A QUICK STORAGE PROJECT

The three days hunkering down below waiting for the Nor' Easter to pass gave me time to work on some projects that have been on the "To Do"  list. I have three aerosol products that I try to keep handy in the tool locker. They are Corrosion Block, Boeshield T-9 and PB Blaster.  I often have to rummage through other items to get to them. Somewhat of a pain when all I need to do is grab one of them for a quick spray. So I came up with an idea of hanging a fabric pocket made out of some knock off Sunbrella material I had on board and hanging it on the inside of the tool locker door to hold the cans. It was a quick job using my Sailrite LSZ-1 Sewing Machine to put it together:
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This allows for much easier access to them and utilizes the space inside the tool locker  much better. Not to mention less aggravation trying to find the cans among the other stored items

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DON'T JUST SIT THERE, DO SOMETHING: PART TWO

More bad weather and cold temperatures are making trips to the boat kind of unappealing. So I've been looking for projects that are boat related that I can do at home. For example I picked up my RCA Small Wonder EZ2120B digital video camera which is now superseded by this model.
It is one of several cameras I use on board to make videos or take photos. I like the RCA camera because it is so easy to operate, has a large 2 inch LCD screen, has 1/4" camera mount so it can also be used on a tripod  and is easier to change modes like video resolution than some of my other cameras. It also has a big red button to start recording. I keep it handy on board to capture events which spring up and I don't have time to find and setup my GoPro or other cameras. For example I used it to capture the fireworks at last years Oyster Bay Oyster festival:



I did not even have it set for HD mode but, it still made a nice video. Since it only cost  about fifty bucks I would not feel as bad if it ever went over the side accidently unlike some of the more expensive cameras I also use. Unfortunately, since I usually keep it on the cabin table to have it nearby I must have laid a something heavy on it when closing the boat up for the winter haulout. I went to use the camera and found the LCD screen was screen cracked and unusable. I hated to just throw it out since it was still recording fine. So one damp and dreary winter's day I decided to take it apart and see if I could repair it:

After finding the several screws holding the main board to the case and an additional one holding the LCD screen to the main board I was able to remove the LCD screen and get a part number off of it:

As luck would have it somebody was selling a used LCD screen for the camera on EBAY for five dollars including shipping. Which had me doing the happy dance. After it arrived I carefully installed it into the camera and put the case back together and it works perfectly. So I am very happy that I'll once again be able to use the camera on board for videos and that there is one less piece of electronics that is not going to be heading to a landfill somewhere.

DOWNSIZING SOUNDS GOOD

The entertainment system on board BIANKA is not elaborate. For over decade it was a Panasonic RX-DS7 boom box. The unit had a CD player, AM/FM radio and even a cassette player. Yes, I still have some cassettes. Unfortunately, the unit over the years has gotten a little beat up which included a few falls to the cabin floor.

It's got a couple of dents in the speaker grill. The CD had also become non functional and developed a raspy sound in it's speakers. The reason why I found out on closer inspection is that one of the speakers  had broken away from it's mounting:

Obviously after ten plus years it was time for a new unit.  So the other day I made an impulse buy and bought a new "entertainment center" for the boat. It is a GPX CD/Radio/MP3  Boombox   .
It is a basic unit that has no cassette player but, does have a line input so I could plug in my MP3 player or even a cassette player if I ever wanted too. It also has a digital tuner as compared to the old Panasonic unit which had a linear tuning system:

The GPX CD/Radio/MP3 input Boombox   is also much smaller that the Panasonic it is replacing:

On a thirty foot boat like BIANKA having smaller items in the cabin is a good thing. I also modified the GPX so I could hook it into the 12 volt to 9 volt power supply I built to power the Panasonic unit:

I also added Anderson Powerpole connectors to the GPX  unit and power supply making it easy to disconnect and secure the box while underway:

. The unit sounds good and fits easily on the shelf I built for the Panasonic unit:

While I tend to not play the radio or CD too often on board preferring to keep an ear out for the cry of the Osprey or other sounds. Still it's nice to have some tunes available from time to time. The first CD I played on the unit was John Renbourn's The Hermit which is an excellent CD for listening to on board on a tranquil summer evening. Hopefully this unit will last as long as the previous "entertainment center" on board.

LORAN LIVES AND A HAPPY EARTH DAY ENDING!

