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- Table Pedestal Jack with Antenna, Stereo, and USB (for NMEA)
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- V-berth Stereo and Antenna Jack
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- TriMetric Battery Monitor
In the midst of the bigger, ongoing projects (and the copious distractions of land based living), Gray got a couple of the small tasks completed.
The first is wiring in the pedestal of the salon dining table. We often watch movies on a laptop in the salon, but the laptop speakers are not loud enough to hear over the drone of the fans. We had been running a line to the input on the stereo, but stringing cords around an already crowded space was pretty annoying. Gray ran some wires to the dining table pedestal to clear up some of the strung cords. He also ordered a custom made face plate to hold the following jacks: a pair of composite audio connections that run to the stereo, a coaxial cable jack that runs to the TV antenna/cable and a USB jack that goes to a NMEA concentrator.
The NMEA concentrator takes data streams from our navigation instruments and combines (concentrates) them into a single stream with a USB connection. This allows us to use a laptop for navigation and as an instrument repeater. The concentrator also sends data and instructions from the laptop (via USB) to the NMEA network.
The next wiring project was a faceplate in the V-berth that contains stereo audio inputs and a coaxial TV antenna/cable jack. Also in the V-berth are a couple of switches, one to switch between the TV antenna and dock side cable and another to switch between the two sets of stereo inputs. This will allow us to watch TV in either the salon or the V-berth and place a laptop or iPod in the salon or V-berth to play music/movie audio through the stereo.
The final small completed small wiring project is the TriMetric Battery Monitor. This unit is installed in the side of the galley facing the electrical panel. It monitors the battery voltage and tracks the amperage flowing in and out of the battery bank. The unit is not yet fully programmed – that will require a new battery charger capable of equalizing our new batteries (another project on the list). For now, it is useful for monitoring the battery state and current usage. Attaching the leads to the shunt on the battery box was an exercise in aggravation with many small parts disappearing into the black hole under the battery box. Theoretically, the box could be moved to retrieve them, but that would involve moving hundreds of pounds of batteries, disconnecting many wires and removing several bolts. In practice, we think of it as a black hole.
Gray and Cindy
Tags: Custom Faceplate, NMEA, TriMetric
