General Info: B&G VHF v50 compatibility with OSignal MOB1

[c-reel]

it seems many cruisers go with the Spinlock 5D PFD and add the Ocean Signal MoB1 AIS/DSC, which can be easily embedded in the vest.

For those who have gone with this set up and recently got a Lagoon with B&G electronics, especially the VHF v50, did you test the VHF picks us the MoB signal or are you only relying on the AIS400/500 and the Zeus2/3 MFD ?

This concern is raised by only one comment on amazon.com where someone claims he got a confirmation from Ocean signal the Mob1 was not working with the B&G V50. Sounds a bit strange.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-r...SIN=B00T0UPYGQ

what do you think, and did anyone here with a Lagoon, a V50, and a MOB1 saw the same thing ?

[mbartosch]

I can confirm that the MOB1 DSC signal is ignored by the Simrad RS35 (which is almost identical to the B&G VHF) - at least for the firmware that was shipped in 2016. However, the MOB1 AIS signal displays fine on our Zeus2 plotter and raises a MOB alarm as expected.

This was tested and confirmed in July 2016 on our boat. After the test I contacted OceanSignal support and it was confirmed that this is a known issue. I was told that Simrad/B&G "are aware of this issue" and that they were hoping that they'd do something about it. OceanSignal claimed they had even sent them MOB1 samples to work on the issue.

Although we were pretty unhappy with the situation we did our one year cruise with only the AIS MOB function. Luckily we did not encounter any situation warranting the use of the MOB1...

[Marc_H]

I'm also considering purchasing the MOB1 and have the B&G Zeus 3.
In the installation manual it talks about installing an external siren that you connect to the Zeus 3. I was wondering which alarms trigger this external siren? We are a crew of 2 and would only like for it to trigger when it receives a MOB message from the MOB1.

As an alternative, Ocean Signal sells an AIS alarm. AIS Alarm - Ocean Signal . But I was hoping to not have to go this route and just use the Zeus 3 with an external siren hooked up.

Anyone using the external alarm?

Thanks
Marc

[mbartosch]

We don't have the Zeus3, but I think it will be similar to our Zeus2.

For this it works as follows:
You can define alarm conditions, e. g. wind speed or direction change, AIS alerts and Radar guard zone alerts.
Alarms are displayed on screen and the internal buzzer starts beeping.

When enabled, the external alarm output is activated whenever any alarm condition is raised. Unfortunately it is not possible to limit which alarms to propagate, so it's all or nothing. We have wired the external alarm to a loud siren. There's a switch in series to the siren so it is possible to enable to disable the external alarm easily.

We like to program AIS and Radar proximity alerts for night watches on passages. The person on watch is easily alerted with the internal Zeus2 beeper, and it's quiet enough not to wake up the person off watch. The downside is that this pretty much rules out usage of the external siren. Due to this limitation we very seldom use it.

BTW, I think this thread should be moved to the general Electronics forum.

[Marc_H]

mbartosch Thanks for the replay. I had a feeling that this is the way the external alarms work with the Zeus. I do like the idea of putting a switch on the external siren.

They really need a software selection for the external siren.

A workaround that I could see myself using would be to reconfigure the alarms for passages that require one of us sleeping while the other is on watch. In this situation, I think I would turn all alarms off except for the MOB function and maybe a depth alarm.

I'm going to have to do a lot more research and practical testing with this before I trust it to wake up the off watch in case of a MOB while using the MOB1.

Yes it should be moved to electronics thread

Marc

[UPSPEED]

We have the same issue with the MOB1 DSC call not been recognized by our B&G V50 VHF, and as we are in two, having a decent MOB alarm down below for the off watch person is crucial.

Our workaround has been to use the OLAS GPS wearable crew tracker, which works via bluetooth to our smartphones. We both ear the bracelet onboard at all times and have set alarms on each other's smart phones and ipads. Works pretty well, but this was supposed to be a backup to the VF50 DSC alarm.

Hope B&G and Oceansignal realize they should make this a priority and fix this issue.

Originally Posted by Marc_H

mbartosch Thanks for the replay. I had a feeling that this is the way the external alarms work with the Zeus. I do like the idea of putting a switch on the external siren.

They really need a software selection for the external siren.

A workaround that I could see myself using would be to reconfigure the alarms for passages that require one of us sleeping while the other is on watch. In this situation, I think I would turn all alarms off except for the MOB function and maybe a depth alarm.

I'm going to have to do a lot more research and practical testing with this before I trust it to wake up the off watch in case of a MOB while using the MOB1.

Yes it should be moved to electronics thread

Marc