PembrokeshirePromise
Member
Definitely 1)
And interested in 4 & 5
And interested in 4 & 5
Back to the MOB project, would a simpler device be possible?
A button, which when pressed, emits on Seatalk the MOB sentence. I hope, although the manual is not exactly explicit, that the Raymarine GPS I have (Raynav 300) will accept the sentences and treat them as if I had activated the MOB alarm directly on the front panel.
My idea is to put the MOB button somewhere in the cockpit so, when sailing 2-up as I do, I can press it while sailing without having to go below where the GPS is and so lose sight of the MOB. I'd make the enclosure and button myself, so it only needs a contact closure as an input.
A 2 line code change in the wired Seatalk autopilot remote would do that. It would take me 5 minutes to implement. I can do that if you like. I use NC buttons as they are cheaper for some reason, but it's an easy change to NO type if you let me know which you prefer. The autopilot remote has 2 buttons so you could also have 2 buttons where either sends the MOB message.
My Simrad plotter has the ability to have any number of N/O buttons in parallel around my boat so I can signal my plotter to record the position from any one of the buttons. If you have N/C the buttons would need to be in series possible making wiring less easy.
I would be willing to buy the one you have completed but postage to my location mat make it to costly but fi you are willing to let me have the source code and designs that would be great.
If you have any of the PCB's they may go in letter post so could be a help also.
Great projects just wish I could help with the hardware (boxes etc) but too far away to be effective.
My mom is on a plane to Jo'burg and on to Durbs on the 27th november, i'm sure she could fit something that small in her baggage for you Roger.
My mom is on a plane to Jo'burg and on to Durbs on the 27th november, i'm sure she could fit something that small in her baggage for you Roger.
It's an extra £10 to send to SA so not ridiculous.
Hello Angus,
Firstly let me say that I'm impressed with your range of YAPP's and whole approach!
I have my GPS, DSC and AIS running on NMEA but log/speed/depth uses Seatalk. The tillerpilot takes NMEA in but may (?) provide compass based heading info (as well as other details) on Seatalk.
I would find your anchor watch (with display) very useful but obviously being Seatalk based it would not be compatible with key data sources on my boat.
I would therefore be interested in the possibility of:
i) a version of your NMEA multiplexor/rate changer which could accept one channel as Seatalk and then output to NMEA.
ii) a version of your Anchor Watch using NMEA input data
Hi Angus
I would also be most interested in a version of your Seatalk Anchor Watcher - with user interface using NMEA input data as our gps antenna output is nmea.
I normally use a phone app which is works quite well until my battery dies or it loses gps signal hence my interest, but it does have a great feature of being able to set the anchor position from a bearing and distance away (nearly always forget to set the anchor watch when we actually drop the anchor) is this something that could be included?
Re the loss or data alarm - could it be loss of NMEA rather than Seatalk network?
As 6 is the loss of data alarm - could it be loss of NMEA rather than Seatalk network?
My thinking here and please correct me if I've not grasped it correctly - is if I wanted to be really frugal with the juice I could power just the gps antenna and the anchor watch which would give me a position (no5) and loss of NMEA alarm (no6), then have the option of turning on any seatalk instrument required when I have the spare amps/need.
I would certainly go for the turnip stew option. Crew watch and anchor watch are not needed together.I had an idea while contemplating turnip stew for dinner. The crew watcher uses an 18F25K22 processor with 32K of flash. For another £1 it's possible to get the 18F26K22 with double that. My proposed anchor watcher will use the same circuit board, display, box and buttons as the crew watcher but with some components left off. Perhaps I could combine the 2 so if you power it up with no buttons pressed it comes up as a crew watcher, power up with the top button pressed it comes up as an anchor watcher, and power up with the bottom button pressed it comes up as a simple 2 line configurable Seatalk repeater.
Sounds like a bit of a monster software writing faff though.
Yes to all of that. However, the NMEA-0183 code won't fit in the flash space I have just discovered. The next processor size up is another £2. Also there needs to be a few takers to make doing the software worthwhile.