Boat Forum / Electronics / October 2005

I'm re-doing the control panel in my boat and can't make any sense as
to what items should have a switch on CP. eg AM/FM, vhf,sounder have
dedicated switch on CP yet also have their own on/off switches and fuse
protection. Cabin lights and water pump circuits don't have any

At the Newport boat show I saw a display for Lopolight LED based navigation
lights.  Their web site is http://www.lopolight.dk/  These appear to be
very well built products, but expensive.
In particular I was interested in their anchor/steaming light that they're

I have listed a NEW SGC SG-230 SmartTuner automatic antenna tuner on
ebay.  As you most likely know, this is the ultimate automatic antenna
tuner.
This is a commerical grade, state of the art antenna tuner for Ham,

Does someone knows what AIS is about and what kind of apparatus is required
to be able to display commercial trafic on the screen using Fugawi 4 ENC ?
http://207.181.106.97/robin/news_ca_20050622/screen_ais_with_notation_hr.jpg
AIS - Automatic Identification System Plug in a third ...

I'm about to place a radar reflector on my boat. Will an aluminum
reflector interfere with my vhf radio?
Nick

Anyone have the schematic for the control head of the old British made
Autohelm 4000 autopilot?
Dick

All of my 110 outlets on the boat are protected through GFI. Whenever I plug
my laptop charger in or turn on the computer with it plugged in, it trips
the GFI.  If I reset it a time or two or three, it will hold and work fine
until the next time.  Interestingly, it will even trip ...

I have an old Datamarine Wind Instruments - LX-360, I think.  It has worked
fine up until now, but this year, the wind speed just reads 0.00, while
direction works fine.
I plugged the masthead unit directly into the back of the display, and there

Please tell me my findings are completely misleading and
any concerns are unfounded.
We are in the throes of considering fitting a Navtex
receiver but having been warned the air generator we have

Has anyone hooked up a Raymarine ST6001+ core pack to an old BenMar
rotary actuator?  If so, what problems did you have to solve?  How does
the combination work for you?
bob

 Our boat has several UHF radio's that are used to communicate between
compartments.  I thought the steel bulkheads would have acted as a faraday
cage and prevented any communication. Any thought on why the UHF radios work
as well as they do?

Now available in Canada. Unotron waterproof keyboards, including wireless
models. More information is available here:
http://www.unotron.ca
Thank you...

Hi, i just wired up a new isolator switch, witch obviously goes to tw
batteries, but, the problem that i have is in the off position...I hav
wired the positives from both batteries to the  battery No1 and batter
No2 positions and the engine positive to the common on the isolato

I use a 19.2 v Sears drill to raise the sail on my Nonsuch 26 and find
that the 75 watt 115 v charger does not function on the output of my
cheap square wave inverter. Would it work with a "modified square wave"?
Dick

A friend that's just boaugh a canal boat is 'doing' it up and is worried
about the
electrics and has heard that boats use positive earth so he's asked me for
advice.