K, I can confirm that it is black art indeed

 

[harvey38]

I'll leave the analogue stuff on the upper helm although there is a 9" mfd on there too.

 

[Dino]

What course computer are you using? I have an old Type 100 and I’m in the process of switching from an ST7000 to an ST6002 because it’s half the size. I’m told that the ST6000 range is compatible but the newer P70 is not.

 

[harvey38]

What course computer are you using? I have an old Type 100 and I’m in the process of switching from an ST7000 to an ST6002 because it’s half the size. I’m told that the ST6000 range is compatible but the newer P70 is not.

ST7000 and Type 100 so the same as you but a good call as there is an ST6002 that I could swap around

 

[Dino]

Let me know how you connect it. I’m currently swapping an old C80 Chartplotter for an Axiom 9 and integrating some i40 instruments

 

[harvey38]

Will do, can't be that difficult as the ST6002 is on the upper helm, ST7000 on the lower helm.