Projects for Energetic

[dgurgel]

Comments are invited. Right click and save to some scratch area. Then open as Acrobat pdf.

LaptopChartPlotter2.pdf

[jcollins]

Dave,
Interesting read. Looks like you covered all bases. The only suggestion I would offer is to increase the RAM to at least 1 gig. XP will support 2 gig comfortably.

John

[bccanucker]

Dave: A note to say thanks for the effort of posting this. I totally enjoyed the read.
Re the camera;- You say "a good one on Amazon for $15.". Can you suggest a make and model? It's something I have never looked into and like the rear view mirror ap so we can monitor the Whaler we tow and to venture into SKYPE

[dgurgel]

Dave: A note to say thanks for the effort of posting this. I totally enjoyed the read.
Re the camera;- You say "a good one on Amazon for $15.". Can you suggest a make and model? It's something I have never looked into and like the rear view mirror ap so we can monitor the Whaler we tow and to venture into SKYPE

Microsoft (Lifecam VX 3000) on Amazon for $21 is excellent for Skype. Use too to experiment with a rear view mirror, but for that you may want something better.

[dgurgel]

Dave: A note to say thanks for the effort of posting this. I totally enjoyed the read.
Re the camera;- You say "a good one on Amazon for $15.". Can you suggest a make and model? It's something I have never looked into and like the rear view mirror ap so we can monitor the Whaler we tow and to venture into SKYPE

Microsoft (Lifecam VX 3000) on Amazon for $21 is excellent for Skype. Use too to experiment with a rear view mirror, but for that you may want something better.

I tried the $49 (on Amazon) Microsoft LifeCam Cinema today. It has a glass lens and is far superior to the $6 - $20 cameras I previouslhy tried. Mounted under the pilot house roof, looking aft, and tied to the laptop at the navigation station, it should make an excellent and inexpensive rear view mirror. There is digital zoom and digital pan and tilt too. The monitoring and recording software are all part of the package. The camera was fine in bright sunlight and in low light and has auto-focus. I simulated pitchnig and rolling and the view was undisturbed.

Here is a screen shot of the view out of my back window with the camera in full video mode. The cars at the center of the photo are about 100' from my window. A picture of the camera in in the upper left; it fits in the palm of your hand.

MSLifeCam.jpg

I also loaded Maptech Chart Navigator today; and my laptop ($200 on Ebay) is now a fully functioning chart-plotter with GPS. No radar display; but I do have Skype, a rearview camera, and full cable TV via a Slingbox link to my home TV. I am working on reading my fishfinder (for depth only) on the laptop using the NMEA interface.

[dgurgel]

Someone set a messager asking for more camera details.

The Microsoft LifeCam Cinema model has auto focus and auto light adjustment. Camera and its total field of view are fixed. Digital zoom and digital pan and tilt are all there from a simple menu and move you around in the field of view ONLY WHEN YOU ARE ZOOMED IN at least a little bit.

USB 2.0 has a nominal limit of 5 meters. Camera comes with 6' USB cable. I tested it before responding to message with a 12' extension for a total of 18'. At 6' and 12', I had no problems. At 18' I had to start at a reduced resolution but then could switch to 640 X 360, the max my laptop can support. (On my desktop 1280 X 720 was suported.)

My earlier post had a still from a video. This was shot through my window. Window glass was no problem until after sundown when camera picked up some of the reflections of the lighted room that are visible to the naked eye when looking outside at night.

The unit fits in the palm of your hand and could easily be mounted outside on the pilot house roof if you provided an enclosure. I put it inside on the bottom of a cheap one-gallon glass vase; and the image seemed unaffected by the glass what it had to look through.

I am going to mount mine on my 28 TE on the port side at the rear of the pilot house back about 1' under the roof. It has a swivel mount that will permit me to turn it 180 to see me in the port or starboard chair if I want to Skype. The depth of view is outstanding.

There are nore than 300 reviews on Amazon, and almost all are very favorable. Several said they needed a powerful processor; but I am fine with 1.2 GHZ Pentium with 2 gigs of RAM.

I agree that vessels overtaking from behind are a real hazard in spite of the Rules of the Road. It is easy to focuie too much on the chart-plotter and forget to check 360 for contacts every minute or two.

[Chuck Waygood]

Dave, as I recall, you tow a Whaler. What sort of bridle do you use and how far back on the tow line? I towed a 16' Edgewater (self bailing) thru the Bahamas with my prior boat (48') but had not thought of it with my 35 te. Your set up sounds ideal and I hope John keeps all that info together and available. Perhaps a "aft camera" category?

[bccanucker]

Dave: Yesterday before I got your post I ordered 3 of the NX-3000 that I found on the web for just under $20. Cdn. which I'll use for home and Xmas presents to Skype with. (The ordered was switched immediately to NX-6000's which looks like they might be the new version)
I then read about your Lifecam cinema and about 1/2 an hour later while watching an NCIS show saw a camera being used in a police car that looked identical to the cinema. There was a comment that it was wireless. Wireless would be great for what we're trying to do. Have you seen anything about wireless?
I like the look of this for my rear view mirror.

