DIY boat electronics, starting from scratch, what would you use?

[RaymondR]

In your post you state Pikaxe which are I believe based on Microchip Pic chips with a sort of simplified basic programming language. You could get really ambitious and go direct with the Microchip range, which is fairly extensive, and use their IDE. Bit more complex to learn the programming but it's heavy duty industrial stuff.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

In your post you state Pikaxe which are I believe based on Microchip Pic chips with a sort of simplified basic programming language. You could get really ambitious and go direct with the Microchip range, which is fairly extensive, and use their IDE. Bit more complex to learn the programming but it's heavy duty industrial stuff.

This has been the approach I took in the past, but the unexpected bit is, it seems cheaper to go with some of the big "packaged" brands as the external stuff is cheaper. So, for instance, it appears to be a lot cheaper to find an LCD that is know to work with Arduino than it is for Picaxe. I did once find some cheap LCDs for the Picaxe, but it was hard, and I am not sure I could repeat it.

Once you start trying to connect GPS and compass chips, the prices become even more dramatically different.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by GILow

This has been the approach I took in the past, but the unexpected bit is, it seems cheaper to go with some of the big "packaged" brands as the external stuff is cheaper. So, for instance, it appears to be a lot cheaper to find an LCD that is know to work with Arduino than it is for Picaxe. I did once find some cheap LCDs for the Picaxe, but it was hard, and I am not sure I could repeat it.

Once you start trying to connect GPS and compass chips, the prices become even more dramatically different.

I agree, interfacings a bitch and there is a fairly vast range of add on devices for Arduino but it's designed for recreational usage and doubtful in the marine environment from a reliability viewpoint.

A lot of the stuff you are probably interested in, such as GPS, compasses, accelerometers etc is coming out with USB interfaces or comms protocols based upon the RS 422/485 electrical spec.

It's a bit like going to the dental health section of the supermarket where once we only had a choice of Colgate and one other brand of generic toothpaste. You grabbed your brand and kept walking. Now it's worse than filling out a ballot paper for the senate. There's just to many choices.

I guess it comes down to whether you are a device level or a module level sort of bloke.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I agree, interfacings a bitch and there is a fairly vast range of add on devices for Arduino but it's designed for recreational usage and doubtful in the marine environment from a reliability viewpoint.

Not sure about either of those points, every common sensor will have libraries and example sketches to get up and running quickly. Though sometimes an obscure Chinese sensor board will have non standard I2C ports or need it's own library. Adafruit etc usually run straight away with their libraries.

I've had no reliability issues with ds18b20 thermometers, bme280 barometer, ads1115 voltage & ina219. Apart from occasional operator error letting the magic smoke out Otherwise rock solid 24/7 for a good few years now.

Sketch here to send signalk data from various sensors >
https://github.com/mxtommy/SigkSens
Or even easier but limited is easyesp, send the data as mqtt.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I agree, interfacings a bitch and there is a fairly vast range of add on devices for Arduino but it's designed for recreational usage and doubtful in the marine environment from a reliability viewpoint.

Yes, this bit is tricky. I've relied on the fact that I have a very "dry" boat, and been careful to seal stuff well when I build it. So far, no problems (touch wood).

A lot of the stuff you are probably interested in, such as GPS, compasses, accelerometers etc is coming out with USB interfaces or comms protocols based upon the RS 422/485 electrical spec.

It's a bit like going to the dental health section of the supermarket where once we only had a choice of Colgate and one other brand of generic toothpaste. You grabbed your brand and kept walking. Now it's worse than filling out a ballot paper for the senate. There's just to many choices.

I guess it comes down to whether you are a device level or a module level sort of bloke.

I used to use only stuff that works on the I2C bus, as that was all that was practical with the picaxe. At this stage, I am inclined to keep doing so, unless I run into problems with whichever platform I choose.
(I am leaning towards Arduino at the moment.)

[GILow]

Originally Posted by conachair

Not sure about either of those points, every common sensor will have libraries and example sketches to get up and running quickly. Though sometimes an obscure Chinese sensor board will have non standard I2C ports or need it's own library. Adafruit etc usually run straight away with their libraries.