I was sad when the U.S. Government shut down all theU.S. LORAN transmitting stations back in 2010. That action rendered my Kings 8001 unit obsolete. Still, I kept it aboard for a while until I thought I might be able to recycle part of it even if it was just the case. I posted about my plans for the obsolete unit here. Then about a month ago I received an email from a fellow in Norway who had seen my post and wanted to know if I still had the boards. It seems that LORAN is still alive and well and used on the waters around Norway. Who knew? He also mentioned that he had a non functioning Kings 8001 unit and would like to acquire the boards so he could try and repair his unit. This is what I call a win win situation and so yesterday on Earth Day I sent the LORAN boards off to Norway to hopefully continue to help guide fellow sailors on their way as it did for me. I love when things can be recyled!

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART FOUR: Choosing the Enclosure

Once I gave up on using the obsolete Kings Loran case new possibilities opened up. I could use a bigger enclosure that would hold more meters and therefore have more information on the battery bank. I planned to mount the enclosure at the helm so I would not have to move to see it.  I would need to make sure that the enclosure would be able to endure the weather conditions at that location. Looking at my choices I choose a
 BUD Industries PN-1325-CMB Polycarbonate NEMA 4X Box with Mounting Bracket and Clear Cover.
It had dimensions of 8.74 x 5.75 x 2.17 in.  Big enough to easy house the four battery meters I planned to install originally. Now I could also add a total battery pack voltage meter and also an amp meter too. Plus I'd still have space for other instrumentation meters I may plan in the future.

It also has flanges so I could mount it easily without drilling holes in the back of the enclosure. Since the box may be exposed to the elements keeping the amount of holes drilled into it is a good idea. The box it's self is designed to IP65 of IEC 529 and NEMA 1, 2, 4, 4x, 12, and 13 specifications and is UL Listed. The NEMA 4X spec is especially relevant in my application on board BIANKA:

"Type 4X  Enclosures constructed for either indoor or outdoor use to provide a degree 

of protection to personnel against access to hazardous parts; to provide a degree of 

protection of the equipment inside the enclosure against ingress of solid foreign objects 

(windblown dust); to provide a degree of protection with respect to harmful effects on 

the equipment due to the ingress of water (rain, sleet, snow, splashing water, and hose 

directed water); that provides an additional level of protection against corrosion; and 

that will be undamaged by the external formation of ice on the enclosure."  

Sounds like it should be able to hold up for most of the conditions experienced at the helm position. It also comes with Threaded brass inserts and cover screws are M-4 stainless steel, non-magnetic and fasten into threaded brass inserts. The cover has a gasket material of Silicon Sponge. The body and cover are also UV stabilized.
I also bought the BUD Industries PNX-91425 Aluminum Internal Panel which fits inside the PN-1235 box and mounts to the brass inserts molded into the bottom. This panel will be used to mount the meters inside the box.
With the enclosure now in hand it's time to start wiring things up.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART THREE CLICK HERE

 INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART FIVE CLICK HERE

  

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART TWO: Rethinking the Paktrakr

I guess I should explain why I am doing this instrumentation project. When I first converted to electric propulsion I had a Xantrex XBM battery monitor. I ordered it with with the Asmo Marine Thoosa 9000 electric propulsion system. It worked well except for the fact that even though the specifications claimed it was "splash proof" it did not say anything about it being sun proof. So I had to move it to a location in the cockpit where I could still see it but, was not view able without opening one of the cockpit hatches.
In addition it could only read the battery pack voltage and current. It did not read the individual battery voltages.

 
In my researching for an electric propulsion system I came across postings for another battery monitor called a Paktrakr.  It had been used by a number of electric vehicle enthusiasts. Unlike the XBM it could read the individual voltages of the four batteries in BIANKA's 48 volt propulsion bank. Here it is showing the voltage of battery number one in the 48 volt string:

It  could also show the entire pack voltage in a digital display and as a fuel guage:

It would also even tell you the temperature of the battery compartment:

It provided a lot of information in a small package.  It could with an additional sensor also read current and also had the ability to download battery data (with an optional cable) into a computer for analysis. I thought it would be a good backup the XBM since monitoring your battery bank in a boat with electric propulsion is like having a fuel gauge on a boat with a diesel engine. So a year after I converted to electric propulsion I bought a Patrakr and installed it in the main cabin so I could keep an eye on the battery bank without having to go out into the cockpit to look at the XBM monitor. It had a nice small display and it fit very nicely on the door to BIANKA's  wind, depth and speed instraments:

