Night sailing - chart plotter brightness

[Rucksta]

B&G Zeus has a selectable colour palette and separate brightness control.

Settings are via network so all instruments on the selected bus dim to the same settings.

Multiple buses are available allowing selected instruments to retain a different setting if required.

Critical numeric info can be displayed on the triton displays as high contrast low brightness large digits. (scrollable)

For tight night pilotage the Zeus displays the route (auto or manually entered) with reduced palette, high contrast, low brightness.

Easy visual (graphic) reference to keep the boat on the line.

[thinwater]

On my last plotter, the dimming function was on a screen menu, which you could NOT read in daylight!! The first time I used it I had to cover the plotter an me with two towels to get it dark enough that I could see to turn the brightness up again! Stupid. I learned to turn it up before turning in.

[Nord Sal]

My old Furuno plotter has three separate controls to improve night viewing.

1. Night mode pallette which changes display colors to more red spectrum.

2. Screen Brightness and contrast controls. I can adjust it all the way to black, one push above black is just barely visible, two is fully visible but very dim.

3. The illumination level of the lighted buttons is also dimmable. This is very nice since the text on the buttons is brighter than the display when the display brightness has been reduced for use in the dark.

Also, the plotter also has a "sunlight" pallette which greatly improved visibility in bright sunlight.

[carstendenmark]

NordSal, which model Furuno ?
Seems like something useful, or maybe I'll just check Furuno out...

[C420sailor]

Garmin 1242xsv touch.

Will go very dim and has night color palette. Never had issues.

[wingssail]

We do not use a chartplotter in front of the helm, day or night. The charting system is below deck, on a PC, and utilizes several palette choices and dimness levels. These can be combined to a setting with a single button push.

On deck we have sailing instruments which provide the basic information needed (other than a chart display) and dimming is not needed unless you are sitting right next to the display.

The issue I have with a chart plotter right in front of the helmsman is that it is only useful if the watch stander is sitting in the chair art the helm station driving the boat. Maybe if you are motoring that makes sense, but sailing we are rarely in that position so we have to move to see the chart anyhow. We might as well duck below and look at the nav station display.

[BillKny]

This is a really personnel issue and has so many variables it is hard to put out a single “rule” that would work for everybody. Are you using your chart plotter at the helm station in the cockpit? Or below deck? Do you run it all the time? Or just when you need to check something? How good is your night vision? Do you wear glasses? Etc, etc.

As far as I know, every LCD screen relies on transmitted light coming out through the liquid crystal layers. That’s required by the physics. There are some that are “transflective” but that just bounces ambient light back out though the liquid crystals and in low light situations they still require a back light.

The problem come up as you dim the backlight. The contrast between the on-screen “black” and the on-screen “white” becomes smaller and smaller. Eventually, the contrast gets so low it is hard to make out details.

We have an older B&G Zeus Touch. Our MFD is mounted at the helm station in the cockpit where the watchstander sits. It is powered on all night because it is our interface with the AIS and RADAR which are always on in the dark, and we consider vital data for the watchstander.

Turned down to its lowest brightness setting, it has minimal impact on night vision, but some of the details and smaller text are no longer discernible to my eyes. Turn up one notch, and it has a small, but real, impact on night vision, but I can see the displayed details. Our best compromise is to run the display at it’s lowest setting for radar and AIS scans, and turn it up one notch for checking details and if we are threading through coastal areas where full time chart awareness is important.

It is not perfect, but it is far more preserving of night vision and gives better situational awareness than ducking down in the cabin and reading a paper chart at the navstation.

Instruments that we don’t use at night (fish sonar, for example) are turned to standby, so those screens are dark.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by carstendenmark

I am considering to buy a completely new navigation system, but as I've read in several magazines, they all say that the most important for night sailing is the low light ability of the chart plotter and other instruments.

If the main information (exept the compass) at helm is the chart plotter, which ones has the sufficient low light setting for night sailing, to not disturb my night vision ?

I appreciate all inputs :-)

Place a red filter over the screen.

[EmeraldCoastSailor]

Originally Posted by pjShap

My Garmin plotter lets you adjust the backlight percentage, down to 5% of full light, which is too dim for me to read anything. Works well for me at night. As someone said, reading the plotter detail might require more light than you would ideally want for night vision, but if you need the plotter you have to see the content.

Same with my Raymarine. Not perfect but works.

[Jetx]

Originally Posted by carstendenmark

I am considering to buy a completely new navigation system, but as I've read in several magazines, they all say that the most important for night sailing is the low light ability of the chart plotter and other instruments.

If the main information (exept the compass) at helm is the chart plotter, which ones has the sufficient low light setting for night sailing, to not disturb my night vision ?

I appreciate all inputs :-)

I can confirm that Raymarine has now implemented a night mode / night palette (happened after the thread you linked to, obviously) on the Axiom. With the screen brightness also turned all the way down, it is QUITE dim… enough so that I need reading glasses to make out soundings or any other fine detail. However, I find that we don’t really look at the chart display much at night (I already know where we are, and that there’s nothing to bump into along our planned route). I’m usually much more concerned about who else might be out on the water with us, possibly not broadcasting AIS, or with weather, so I’ll display radar (rather than chart) on the screen at the helm. The radar display, with its black background, is even dimmer than night-palette charts, but easier to read at night.

[Clivevon]

My Raymarine C95 multifunction chart plotter is very easy to dim & has an almost infinitely adjustable range - pitch dark to bright sunlight viewing. No problem at all. If you switch off when dimmed just remember to brighten the screen the next day, though.. it foxed me for a minute the first time (why wont this chart plotter switch on....?)

[MV Caroline]

I have Furuno TZ2 17" monitors and systems (2). they have very efficient night mode that can be dimmed or lightened a bit for better viewing. They are easy for theses old eyes to adjust to.

[Bay Breeze]

Originally Posted by pjShap

My Garmin plotter lets you adjust the backlight percentage, down to 5% of full light, which is too dim for me to read anything. Works well for me at night. As someone said, reading the plotter detail might require more light than you would ideally want for night vision, but if you need the plotter you have to see the content.

We have garmins on our boats. We don’t like the night view option so we just dim toa very low illumination. But resetting in the am we have to use a towel to cover our head and instrument to be able to see to reset to day brightness

[LeeV]

Our Axiom 12 has night mode and works well. On our flybridge we have a small overhead red led dome light that provides plenty of illumination.

[Tomodore]

Cheap and easy to tape red plastic over screen, perhaps your screen is touch screen only but how often do you need to adjust.