Cruising is... Nov 14, '09-Feb 14,'10, Part IV
When we left you, we'd finished with the physical installation of our
instrumentation at the helm. Now it's time to wire it all up.
Over the past several months I'd been in frequent contact with the technical
support folks at Raymarine, trying to resolve the intricacies of NMEA
(National Marine Electronics Association) and SeaTalk (Raymarine's
proprietary electronics buss) communications between instruments. An
extremely long and convoluted genesis excluded, the upshot was that we
couldn't really do what we wanted to.
That was exacerbated by the discovery, as part of the below wiring
discussion, that the AIS receiver we'd bought would not talk to Raymarine.
The upshot was to do what was, to me, the minimally acceptable connection of
the GPS to the chartplotter and the nav station radios (the GPS would allow
emergency communication through both the SSB and VHF radios, with our
location imbedded). My contact at Raymarine had given me very specific,
wire-to-wire (with color codes) connections, so it was a connect-the-dots
exercise in that regard.
Our final step was figuring out where to mount the power supply for the
charger/mount for our wireless extension for the nav station VHF. It had
previously sat next to the chartplotter on the other pod, but our new
plotter took all the available space on the new pod's face. After a lot of
trial placement of the base with the hand-held remote mounted in it (no
holes!), we settled on the space under the winch handles, next to the winch
handle pocket. A neat, clean installation, out of the way. It, too, had been
a warranty-return item, as it had not had usable reception or transmission
with the prior radio. After wiring it up for power, allowing the internal
battery to recharge, and establishing the connection over its wireless link
to our new radio at the nav station, it came through loud and clear in both
respects. In retrospect, the prior unit may not have been defective at all;
it may have simply been the base radio at fault! Finally, we're finished
with all the wiring pulls...
However, like most aging boats, where new components had been added, the
wiring was a rat's nest inside the pedestal. Getting ready, as I
disconnected each old item, I labeled the connection point, identifying
color codes for everything that came off. I also traced back the old wiring
to where it terminated at the nav station terminal strip, and noted all the
color-codes for the various connection points. With all connections bared
and separated, I planned out my connection routes, and, in the end, wound up
with a very much neater installation than before, with each individual cable
labeled for future troubleshooting. Additionally, all the wiring is bundled,
and the 30' cable which came with the GPS, bundled in the center, does
additional duty by pushing against the rest of the bundle and the decorative
panel with the Morgan logo which covers the front. This keeps all the wires
from potentially contacting the projecting screw points which mount the
protective decorative panel on their sides, an additional bonus. In case
you're
wondering, I kept all that cable in case we later decide to run it down to
our terminal strip at the nav station for other integration duties.
Holding our breath, we powered it all up. OH NO!!! The radar doesn't work!!!
Back to the computer and Raymarine's help desk, the answer quickly arrived:
we need a software upgrade for the chartplotter, as the radar's newer than
when this unit was built. Shortening the story, again, while a new chip
(with the software upgrade) was ordered, and on the way, a fellow cruiser,
in discussion during a potluck hors d'oevres session at one of the local
eateries, said he had the chip, and offered it to us. We gratefully
accepted, and installed the upgrade. Voila!, it works, and all the chart
colors and separations came along with the now-functional radar. Because
we'd heard, in prior readings in various forums and lists, that he was truly
the best there was, the local wizard, Pat, at Merlin's electronics, was
scheduled to come to try to make all of our stuff work together. He agreed
to allow Raymarine to ship him the chip for our pickup, but as seen above,
we'd not actually need it...
Better yet, however, while doing some chart cross-checking (this was our
first experience with the charts on this new type of chip) against what we
recalled on our computer navigation programs, we discovered that, through
SeaTalk, the Raymarine proprietary information buss, connected to our nav
station terminal strip's connections in our prior layout, our computer now
showed the GPS as well!!! Hooray - the computer's USB GPS puck is now in
backup mode, awaiting simple insertion in case the new one, for some
unexpected reason, takes a dump.