It worked well for several years. At first I just used it for voltage measurements of the battery bank. But, soon I ordered the current sensor so I could see how the battery bank was charging too. A few years later I ordered the data cable. So I could see how the battery bank was charging over the winter layup with the solar panels.
Then early last spring I went on board and found out one of the 8A4D AGM batteries in my 48 volt string was not completing it's charge cycle. I could not see a reason why this battery would suddenly time out when charging. The only thing different between this battery and the other three is the Paktrakr takes it's power from this battery. Even though it's only drawing 25 milli amps of current for the basic unit I had recently added the data recorder and so it might have been drawing more. How much I don't know but, I decided to disconnect from the battery bank full time. I was able to eventually get the troublesome battery to accept a full charge. But, I decided that I needed an alternative battery voltage and current monitoring system to the Paktrakr. One that does not take power from one individual battery like the Patrakkr did. That's the reason I embarked on this instrumentation project.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART ONE CLICK HERE

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART THREE CLICK HERE

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART ONE: Plan A

Back around Earth Day last year I mentioned that I was planning on recycling the now obsolete Kings 8001 LORAN unit. I have come up with a new instrumentation project to monitor BIANKA's propulsion battery bank. The  weather proof case of the Kings LORAN will fit nicely into my plans.  The back of the Kings unit has a few connectors on it which might come in useful:

The coaxial LORAN antenna connection might come in useful for some type of video feed.  The AMP 25 pin connector might also prove useful. But,  first I have to  remove some of the internal electronics. This King 8001 LORAN unit sold for about $600 in 1985. In today's dollars that would be over $1,100. Opening it up I could see why:

Ed King sure put a lot of electronic technology inside the box:

Including some LSI (Large Scale Integration) chips for the display board and some nice conformal coating to help protect the circuity from the marine environment:

It's no wonder this unit was working right up until the Coast Guard shut down the Loran transmitters. Probably would have kept on working for many more years if they had kept the transmitters operating too . Oh well at least some of Kings design will live on at least on BIANKA. Even if it is only the case:

 I knew the case for the Kings Loran would be good to use since it already had a home and mounting hardware in the cockpit and was pretty weather proof.  But, I also hoped to recycle as much of the existing hardware as possible. The first thing I thought I could use is the metal shield that was used  between the some of the circuit boards inside the Loran. I thought it would make a good mounting plate for the meters and switch.

Well, after buying some of the metering components I soon found out that my original plan was just not going to work out.

Using paper cut outs of the meter dimensions I soon realized that the Kings Loran case would be to small to house all the instrumentation I wanted at the helm. It looked I could fit the four battery meters and the switch that controls them. 

But, I could not also fit the more important current meter inside too. Even though it looked at first like it would:

But, in the end I could see it was just not going to work out:

So it's on to Plan B!

 INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART 2 CLICK HERE

TOOLS OF AN ELECTRIC SAILOR: CONNECTOR CLEANING BRUSHES

A few weeks ago I was attempting to use my digital voltmeter to get the current draw reading of one of the boats battery monitors. Somehow I managed to blow the meter's internal fuse. When I opened the meter case up I notice some corrosion on the battery contacts. Looks like it's time to do a little electronic maintenance. For cleaning small electrical contacts on board BIANKA and at home I like to use  nylon bristled  a Connector Cleaning Brush 3-6 mm x 20 mm


 


The nylon bristle  cleaning brushes are durable and reusable. In a pinch I will also use a cotton Q tip. But, I prefer these brushes for their durability, re usability and the fact that they can get into spaces that a Q-tip can't because of it's size.  The brushes are tapered and they do not shed fibers like a cotton Q-Tip can:

The scrubbing action of the nylon brushes also allow for better cleaning in tighter spaces:

You can see the difference in the first pass with the brush on the contact on the left in the photo below:

The tapered design also allows you to give other connectors and contacts a good scrubbing and cleaning. Like the meter's test cable input jacks:

The Connector Cleaning Brush can also clean hard to reach computer cable connector pins that would be difficult to clean with Q-tips:

In short it's the right tool for the right job. With boats having more devices on board with more and more connectors it's always a good idea to have a few of these Connector Cleaning Brushes on board along with some denatured alcohol to use as a solvent to clean contacts and connectors.