Mahe 36: Instruments

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Lori,
Sorry, I was off the thread for some time.
I have purchased the ecopilot last autumn. Probably I will mount it this week, it was very cold here.
The ecopilot is basically a connector with integrated electronics. I will mount it in parallel to the present connector. So that if on a trip the ecopilot electronics breaks down I can swap connectors in seconds. There is just an extra 12V wire required.
The ecopilot will reduce the current from 1.25 to 0.2 Ampere. Thi means that he average power of the Furuno autopilot system goes from 2.5 to around 1.5 ampere.

The ecopilot is much cheaper than the solar cell required to produce this 1 Ampere power. For me it's a nobrainer.
Bye,
Jef

[Cotemar]

Jef,

Please take some good pictures of how you connect your Ecopilot.
I would like to duplicate what you do when I connect and Ecopilot also.

Thanks
Mark

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Hi Martin, others,
Regarding a circuit diagram:
The Furuno electronics is installed by a subcontractor of Fountaine Pajot called Pochon. One of their people was aboard to commission our boat: to calibrate the electric compass of the autopilot, and to check it.
I have kindly asked him, and received, Pochon's circuit diagram that was valid at that moment, May 2008.
This is the version that:
- Has the Furuno GPS, tridata, wind instrument
- The 3-function depth / speed / temperature transducer
- Has the Furuno autopilot
- Has the Simrad AT10 Universal Convertor NMEA0183 / NMEA2000.
There are some minor errors in it. The 3 pages are attached

It is new to me that there is a Furuno server on some models, as Martin writes.

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Martin,
I am curious about your setup, since I might also switch to using the laptop as plotter. Or a combination of laptop inside and plotter at the helm.
Which PC navigation SW do you use? Which maps?
Do you get a radar overlay, or do you consider this unimportant? (and AIS more important?). How do you get currents and tides?

I use a garmin 276C very small plotter. It is connected to the NMEA0183 bus through a double-contact switch. This switch switches between the Furuno GPS32 and the garmin 276C as input for the autopilot and the Furuno instruments.
Maps and waypoints are uploaded to the 276C from the laptop using Mapsource SW. You need a trick to get your present position in the laptop (make a MOB waypoint in the Garmin and transfer this from the Garmin to Mapsource in the PC)

When I really need the plotter outside, e.g. anchoring, I decouple the battery-powered 276C, take it outside, and switch NMEA to the Furuno GPS32.

Kind regards
Jef

[Cotemar]

Mahe's,

Here are some Great Cruise planning tools.

Marine GeoGarage, the nautical maps web portal
http://marine.geogarage.com/routes

Pick your Map Content in the right top corner.
As you zoom in the marine maps get a higher resolution. Put in your waypoints & routes

Today NOAA (US), Linz (NZ) and DHN (Brazil) have decided to release freely their nautical maps which can be downloadable on their websites.
So the Marine GeoGarage displays them publicly, the cost for their web hosting being paid by online advertisment..
Some layers (UKHO) (UK) are only accessible via some monthly recurring subscription used to pay royalties to some Hydrographic Services.
This is one of the features of the Premium subscription, which is a month to month service with no annual contract.

ActiveCaptain
www.activecaptain.com
Click on The Interactive Cruising Guidebook
Zoom in on the NOAA Charts for more detail
When you see the colored # tags, just click on them to find great anchorages and how others rated them.

Mark

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Last week I have installed the Ecopilot power-saving device for the Lecomble et Schmitt hydraulic cylinder. See some previous posts by Cotemar and me.
I installed it as follows:
- The device is a replacement-plug for the standard plug on the hydraulic cylinder, see picture. The new plug has electronics inside.
- I installed the new plug with it's own cable connected to the autopilot in parallel to the standard plug. This way, if the new device breaks down, you can swap back fast.
- I purchased 2.5 metres of household 3-lead 3*0.75 mm2 cable. With european colors blue for + lead, brown for - lead, yellow/green for ground.
- This is connected to the device which is basically a PCB inside a connector with very litlle space to spare. It is a nice water-tight construction. There is little space in the plug so pay attention to the length of the leads, see picture.
- I pulled the new cable through the big grey hose holding multiple cables.
- On the autopilot side, the cable is connected in parallel to the standard cable: (see the Furuno autopilot installation manual, the fold-out on the last page)
-- Blue lead, Bypass/Clutch +, is connected to connector TB3 pin 1, B/C_Power.
--Brown lead, Bypass/Clutch -, is conected to connector TB3 pin 2, B/C.
-- Yellow/Green lead, Gnd, is connected to connector TB3 pin 3, Shield.
- I put the original plug in a zip-lock bag to prevent loss of the rubber seal and bolt. And tied it up with a tie-wrap.

Note:
- See the paper coming with the new plug.
- Remove the main fuse of the autopilot before starting work on this.
- The polarity of the original clutch may be reverse, you can swap this. Do not swap the polarity of the new plug.
- Work neatly on the autopilot side. The wires are very close together on plug TB3. If you have some stray wires making contact between the connections, you will damage a relay in the autopilot. Especially between pins 1 and 2.
- The Gnd wire is not essential. It will give some reduction of RF interference. It would be nice to use a 2-lead wire with shield instead. However this causes more risk of short-circuit on the plug side by stray wires.
- Power reduction is around 1.25 Amps. I confirmed this using our Nasa battery monitor.

