Instruments

whiteoaks7

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Just as a gash bit of market research - what would you pay for :

(a) an instrument that would read any four temperatures. These could be engine coolant, inlet raw water coolant, outlet raw water coolant, exhaust temp, battery temp, fridge temp, sea water temp, etc etc?

(b) an instrument to monitor amp hours and condition of one or two battery packs? These already exist but seem to have more features than benefits with consequent high cost.

(c) would datalogging of either of these be of interest (ie temperature or battery condition over a time period)? How much extra would you pay for this facility?

(d) a directional hydrophone that could detect (eg) porpoise / dolphins?

(e) an underwater B+W video camera with (say) 2m pressure withstand?

I design such instruments for my own boat and I'm interested in seeing if there's a market for them.

Cheers, David <font color="blue"> </font> <font color="blue"> </font>
 

aluijten

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A decent priced battery monitor would be nice. This is however not so simple. To determine the chargeing state of a battery involves much more then just calculating the delta between input energy (volt-amps) and the output energy. There is a special algorithm to calculate this, but I forgot the name. For two batteries it would require to monitor both batteries simultaniously (and not via some kind of switch). Price? I'd say 250 Euro tops.

Arno
 

LORDNELSON

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Seems to me these are the kind of instruments the motor boaters would like to have. I do not think many of us who like to sail would want to complicate life with additional instruments when we use engines so little and can check batteries etc with old fashioned things like hydrometers and circuit testers. Personally I would not be interested in knowing dolphins were under my boat or using an underwater B&W camera, there is enough to go wrong on a boat already!
 

Lifeboat

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The idea of a B+W cmaera is a good one, i like it for the simple means of it would help with the liks of checking your gear is ok, eg your crews & rudder, trim tabs etc. Multi temp gauge is also a nice idea.
 

BrendanS

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Re: Personal info

why? he could fill in completely false details and you'd be none the wiser. I can't see this fixation that some people have with profiles
 

pvb

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Check out CruzPro first...

I don't know whether you've heard of them, but there's an Australian company called CruzPro which already markets a wide range of "unusual" instruments. These are available through several UK suppliers, and appear to be manufactured to a fairly high standard. Their specs and pricing may give you an idea of whether it's worth tooling up to produce instruments yourself.

The CruzPro T35 3-zone digital temperature gauge has individual high/low alarms, an 85db sounder, 5 levels of backlighting and a waterproof front panel - all for about £140.

Their VAH30 Battery Monitor shows volts/amps/amphours for the domestic battery bank. It's programmed to use Peukert's exponent for accuracy, it has user-settable alarms, and comes with a 150A calibrated shunt for about £160.

They also have some intriguing "intelligent" tank gauges, various engine instruments, alarm systems, and a "no frills" gas detector alarm for about £70.
 

ongolo

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Hi White oaks,

Are you by any chance also writing as Aussie Bray for SA sailing? Yes directional hydrophones are nice and I have finished my own, I intergrated a bandbass, high pass and low pass filter to get rid of propeller and other underwater noises.

Underwater camera is nice, and in color available with 66' of cable and that is also the working depth. Regular price for that is US$150,- when new. Wanted to build my own, but for US@150,- it is not worth the effort.

Magnetometers and recording and logging equipment is next, so are underwater metal detectors. I am sure you can imagine for what, There are 300 wrecks known here and another 200 estimated. One that sank 1747 I happen to know exactly where it is. And four others approximately. They have been seen by diamond divers when boats had not yet gps, so one can find them again.

regards

Ongolo
 
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