Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

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Jollymon16
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Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by Jollymon16 »

could anyone post or send me a photo of the flybridge helm on their F30. My newly acquired 1980 F30 flybridge sedan doesnt have any labeling on the helm.
Has anyone installed a convertor to be able to monitor their engines on a multifunction display. I have been looking at analog to NMEA convertors. thinking about changing helm over to a Raymarine a98 display. just wondering if anyone has done this. looks like you can get a convertor that will send engine info (tach, oil pressure, water temp, fuel levels, alternator volts, ..etc) to a multifunction display. this is one i have been considering. https://www.navstore.com/albacombi-anal ... fgod9a4M4g
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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by dagen »

I would be glad to end you photos of the helm of of my 1978 F30 Bridge in the spring, right now it is put away for the winter. If you are still interested let me know.
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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by WayWeGo »

I am thinking about going to digital gauges on my MFD's but not yet convinced to do it. I have been looking at some of the options, and they are either expensive or require expensive CAN bus tools to setup.

My gauges are old and not consistent, and I am thinking it would be nice to recapture the helm real estate. With some effort, I could probably get them working to my satisfaction.

The thing that interests me the most is that I could monitor the gauges from anywhere on the boat using a tablet or smartphone if I go to digital gauges. Panbo has some good info on getting started, though there are many possible solutions, not all of which are NMEA 2000 compatible.
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Jollymon16
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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by Jollymon16 »

from what I can tell the analog to NMEA converter doesn't seem that difficult to set up. seems like you just wire your sending units be they tach, fuel senders, oil pressure senders, etc, directly to the converter. do some set up adjusting with your laptop and connect to a compatible receiving unit such a the Raymarine a98 i am looking at. the converter i am looking at is about 399.00. If you had mechanical sending units on anything you would have to swap to electronic senders but other than that it seems pretty straight forward. going to talk to a couple of boat electronic installers to see if its as simple as that. Like waywego said, it would be nice to monitor everything from a smart phone or tablet anywhere in the boat. My instruments all need replacing anyway.
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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by Big D »

They are pretty simple to set up. Some software is easier to deal with than others but usually a phone call is all it takes to demystify a setup issue. The biggest pain IMO is setting up fuel, water, and waste tanks if you go that route. You can still use mechanical senders with some units, you just have to program them so they know what a given reading means which requires you to fill the tanks a specific way. Even the electronic senders to my knowledge require some adjustment.

As with anything that you put all your eggs in one basket with, consider that if one of the components in the system fails such as the monitor, or the converter, you don't just lose one reading, you lose everything. If you remove your gauges, you'll have no redundancy. Also consider that the more you try and fit on one screen, the smaller the items get. The alternative is to keep toggling to view different systems. Personally, I want an unobstructed view of engine parameters at all times. I don't want to have to toggle between different displays or have the data cluttered with other data not related to engine info. I want the biggest chart and radar view as possible. Of course you can accomplish this with multiple displays but then you're back to square one; real estate.

If you want to gain some real estate and you need to replace your gauges anyway, go with all-in-one gauges. They occupy one spot and serve as a great back up if you convert to displays only.
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Jollymon16
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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by Jollymon16 »

great advise, thanks. Where would i start to find an all in one gauge?
1980 Trojan F30 Sedan Flybridge 308
twin Crysler 318's
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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by WayWeGo »

Big D, I agree with all you said, but thought we should go a bit further and point out that you can set alarms with digital gauges, so you don't have to display the data to know if a problem occurs. In some ways, this is better than the analog gauges on our boat, which are not anywhere near the line of sight of the captain -- they are in front of the passenger on the flybridge.

While we have one Simrad MFD on the bridge and one in the salon, I will be using a Wi-Fi connected tablet to mirror the other MFD, giving us more available screen real estate. Most likely, the chart will be on one and the radar on the other, but you can display the gauge panel with the press of a button or a swipe if an alarm goes off. I will probably leave the analog gauges for now, but that real estate will beckon if I find I am not looking at them very often with the digital gauges.
Last edited by WayWeGo on Sun Nov 06, 2016 11:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by WayWeGo »

Jollymon16 wrote:great advise, thanks. Where would i start to find an all in one gauge?
Here is one source: http://faria-instruments.com/products.p ... ge=2_multi
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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by gettaway »

I just completed the replacement of the helm instrument panel on our boat, time and previous owners had taken its toll on the original panel, switches and gauges were mismatched and erratic , the ignition switches were old tired and the panel itself was faded and corroded. I replaced the panel with a product called KOMALU , which is a laminated plastic with a thin decorative cover of brushed metal on one sited and white on the other and rated for harsh environments, and inexpensive too boot. http://www.kommerlingusa.com/pvc-manufa ... ut-us.cfml

I installed Datcon industrial gauges and replaced the oil pressure & water temp sending units , I installed the Flowscan system I had bought for our old but never installed, I went with the twin engine single gauge set up to try and keep the panel clean and uncluttered. I also installed a new breaker panel under the console and rewired all of the components on the bridge, gauges, switches lighting and electronics, including running 4 gauge battery cable from the batteries to the bridge,
I think I removed 20 pounds of unused wiring from previous installations... what a mess!

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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

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Re: Two questions-Pictures of Helm, Electronic engine monitoring

Post by P-Dogg »

http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/

I use these folks at work a lot. They do great work, and they are cheap.
I needed a less expensive hobby, so I bought a boat!
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