All in 1 Control Panel for Long Distance Cruising

[cajucito]

Thanks. Programming is not my best subject as Im a hardware guy, But Im trying to learn. The object here is not for solo sailing and Im not a solo sailor. I believe that regardless of how many crew you may have at any given time you should ALWAYS be setup for solo as you can never tell when you may find your self in that situation. I will keep in touch at let you know progress. Its early stages right now as I too am about to retire. ( I say that every year but 1 day it will happen) but I have Bought most of the bits needed and will start building soon. So maybe you can contribute to the programs or we can share ideas.
Thanks for your interest.

[cajucito]

Thanks for your Interest. I have considered most of what you said. Like all electronic equipment on board it will be subject to the same Moisture and Salt issues. I will build as watertight as possible. It will be just another Aid to safe passage making.

[cajucito]

Thanks for your interest. I will post updates as I build. I just love new techie stuff but only if its worthwhile and actually serves a useful purpose.

[hellosailor]

A visual display panel....I think I've seen those in the museum. They were used before audible annunciator systems were used, weren't they?

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by cajucito

The Idea is to sound a buzzer and flash the normally off red button which needs to be pressed to acknowledge that you understand the advisory. On long trips its unreasonable to expect someone to be looking at displays for something new all the time. Thanks for your contribution.

You can still do that on a laptop display. Have whatever alarm pop up on the screen in a red block and have the buzzer sound through the speakers. The operator clicks on the red block to silence it. The alarm stays red until the condition is fixed. There's no need for constant monitoring, the buzzer sound draws the operator's attention and the bright red or flashing alarm text tells him/her what alarm(s) are actually triggered.

I was involved in the update/modernization of a control panel that was entirely mechanical pushbuttons with 2 color status displays like yours, it was designed in 1960. We replaced it with a touchscreen LED LCD and although there was resistance at first (a lot of the older engineers wanted to retain the same look/feel) I won them over with logic. We removed all of the rows and rows of seldom lit warning lights and just displayed any warnings in red with text in one common status area.

The majority of your display should be devoted to chartplotter, why use up valuable panel or screen space with rows and rows of red alarm buttons that may never illuminate in 20 yrs? That was a design style of the 50s and 60s.

Now we're used to having displays devoted to the primary task and if any monitored parameter goes out of spec, the software displays it.

[Looking4Neptune]

Would be great to contribute if I could. My programming is a bit rusty (I mostly manage programmers now) but still do some. Very interested in hearing how things work out with the arduino hardware and the sensors.

Like someone else said, I'd probably opt for a laptop / tablet screen. There are so many software tools / frameworks / components that make things easier for the first version and then for sending its output to other screens that may be in the cockpit or on a mobile.

[socaldmax]

That's my current plan is to have 2 laptops at the Nav station, one dedicated to Opencpn with radar, gribs, weather, planned course and AIS overlays, the other displaying heading, speed, alarms, wind, etc. Both receiving data off of the wifi network. One could be in any stateroom on the boat and pull up either screen on a tablet for quick reference.

[ka4wja]

cajucito,
Yes this has been done (on mega yachts and new commercial vessels), and is technically do-able using NMEA 2000....

And, I applaud your imitative, but I'm with Rich here on this one!!

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

It will be great, it will give you something to work on while cruising.

And, please don't take offense, but it appears that you've never sailed offshore???
'Cause the MOST important things you never mentioned...
a) Keep the sea water on the outside of the boat...(yes, you did mention a bilge alarm, but there's more to it than that!)
Hull, deck, keel, rudder, hatch, port integrity, etc...

b) Keep the boat right-side up...
Seamanship....

c) Keep the boat pointed in at least approximately the right direction...
Navigation, a good steering compass, etc...

d) Keep air in the sails...
Sailing skills...

e) Get enough rest/sleep, and eat good meals, drink enough fresh water, etc...
Seamanship, experience, lack of ego, etc...


EVERYTHING ELSE is secondary to all of the above....
None of these things needs a computer or all-in-one display....

And spending time/effort/money and electrical power to run an "All-in-One" display at the expense of all of the above is a rather bad idea....
Not to mention that this is going to be drenched in sea water from time to time....the oceans will not care how many lines of code you wrote, the display WILL get wet!!!

Not to mention that running a laptop 24/7 for Nav, when on a passage???
Why in the world would you need/want to do that???
If you're in fog, or rain squalls, etc. then I see the advantage of radar....and when coastal piloting / maneuvering thru tight cuts, etc. then having good charting is important....but at sea, in the open ocean, there is nothing on the damn chart anyway, so why run a laptop 24/7??
Most just plot their position on a paper chart (or even just keep a running log, with times/positions), every so often...


Sorry to sound so blunt....but if I were you, I'd concentrate on learning about offshore sailing, seamanship, navigation, etc. and leave the IT and automation design, etc. for the mega yachts and commercial vessels...

Remember you are talking about SAILING...sand sailing offshore...things don't move so fast that one person needs this type of system...

Originally Posted by cajucito

On long trips its unreasonable to expect someone to be looking at displays for something new all the time.

If you actually read what I wrote above as the MOST important things, I think you'll see what I'm talking about....



BTW, here are a couple photos showing my bilge alarm float (it's the little white box, at the bottom, at the extreme left edge of the pics), which runs directly off the main house bank (as well as my extra bilge pump, etc.) sorry about the dirty bilges, I was in the middle of working on things...
The alarm (at the Nav Station) is LOUD and VERY reliable...






Fair winds...

John
s/v Annie Laurie

[hellosailor]

John, you don't think capsize, pitchpole, and yaw/gibe rate indicators belong up there as well??


;-)

[JPA Cate]

Here's some things you might like to be aware of prior to alarming:
1) engine oil temperature as well as pressure
2) engine coolant temperature

Such info should display in a way you can relate to it, perhaps a graphic of the actual guage.

What I'm getting at is things about which you could take preventive action, rather than having a serious overheating problem, loss of oil pressure, etc.

Ann

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

...it will give you something to work on while cruising.

This.

Do it for your own keep-busy entertainment. But I would never put a complication like that on my own boat. It is pure folly to visualize yourself laying around in the cockpit, thinking everything is all OK, when you should be periodically moving about the boat, checking things, visually, and seeing to it that your vessel and crew are safe.

[Sir Rondo Normal]

Compatibility with more than just Windows. It is most frustrating finding anything nautical for Macs.

[Cap Erict3]

Not sure if you know but you are considering system control and data acquisition (SCADA). I have designed a number of bullet proof systems for marine, industrial and commercial installations that have run for decades in hostile environments.

Done properly, it can be a real asset for your vessel. There is a big learning curve to overcome.
You may want to consider plc's instead of pc's.

Good luck on your endeavors.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Sir Rondo Normal

Compatibility with more than just Windows. It is most frustrating finding anything nautical for Macs.

A old buddy of mine does and maintains a few of these systems on high end boats. He's been a Mac guy for many years.. I cant imagine he's using anything else.... I don't see him much anymore though.