Is it possible to Marinise a desk top PC?

[neilfs]

Take a look at Mini-ITX machines, you can build them up from components and they are designed to be built into cars, so would also run off a boat also!

Embedded, and Mini-ITX would allow you to purchase the raw TFT panel, and mount it directly into a wall of your boat, the Mini-ITX machines can be completely fanless and are also very small allowing simply a keyboard, mouse on the desk with everything else hidden away.

If anyone is interested, I'll help you build one and tell you where to get all the bits.

 

[BrendanS]

any good websites showing what's achievable?

 

[neilfs]

A friends company does it, and he is into boats also:

http://www.g2digital.co.uk/

and

http://www.audioforge.com/gallery17.htm

Do a Google search on "Mini-ITX" and you'll find loads of weird and wonderful ways to build computers into things.

 

[BrendanS]

Yep, did a search - I'm a bit of a google junkie, but there's a lot there, and just wondered if you had any you recommended

One of the biggest issues in sailing boats, is they can't recharge their batteries by engine often, so power consumption becomes a real issue, particulary for those liveaboards and cruisers who are travelling long distances, who become dependent on wind and solar power generation. Is the power requirement on these computers less than laptops or other energy efficient computers, and can they be run straight off 12v batteries rather than via more inefficient 120/240v invertors?

 

[ShipsWoofy]

I went through this recently.

The biggest power drain was the monitor.

I ended buying a laptop as it was in fact cheaper and far far more efficient. But I am on a raggie with wind generator power (no marina).

The screens available at an affordable price are really mains driven devices, the box could as stated be built and with the right processor be fairly efficient. Still not even close to my laptop, which also has the benefit of slipping into a dry bag and coming home with us.

No competition in my eyes.

 

[Ships_Cat]

I haven't had a check in recent months, but if nothing much has changed in that time I agree Woofy, the notebooks win hands down on power consumption.

Taking account of the few laptops I have checked for current draw, most of the claims on these forums seem to quote the current while the battery is charging which is silly as all that is happening is a transfer of energy from the boat's batteries to the laptop (albeit with an efficiency loss) so isn't lost.

When not watching a DVD movie or some such heavy load they don't seem to draw much at all when running a simple task such as an ECS application. Our ECS program logs every NMEA sentence from the instruments (in our case all the wind, position, compass, log) so the hard drive is writing all the time, and it still draws little more than an amp (Athlon 1 point something gig processor).

John

 

[neilfs]

If you use the computer for a specific task you can reduce power requirements further (this is equally true on a laptop, although you'd need an adapter cable).

Install Windows XP Embedded - trim it right down so just the basics are left, get your selected and required software working, then install all of that on Solid State media.

Because the media is a memory card, there is no motor to run and uses a lot less power.

TFT screens are still juicy, far better than a CRT.

I am waiting for TFT displays to use less power in my job, as soon computers and screens will be powered over the network cable!

On the reverse, anyone know a good solar power system they could point me towards?

 

[ShipsWoofy]

[ QUOTE ]
On the reverse, anyone know a good solar power system they could point me towards?

[/ QUOTE ]

A paper chart, paper notepad and compass. A few good books and board games. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[tom652]

try this link http://www.itx-warehouse.co.uk/productlist.aspx?Cid=36 its for small factor computers but you might find something here