Even better yet, rather than being on the old GPS breaker, this new one's on
the instrument breaker, which means that whenever we have the instruments
on, exclusive of the chartplotter, which doesn't have to be on, we still get
the signal to the computer! I LOVE redundancy :{))
Everything talks to everything else, and, the AIS issue aside (which can be
solved with another unit more appropriately designed, and, perhaps, another
piece of gear designed to overcome the dinosaur which is the current NMEA
standard's limitations) all is well with the world.
We call Merlin's, letting him know that we won't need his expertise, but
that we need to arrange for the chip to go back to Raymarine when it
arrives. He says he wants to buy the chip from us, as he's sure he can use
it. We learn, when we go to settle on it a couple of days later, that
Raymarine, despite having taken my credit card on a memo billing basis (use
it, send it back, no charge other than shipping), has billed THEM for it. We
all go away happy, and I've not had to pay a dime. I've also backed up the
software so that should some other cruiser need it, and has a Compact Flash
card, I can give it to them, too (a freebie from Raymarine, they encouraged
me to do so).
So, finally, it's time to mount our drinks caddy, which mounting bracket
goes between the lower pod and the upper pod. I'd already drilled and tapped
the hole in the binnacle (on the empty side!) for one of the mounts. The
other, sitting in the crook of a curve of the binnacle on the radar-cable
side, is pressure-held by the curve (so I didn't have to drill another hole
in the pipe carrying the radar cable). Pressing against the pod with the
back of the caddy keeps it stable.
Now that everything at the helm is finished, it's time to reinstall the
table, removed to allow access to the wiring section. Oops... The new
forward offset of the binnacle means that the clip we use to keep the table
secure against the binnacle is no longer long enough. Off to Dad's Hardware
Store, my parts bins at the workbench, and, Bob's Your Uncle (a Britishism
my English-raised wife brought aboard), the attachment point is shimmed out
to the appropriate distance, and it's secure, again.
Meanwhile, back to the morning Cruiser's Net, I put out the word that I have
an available, new, computer-based (won't talk to most chartplotters but
speaks computer just fine) AIS unit available for cost, no shipping (I'll
eat it), duty paid (I came through customs with it!). A sailor with a real
whiz-bang of a computer which he uses for his chartplotter (do a google
search and check this out if you're not familiar with them: Itronix Gobook
260-3 made by General Dynamics.- it's nearly indestructible, and hundreds of
them are coming back from Iraq, available cheaply on eBay), but no radar,
jumps on it like a dog on a sirloin, and is thrilled, immediately chatting
up incoming cargo ships, getting sea state information from those out at
sea. He's thrilled, I'm relieved, and I'll revisit AIS at another time :{))
An aside and a teaser on these touch-screen computers in which I have
absolutely no financial interest: They are completely waterproof,
withstanding a 40 PSI water (like running a household hose directly on it)
stream on all 6 axis for some astounding amount of time with no intrusion.
Each component can be removed and replaced easily. Sand in the keyboard? -
it laughs at it. Peel it up and shake it out and put it back. They have an
incredible battery life (my buyer reports 22 hours on a charge, under way;
recall he uses it for his chartplotter). With their titanium cases, they
have impact resistance beyond anything you're likely to submit them to. A
built-in GPS makes them ideal for chartplotter applications, and the WiFi
antenna makes it the usual laptop equivalent - except that they're virtually
indestructible. Given that they're expected to hold up in combat conditions
in places like Iraq, it's no surprise that they'd do well in anything we'd
subject them to. I found a very basic one on eBay at a Buy-It-Now of $299,
and a tricked-out, loaded one at a Buy-It-Now of $795. Makes ToughBooks look
wimpy and hugely expensive. I'm very intrigued.
Even though this one isn't quite as verbose, here's a good place to stop, as
it gets very interesting in short order, as you'll soon see.
See you next time - Stay Tuned!
L8R
Skip and crew
--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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