This has been one of the things I am picking up in my readings. I have not yet had to use libraries, everything I have done has been at the raw code level. I do want to avoid wasting time so I will probably pay a little extra for the stuff that is known to work out of the box.

I've had no reliability issues with ds18b20 thermometers, bme280 barometer, ads1115 voltage & ina219. Apart from occasional operator error letting the magic smoke out (Like me plugging my DS1820B sensor into the 12V side of the power reg the other day and burning my finger on the sensor when I went to figure out why it was not working ) Otherwise rock solid 24/7 for a good few years now..

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[conachair]

Originally Posted by GILow

This has been one of the things I am picking up in my readings. I have not yet had to use libraries, everything I have done has been at the raw code level. I do want to avoid wasting time so I will probably pay a little extra for the stuff that is known to work out of the box.

That must take forever pouring over the datasheets!

Most of the sensors are so cheap anyway, though might splash out on one of these soon Had similar working with a LCD 4 x 20 display as a mobile data display for lat/long, SOG etc. These look very cool though.

https://www.elektormagazine.com/news/review-m5stack

[conachair]

Originally Posted by conachair

Also, just now got Adafruit IO working, didn't know it existed til now, so with a Pi or ESP8266/32 you can send data to the web to graph or view in a dashboard, just add web access like a cheap smartphone and data sim.

This seems to work well, not too hard to set up. Free for 10 feeds like batt voltage, wind speed etc and 5 dashboards. So the price of a few beers and some web access you could see the boat data from home

https://io.adafruit.com/Padzb/dashboards/charts

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by GILow

Yes, some good options. But what’s the deal with the nano clones? Are they doing anything shifty with intellectual property?

I ask because the “fun” of stocking up amounts to a horrible unplanned expense and I’d like to keep cost low, but not by supporting IP thieves.

The Arduino project is open, in both hardware and software. The schematics are available. They're not thrilled when people buy clones instead of the branded hardware, but it's not illegal. My approach - I have some official hardware, I also buy clones, and I have made direct donations to the Arduino foundation to support the hardware and software development.

Regarding ins and outs - it's my experience that the common digital interface protocols are pretty well supported in just about every popular platform. In particular, the many great available libraries make the Arduino environment very productive and fun to use for Arduino and ESP8266/ESP32 development.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I agree, interfacings a bitch and there is a fairly vast range of add on devices for Arduino but it's designed for recreational usage and doubtful in the marine environment from a reliability viewpoint.

Arduinos are built to a price and primarily intended for desktop experiments and projects, but it's also possible to add "hardening" to make them resilient in demanding environments. Ditto for rPi's.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by conachair

So the price of a few beers and some web access you could see the boat data from home

But the boat IS home.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

[URL="https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/FAQ"]I also buy clones, and I have made direct donations to the Arduino foundation to support the hardware and software development.

I like this approach.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by conachair

That must take forever pouring over the datasheets!

Most of the sensors are so cheap anyway, though might splash out on one of these soon Had similar working with a LCD 4 x 20 display as a mobile data display for lat/long, SOG etc. These look very cool though.

https://www.elektormagazine.com/news/review-m5stack

Hey, these look bl--y PERFECT! Just looking at them now, and I've already found GPS modules to fit and everything....

Very tempting. Colour display is a bonus, but most important is the inclusion of the buttons ready and working (though some of the LCD shields for Arduinio included buttons, they still needed the mechanical components on the case.)

I'll crunch the numbers but I suspect these will be very cost effective, as well as being much faster to assemble, more robust and more compact.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by GILow

I like this approach.

Open-source is such a powerful and useful way to grow something. eg OpenCPN. It represents fantastic value to beginners and users, yet is also beneficial to commercial endeavours who can use open-source as a base (eg Linux) or for libraries.

When I sat down and calculated the licence costs I'd be paying for the commercial equivalents of all the open-source software I use... it made sense to shoot $10 or $20 to each of the makers of the software I use most.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

When I sat down and calculated the licence costs I'd be paying for the commercial equivalents of all the open-source software I use... it made sense to shoot $10 or $20 to each of the makers of the software I use most.

Yep, I've done the same from time to time with things like Wikipedia.