[dgurgel]

Roy,

I used threee wireless cameras monitored on one PC for office security for two years. Wireless requires a power source at the camera (battteries Ok for cheapest ones?). My 28 TE USB cable run is only 12', and the USB cable provides power too. I can make sure that I have one constant 120 volt source for the laptop with a tiny inverter.

No doubt a good quality wireless (several on Amazon) is better where the USB connection would be long. I saw minor USB signal problems at 18' . Some wireless units will be weatherproof (but not salt- spray proof) since exterior use is common in security applications.

I hope some have looked at the HP TC 1100 laptop, many available on Ebay for $200. It is a remarkable little unit that will look great on the boat. I can run GPS, MapTech Chart Navigator, and camera fine at the same time. If I start WiFi browsing, it is slow unless I reduce the picture resolution.

The $7.44 on Amazon Belkin Ultra Mini Hub works great to add four USB ports to the two on my laptop.

[dgurgel]

Dave, as I recall, you tow a Whaler. What sort of bridle do you use and how far back on the tow line? I towed a 16' Edgewater (self bailing) thru the Bahamas with my prior boat (48') but had not thought of it with my 35 te. Your set up sounds ideal and I hope John keeps all that info together and available. Perhaps a "aft camera" category?

Chuck, I tow no Whaler. Glad you found the camera idea interesting.

I will repost the whole project with updated info in a week or so. The camera works even better than I imagined because of the auto focus and auto light adjustment, which I did not expect. Best part of the project is the inexpensive chart-plotter with working GPS and full U.S. coastal andinland charts. My total investment including laptop, GPS, camera, and chart software now is about $450.

[bccanucker]

Chuck: I tow a 17' Whaler. Don't think I said anything about my setup but was it me you were refering to?

[bccanucker]

Dave: I went into a computer store today and they knew nothing about a wireless one.
12' USB will be fine. I will be on the bridge of my trawler and salt spray for us 8 knotters is not an issue.
Knowing what you know now would you buy the cinema one for just Skype use or the NX-3000?
The store I went into wants $99.99 Cdn for the cinema and online it's $49.99 Cdn

Re the map stuff. This boat came with a Garmin 2010 chartplotter and I ran with it this past summer. (It's a 10" screen). I found I missed my Nobeltec, which I've used for the past 10 years, and the size of the PC monitor I had plugged into my laptop so I'm going to hook all that up this winter and have both side by each.
Your price on the charts is sooo good. I just looked at what I paid in 2000 for the Nobeltec --- $590. Whoaa.

[Chuck Waygood]

Guess it was, Roy. Sorry for the mix up. You obviously tow at trawler speed so different from my 35. Thanks, tho

[dgurgel]

Dave: I went into a computer store today and they knew nothing about a wireless one.
12' USB will be fine. I will be on the bridge of my trawler and salt spray for us 8 knotters is not an issue.
Knowing what you know now would you buy the cinema one for just Skype use or the NX-3000?
The store I went into wants $99.99 Cdn for the cinema and online it's $49.99 Cdn

Re the map stuff. This boat came with a Garmin 2010 chartplotter and I ran with it this past summer. (It's a 10" screen). I found I missed my Nobeltec, which I've used for the past 10 years, and the size of the PC monitor I had plugged into my laptop so I'm going to hook all that up this winter and have both side by each.
Your price on the charts is sooo good. I just looked at what I paid in 2000 for the Nobeltec --- $590. Whoaa.

The LifeCam Cinema is top of the line for the moment for Microsoft webcams. I have no experience with the Microsoft NX 3000, which is a less expensive model. The quality of the working installation will depend mostly on the quality of the camera. The Amazon price of $49 for the Cinema model is well worth it.

I tested the LifeCam Cinema at 10 AM this morning in the rain (& light haze) with very thick, 100% cloud cover. I could see cars and pickup trucks at 350 yards under these conditions. I could see them well enough to distinguish cars from pickups and could see if the color was light or dark. The direction of movement was apparent. I am guessing that a modest sized commercial vessel or an ocean-going tug would be visible at a mile or so in a bow-on aspect in similar conditions. At 400 yards the width of the field of view was about 600 yards when not zoomed in.

The Nobletec PC chart plotter stuff and the P-Sea PC chart plotter stuff seems excellent from web reviews but $1,000 fgoes quickly for just plotter software and charts. I am at about $450 for everything including laptop, camera, charts, plotter software.

Weat Marine still has $30 (normally about $125 - $150) closeout pricing MapTech US Charts for sale. It includes a light verison of Offshore Navigator, the plotter software. It is a great way to test out PC navigation. Just add a $50 - $60 GPS. (See earlier posts for the GPS I use.) You can add the full Offshore Navigator for $99 or less. I have two extra unopened copies of US Charts in case somebody goes ahead with this but gets shut out on the charts.

[bccanucker]

Well, the old guy thing got me. When I looked up the webcams I saw VX's and NX's and when the only -3000 showed it was an NX I went down that road. My bad.
Think I'll go pull the holding tank today and see what other trouble I can get into.