Jef

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by Jef & Marin, Netherlands

- I purchased 2.5 metres of household 3-lead 3*0.75 mm2 cable. With european colors blue for + lead, brown for - lead, yellow/green for ground.

Jef,

FWIW, the color code you quoted is backwards. Brown should be + and blue should be -. Obviously, it's all copper in the middle so it works! :^)

[MKB53]

Hi Jeff

Sorry about the delay but I am travelling at the moment and not online very much.

I use SOB (Software on Board) - I did not research nav software much and this decision was pretty much because I could get a trial system free and the fully functional SW was very inexpensive (A$60). I figured I could get to know the issues of using nav SW at low cost and then upgrade to something better if I felt I needed more. I would then be able to evaluate the available SW with some experience behind me.

So far the SOB has been pretty good. It has met my needs and proved reliable.

SOB have been bought by another company so I suspect the prices may have changed!

SOB use C-Map charts and I have been using the "All Australia" card in a CMap reader connected to the Laptop via USB. The charts are pretty good but have a few annoying attributes. I have MapSource as well (handheld GPS) and sometimes refer to those for missing attributes.

I have not got radar but the SW does support it. I felt the AIS was more important for the conditons and usage I have in the near term.

The SW is capable of uploading waypoints and course details to the Autopilot/GPS and also issuing commands directly to the Autopilot if it (SOB) is in charge (Navigating). I tried this via the serail connection but do not have it set up correctly at the moment.

Both sets of electronic charts have tide and current info and this is displayed on SOB on the Laptop. I also down load GRIB files and upload these to SOB to assist in route planning.

I can answer any specific questions but won't have access to photos or configurations till I get home late March.

Cheers
Martin

[MKB53]

Jeff

A few more things:
The SOB SW is designed for Touch screen use. It can be used with a mouse pointer. I use the pointer but I think it would be a lot easier with touch screen.

I do not yet have a display at the helm. When manoevering in the dark the Admiral sits at the helm and shouts instructions. I would love to get a waterproof touch screen for the helm and attach that to the Laptop.

My AIS has a GPS as it is a transponder not just a receiver. I have filtered out the signal from this but it could be used by the Laptop should the Furuno GPS break.

One of the limitations in teh configuration is the capability of the Furuno "Server". It is more of a hub/repeater than a server and can only repeat a limited number of NMEA messages so you need to decide which you need and configure accordingly. Another reason that I interfaced the AIS via the Brookhouse Multiplexer rather than via the server.

I will get down to producing a circuit diagram, perhaps over a beer on holiday!

Cheers
Martin

[Cotemar]

Mahe’s,

Put in a Weather Station with remote outside temp sensor and moved the 12 volt plug off the main panel to make room for the battery & solar panel monitor.

Mark

[Cotemar]

Jan Iversen,

Mahe’s are using the Furuno NavPilot 511 autopilot with a Hydraulic Linear Cylinder made by Lecomble & Schmitt to the steering quadrant.
Their web site is www.ls-france.com

Here are the numbers on the parts.
Cylinder REF 22010961 41RL128908
Pump REF 2201100C 41RL207608
Oil Reservoir REF 2202631C 41RL007508

This is the e-mail reply I received from Lecomble & Schmitt when I gave them my part numbers to see which system I have.

You will find in the attachment an information sheet on the linear drive
installed on your Mahe.

The P/N of the model you have is 2202631. It is not on our web site.
Your model is absolutely identical to
P/N 2201788 "LINEAR DRIVE 40 ST 16 DEBP 12 V"
but you have steel fittings instead of stainless steel fittings.
This is the only difference.
See attached PDF for details

Mark

[goboatingnow]

It is new to me that there is a Furuno server on some models, as Martin writes.

Thats becuase Furuno original series instruments are just NEXUS units painted furuno grey

Dave

[Scott730]

The Furuno FI-30 series is not made by Furuno Japan. It is a product supported by Furuno France only. It has a server as a central hub or processer located behind the Refridgerator. Because it is a central hub for all the electronics it is a single point of failure, when it fails all instruments fail. Mine failed 3 times and Furuno USA replaced them with the FI-50 equipment which is Furuno gear and doesn't have a server. This was a very big deal and it went all the way to Furuno Japan for resolution. All the wiring and transducers had to be replaced to be compatible with the Standard Furuno FI-50 Equipment.

[vayacondios]

Our autopilot keeps deviating, and a deviation alarm goes on. The boat just swings far out then the alarm goes on. I can not reproduce the problem, it happens both sailing upwind and down. Has anyone else had this problem.

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Hi Vayacondios,
If the autopilot is delivered by Fountaine Pajot or your dealer:
Looks like a warranty case to me. Either the set-up of the autopilot is faulty, or something is defect.
What if you were sailing single-handed, go to the toilet, and the autopilot fails, and you get a gybe and damage boom/mast/sail or whatever?