In my mind, the most dangerous thing onboard any boat is the LPG system, as the gas is heavier than air, any leaks tend to collect in the bilges, just waiting for an ignition source. To mitigate this possibility, we’re fitting a gas monitoring system that will sound an alarm
Thanks to Lewis, M3HHY for lending me this one 🙂 Here’s a quick look at a Sainsmart frequency counter module. These are useful little gadgets, showing the locked frequency on a small LCD display. It’s built around an ATMega328 microcontroller (µC), and an MB501L Prescaler IC. The circuit for this
Continuing from my previous post where I published an Eagle design layout for AD7C‘s Arduino powered VFO, here is a completed board. I have made some alterations to the design since posting, which are reflected in the artwork download in that post, mainly due to Eagle having a slight psychotic
Having two separate water tanks on nb Tanya Louise, with individual pumps, meant that monitoring water levels in tanks & keeping them topped up without emptying & having to reprime pumps every time was a hassle. To this end I have designed & built this device, to monitor water usage
Here is an AVR powered optical tachometer design, that I adapted from the schematic found here. I made a couple of changes to the circuit & designed a PCB & power supply module to be built in. The original design specified a surface mount IR LED/Photodiode pair, however my adjustment
This is the Velleman MK179 Proximity Card Reader, which is supplied in kit form. In the image above you can see the completed kit, the read coil is etched onto the black PCB on the left. Bringing a recognised card close to the coil operates the relay on the main
This unit was bought from eBay to experiment with Magnetic Stripe cards, for little money. This unit is capable of reading & writing all 3 tracks, & both Hi-Co & Lo-Co card types. Interfaced to a PC through USB, this has a built in PL2303 USB-Serial IC & requires 3A
Here is a Marmitek Gigavideo 30 2.4GHz wireless video transmitter, has a receiver paired which will be uploaded shortly. Here is a view of the antennae, the large flat one being the 2.4GHz directional, the whip antenna possibly performing IR relay functions for the remote control. For all those interested, here’s the
This is an old USB 1.1 hub that was recently retired from service on some servers. Top of the unit visible here. Bottom label shows that this is a model F5U021 hub, a rather old unit. PCB is here removed from the casing, Indicator LEDs along the bottom edge of