Boat Forum / Electronics / September 2004

I have a single 110 Ah House battery which Id like to enhance.
Do I have to use additional 110s ?
Is there a technical reason why I shouldnt add a couple of 70's for example
?

I have a 70HP 1975 Johnson Outboard. After pulling plug wires one at a
time while it is runnign i found out that only one cyclinder is
actually firing. It appears that the two plugs not firing are wet, so
they should be getting fuel. Can it be two bad coils and how do i test

Helping friend for sail  south to the caribbean from Saint John, New
Brunswick.
Need the following gear:
- radar unit. Dome and display.

I have a NAVMAN 900 tracker which is a grey screen gps.  It currently
displays the words "NO GPS"  Does anyone have any ideas on why this could
be?  It does power up but gives no gps readings or data.
I do not have a user manual and everything was working fine before.

How do I test non-firing cylinders? I have a 1975 johnson 70hp engine
that is not firing on two of its 3 cylinders. The non-firing plugs
seem to be geting wet so there is fuel to them. Could it be two bad
coils and how do I test them? Any step down trouble shooting methods

I have a dual helm trawler, 40', and plan to add electronic charting with a
good GPS with an external arial.  I want to view this on a lap top
independent of input wiring so I can go to either helm whenever so ....... I
want to install a Local Area Network  (all new to me but sounds ...

I have a rather annoying problem with a mouse-gps powered by the
computer and connected to the serial port: The computer sometimes
thinks it is the seral mouse (used for clicking etc).
To get around this I have to manually connect the mouse-gps after the

I am interested in security chipping my boat, something that can be fitted
secretly and if the boat is stolen will transmit its position to enable
recovery.
Is such an item available for this purpose in the UK and if so any idea

Does anyone know where I can buy an inexpensive generic USB C-Card reader
that can read my NT+ card?
Thanks in advance.
---

Can anyone suggest a GPS Chartplotter that is user friendly. I want one that
is easy to operate and understand.
Thank You,
Al Porreca

The Anemometer cup assembly has flown way from my old Plastimo masthead unit
and I cant get a direct replacement.
If I manage to fix a similar sized alternative will it read wind speed
correctly even if it is a slightly dissimilar cup size and weight ?

I would like to charge the 9.6v NiCd batteries of my Makita electric drill
direct from the 12vDC supply on board my boat. Can anybody point me to a
circuit design?
Using a 12v/240v inverter and the existing 240v charger is not an option as

I'd like to get a new battery for my boat...  I don't know exactly how old
the current battery is as the sticker which should show the date doesn't
really have a makr on the year... although it seems to have a small smudge
on 00.

My ST60 wind instrument got hit by lightning, so I bought one from
Ebay. But it still does not work. It could be the mast head sensor.
Does anyone know if the sensor is reparable?  If not is the sensor for
the Raymarine newer ST60 wind instrument compatible with the older

I'm still a novice boat owner so I was hoping someone would be able to help
me out....
I have a 17foot runabout, The outboard is a Johnson V4, I think its about
1975... so kinda old....