Monitor for navigation

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by nmccubbin

We run TimeZero 3.3 andOpen CPN on a Win 10 machine with a 14 year old 19" diagonal monitor that showing signs of dying. We are about to buy a new monitor. It must fit the space we have, but we want a large, hi resolution screen. Space limits us to 24" diagonal
The Dell S2417DG looks good to us. Specs say
• QHD resolution 2560 x 1440 at 165 Hz
• Pixel Pitch • 0.2058 mm
• Brightness • 350 cd/m²
• Contrast Ratio • 1000:1
Would you expect TZ and Open CPN to run well on it? Some people warn that text may be too small.

The monitor will be installed below deck, so readability in sunlight is not an issue

We are open to suggestions on another monitor.
One running on 12 volts would be nice but I cannot find that size and resolution
Likewise touchscreen would be nice, but all that I can find at that resolution are physically too large for our space
We do not have the option of buying, trying and returning if we do not like it due to boat location and airfares

Thank you for your comments

Check your computer's graphics card specs, but AFAIK most computers made in the last few years support QHD and 4k resolution.


I use a 4K monitor with OpenCPN and find the extra resolution is helpful, especially when working with raster charts.


Be aware that higher res monitors use more power.


Does the Dell monitor have an external power brick? This is highly desirable as it mean you can run directly from DC. 12v or 13.6v is ideal because you won't need a DC-DC converter, but 19V is fine too -- mine is set up just like Ping's and runs great.

[Lepke]

Originally Posted by rbk

You running it off an inverter or find a better way?

Re: 32" monitor.
Yes I run it off my inverter.
I have a powerboat with plenty of room. So I have a 48v inverter system that supplies 120/240v when away from the dock. When running the mains, I have a 48v alternator that keeps the batteries up. I have a tower pc and a backup pc laptop, each running a different nav program.
When I did have a mac, I used a transformer (I bought on Amazon) that plugged into a cigarette lighter, powered the ac charger, and kept the mac laptop batteries up. It probably would work for the monitor. I still have the mac and original battery, about 10 years old.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by nmccubbin

We run TimeZero 3.3 andOpen CPN on a Win 10 machine with a 14 year old 19" diagonal monitor that showing signs of dying. We are about to buy a new monitor. It must fit the space we have, but we want a large, hi resolution screen. Space limits us to 24" diagonal
The Dell S2417DG looks good to us. Specs say
• QHD resolution 2560 x 1440 at 165 Hz
• Pixel Pitch • 0.2058 mm
• Brightness • 350 cd/m²
• Contrast Ratio • 1000:1
Would you expect TZ and Open CPN to run well on it? Some people warn that text may be too small.

We run an older 2.something version of TZ on an old (2009-ish) Dell Win7 laptop with 15" diagonal monitor, display is very good, bright, crisp...

Hard to imagine a 24" monitor not working...

You should be able to vary visible text size, should it be necessary, in the display settings...

-Chris

[rbk]

Originally Posted by Lepke

Re: 32" monitor.
Yes I run it off my inverter.
I have a powerboat with plenty of room. So I have a 48v inverter system that supplies 120/240v when away from the dock. When running the mains, I have a 48v alternator that keeps the batteries up. I have a tower pc and a backup pc laptop, each running a different nav program.
When I did have a mac, I used a transformer (I bought on Amazon) that plugged into a cigarette lighter, powered the ac charger, and kept the mac laptop batteries up. It probably would work for the monitor. I still have the mac and original battery, about 10 years old.

I really want to run direct off DC and avoid all the extra hassle. No point running AC to DC back to AC back to DC seems excessive. I’ll have to look at that dc thing Pinguino linked.

[W32PAMELA]

These Sceptre monitors are priced well, have vesa mounts and run off of 12 volts. I've been running the 20" off the boats 12 volt buss for the past year with no problems.

Not the resolution you are looking for but 1920 by 1040 not bad for the 22" and 24".

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

. . .

Hard to imagine a 24" monitor not working...

You should be able to vary visible text size, should it be necessary, in the display settings...

-Chris

This is correct; you can. OpenCPN works just fine on larger monitors. In fact, the bigger the monitor, the better it works, especially with raster charts.


