Anchor Alarms?

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

I have not used "Drag Queen" much, but normally the GPS will report the accuracy and display this. It gives you some idea of the confidence in accuracy of the readings. This information is supplied by the GPS chip in the device and is not adjustable.

There is often a separate alarm that can be set to trigger if the accuracy drops below a the set value. This is user adjustable. Different GPS units have different criterion for reporting the accuracy, but for example my Garman handheld reports an accuracy of 3m with a good SD fix. This increases to 10m if the differential adjustment is lost. If the fix is much greater than this something is wrong ( usually the antenna is blocked by some large object). So an alarm set at 12m would alert me that the GPS fix had become unreliable without any risk of false alarms.

Aha! so that's it. Damn thing gave me a couple of false alarms. And we hadn't moved an inch

[nigel1]

Why the bashing of anchor alarms, if it can add to safety, surely its a good thing?
Had a bad day last winter, a 10 hr beat to windward single handed, with wind steadily increasing to 35kts, gusts of 40. Eventually made it into a small bay. First anchor attempt was a disaster, anchor had no effect, I had managed to drop it dead on an old unmarked lobster pot. Drifted a few miles back out to sea by the time I had the anchor recovered and cleared.

Second attempt at anchoring no problem, held like a dream.

At this stage I had been awake for about 18 hrs, was was pretty exhausted.

I've had a lot of time at sea, and developed a pretty good sixth sense as to when things are not right (does not extend to predicting where a lobster pot might be), but in this state, I'm not going to rely on this sixth sense telling me the anchor is dragging. If I nodded off, much rather be woken to the banshee wail of a loud buzzer than the sound of my keel bouncing along the seabed.

If you have the tools available, use them would be my advise.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I have used the anchor alarm in my chartplotter. It isn't loud enough to wake me if I'm in deep sleep mode..

Get out the installation instructions and see if there is a way to connect a remote alarm. My Garmin has a provision for this. You can put the remote alarm wherever you need it.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by nigel1

Why the bashing of anchor alarms, ............

It makes some people feel like they are better than others who use technology. It's like the electronic charts vs. paper charts argument.

I agree with you, if it keeps you safer, why not use it?

[Kenomac]

I think I tested all the anchor alarm apps last month for my "Anchors are a drag" thread. Had the best luck using INavx chartplotter app on my ipad because it also provided a history, and "Anchor Watch/SMS" on my Samsung G4 android phone. The 5-6 others tested worked well, but these two were a little better.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I have used the anchor alarm in my chartplotter. It isn't loud enough to wake me if I'm in deep sleep mode.

I've read where some have successfully used a baby monitor system to repeat sounds from the helm.

-Chris

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by tedsherrin

I'm not a phone guru I admit. But what I do know is that if i run out of credit and therefore I have no data, or I have no wifi connected to my phone or ipad, my google maps, Navionics, AU Tides, and even my Oz Runways, don't work.

Ted,

GPS in iPhone doesn't require cell service. The anchor alarm apps don't need cell data to know the position has changed. They only need cell data to show your position on Google Earth which some of them do. But they will work as anchor alarms even without cell service

[estarzinger]

^^

For me, I don't use them routinely for two reasons:

I don't like the false positives.
It adds another little task which does not routinely add much value - eg I am not going to be dragging routinely, and I have a pretty good idea when I could.

I am/was simply stating what I have discovered is best for me. I have no interest in "selling" my approach as either the only or the best approach for other people.

As an aside, radar with a guard zone set up, is often useful . . . I find more so than the anchor alarms . . . But it does take more power. Again, I use when there is a specific risk rather than routinely.

[clownfishsydney]

We have two anchor alarms. One is a simple Garmin 120 GPS which you can set a distance and it will alarm if you move outside that. The other is MemoryMap on a laptop. Similarly, we set a distance and it will alarm if we go outside the circle. We used a number of times on our delivery trip. Yes, there were some false alarms, but with a new boat we were not sure of how secure the anchoring and mooring system was.

Better to be safe than sorry. After a few more uses, I am sure that we will get better at using it.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

I've read where some have successfully used a baby monitor system to repeat sounds from the helm.

-Chris

That's not as sophisticated as wiring in an external alarm but there's no reason it wouldn't work.

[monte]

Unfortunately the new Raymarine e series, and probably the other new models don't have an external alarm jack...crazy..

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by nigel1

Why the bashing of anchor alarms, if it can add to safety, surely its a good thing?
Had a bad day last winter, a 10 hr beat to windward single handed, with wind steadily increasing to 35kts, gusts of 40. Eventually made it into a small bay. First anchor attempt was a disaster, anchor had no effect, I had managed to drop it dead on an old unmarked lobster pot. Drifted a few miles back out to sea by the time I had the anchor recovered and cleared.

Second attempt at anchoring no problem, held like a dream.

At this stage I had been awake for about 18 hrs, was was pretty exhausted.

I've had a lot of time at sea, and developed a pretty good sixth sense as to when things are not right (does not extend to predicting where a lobster pot might be), but in this state, I'm not going to rely on this sixth sense telling me the anchor is dragging. If I nodded off, much rather be woken to the banshee wail of a loud buzzer than the sound of my keel bouncing along the seabed.

If you have the tools available, use them would be my advise.

This is why/when I rely on alarms... I, like most of you jump to my feet from a dead sleep when the motion tells me something's different, and an investigation is warranted...

It's the "I'M DEAD to the world exhausted" that scares me into the backup as a standard practice...

[GALAWA]

I have a LOWRANCE HDS 12 Touch screen
Alarms can be programmed on a number of parameters: Wind speed, boat speed, depth, ...etc and off course distance from set mooring position.
Unfortunately, the alarm is hardly audible and outright useless when I sleep
According to the HDS 12 documents, there is no way to adjust the volume of the alarm sound .There is no dry contact output from the set to activate an external alarm device
The LOWRANCE tech support tells me nothing can be done unless I return the HDS 12 touch for servicing.
Does anyone have a more positive experience of this product ?

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by monte

Unfortunately the new Raymarine e series, and probably the other new models don't have an external alarm jack...crazy..

The Garmin doesn't have a jack either but it has a wire in the cable that's used for the external alarm.

Important: This wire doesn't provide 12 volts DC as one might think, it "sinks" (connects to ground) so you would run a 12 volt wire through a fuse, then to the positive buzzer terminal. The negative buzzer terminal connects to the remote alarm wire from the Garmin. When the internal alarm sounds on the plotter, the alarm wire is grounded internally and this completes the circuit to the buzzer and it sounds.

[IdoraKeeper]

I use anchor watch pro for Android on a Nexus7. Good battery life. Put the tablet on the shelf next to my head. Wakes me every time. Setup requires thought for different anchorages. I normally use the length of the rode and note the heading on my electronic heading indicator when setting the anchor. You can use sector alerts ect. I don't employ the cell capability. Just don't set the limits too tight or you will have nuisance alarms. The gps is good to 13 ft so I give it a 20ft margin. Works good. Just don't forget to shut it off when you weigh anchor. It will alarm as you depart.