As you might expect, you have total control over the scaling of menus and fonts in O and can adjust everything to suit your taste, your eyes, and the size and resolution of your monitor.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by rbk

I really want to run direct off DC and avoid all the extra hassle. No point running AC to DC back to AC back to DC seems excessive. I’ll have to look at that dc thing Pinguino linked.

I have done it both ways, and both ways work.


If you have the inverter running anyway, the power loss is trivial.


HOWEVER, you might not want to have the inverter running all the time, and so at such times you will be glad if you the monitor wired directly to DC.


So even on my boat, where the inverter runs most of the time, it is useful to have the monitor wired to DC.


YMMV.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by W32PAMELA

These Sceptre monitors are priced well, have vesa mounts and run off of 12 volts. I've been running the 20" off the boats 12 volt buss for the past year with no problems.

Not the resolution you are looking for but 1920 by 1040 not bad for the 22" and 24".

One advantage of lower resolution is lower power consumption. 1080p is fine for vector charts and quite ok for raster charts. I am using a 4k monitor but it's not essential. So in my opinion this would be a good choice. Cheap too.

[ChrisseH]

Originally Posted by W32PAMELA

These Sceptre monitors are priced well, have vesa mounts and run off of 12 volts. I've been running the 20" off the boats 12 volt buss for the past year with no problems.

Not the resolution you are looking for but 1920 by 1040 not bad for the 22" and 24".

So these monitors work well despite that the battery voltage during use might vary between 12.0 and 14.4 V?

[Topspin]

Hi all,

I was just looking into this problem. It is very difficult to find a good monitor with both 12V AND a VESA mount. I personally dislike to run the nav monitor on inverter, because I don´t like RFI, so 12V would be nice.

The DELL S2419H should be a solution, because it has a 12V brick, however it does not come with VESA, so a custom made mechanical solution is necessary......


Regards,



-Richard (VK4WRS)

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Topspin

. . . however it does not come with VESA, so a custom made mechanical solution is necessary......

I just bolted the standard desktop mount of my monitor to the shelf above my nav table. Works great.

[Moo]

Originally Posted by rbk

Thanks as well for your ignorant smrt a$$ comment. Generally that means I’m also curious and would like to follow the thread and see if anyone has anything informative to offer as I myself have been considering the same. Hence the watching intently munching on some popcorn anticipating an informed response, yours falls a little flat.

Hmm you know you can just "subscribe" to a thread right?

[Cpt Pat]

Originally Posted by rbk

A lot of times I don’t have time or patience to type it out on my phone. A simple question would suffice if you didn’t understand. You attacked I defended.
ig·no·rant
/ˈiɡnərənt/
adjective
lacking knowledge or awareness in general;
Ass is about the most PC label in my vocabulary and hardly an insult in my books.

Ignorance is only temporary, but stupidity is permanent. *

I hate emoticons (pictograms) in all forms. Humanity long ago abandoned pictographic writing (invented in Egypt and Mesopotamia from around 3,000 BC) in place of phonetic alphabets (such as Latin, which I'm writing with here). The reason: as noted above - words have agreed upon meanings. Pictures do not.

Why are we reverting to an old, inferior and imprecise method of expression by using pictograms? Pure laziness and a temporary expedience carried over from texting with ten-key keyboards on flip phones. It's not cool - it's just another example of the shrinking limbic brain in computer-addicted and sociophobic modern culture.

If you don't use your limbic system, it shrivels up, and you lose empathy. Which in my perspective is a major factor in the problems we have today. Evil is the absence of empathy. Emoticons are therefore a factor that promotes evil. Use your words - not pictures. Dare to be understood.


* “Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.”
― Aristophanes, c 400 BC

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Cpt Pat

. . .Humanity long ago abandoned pictographic writing (invented in Egypt and Mesopotamia from around 3,000 BC) in place of phonetic alphabets (such as Latin, which I'm writing with here).

A couple billion Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese will be surprised to hear this

[El Pinguino]

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck its a duck

アヒル does not look like a duck to me... Japanese is not a pictographic language