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philagnes2003
1st Mate

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USA
68 Posts
Initially Posted - 11/06/2020 :  08:27:53  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
As a long time member and 250 owner, I am seeking some feedback on a little project for monitoring your boat. I am seeking feedback and interest. I am part of a small team of developers who created this.

http://www.smartnautics.com


Thanks for taking a look.

Regards
Mac's Bounty
2003 C250 WK #679
Orient Harbor, NY

If you think you can, or think you can't, pretty soon you find out your are right! H.F.

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts
Response Posted - 11/06/2020 :  10:07:48  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Wow, nice app.
What hardware is situated in the boat to collect and deliver the data? Is it “marine electronics” grade? What is the current draw? Does it require WiFi? Can it use a cellular hotspot? What’s the effective digital bandwidth requirements (hourly data rate)? Can it use text messaging instead of cell data to deliver data packages?
I’ve also been considering putting a WYZE pan, tilt, zoom camera on board to provide real-time video. It uses a 5VDC/1A supply and ambient WiFi.
I like the GPS reporting in case your dock or mooring lines give way in a blow. Or unauthorized users surreptitiously sail the boat.
Temp, humidity, dew point, wind speed and direction? Nice.
Is it NMEA port compliant?
What’s the security protection for the data? Folks might wonder why privacy matters but a drone can be dispatched based on lat-long cords, so you could be compromised. Imagine the Lifetime made for TV movie script...
Can you add a bilge water sensor? I can imagine a graduated scale showing inches of water or percent sunk.
Depth gauge interface?

Last issue: I’m not certain to what extent this post may be judged as a “commercial message” and as such may be viewed as a violation or bending of the terms of use on the Forum, but to the extent that your message was couched as “hey look at this cool thing that I’m working on”, rather than a “call to action” to make a purchase, I will leave to the Officers and/or consensus.

Good luck with this project.
Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain — Milford, CT
Edited by - Voyager on 11/06/2020 10:15:59
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philagnes2003
1st Mate

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USA
68 Posts
Response Posted - 11/07/2020 :  07:16:53  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thanks, Last Issue first, I was up front using my actual 8 year old credentials for this forum post. I was just seeking feedback, we actually built it for ourselves initially (Covid Project), but it came out great and we want to see where we want to take it.

Its one box (4x3x3) that connects to the sensors, one for each thing you want to monitor (Fuel, Water, Holding, Bilge) using the standard 33 - 220 ohm level sensors (If you just hooked it to the Battery you would get Geo-location, Tide, Weather and Battery Level). The device is Cellular and reports 4 times a day. This version is not NMEA complaint. The data is stored in the Amazon cloud, a team member has a Masters Degree in Cyber, so we do take security seriously.

We do support a Bilge sensing, using smart learning so we learn the normal running pattern of your bilge and Alert you for a off normal condition.

We are working on finalizing production hardware

Thanks for taking a look.
Mac's Bounty
2003 C250 WK #679
Orient Harbor, NY

If you think you can, or think you can't, pretty soon you find out your are right! H.F.
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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts
Response Posted - 11/07/2020 :  08:55:58  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Phil, I suspected that you were keenly aware of the implications, however, decided that the benefits outweighed potential harm. Me, personally, I’d rather know about something useful than not know, or worse, have some pushy salesperson target me.
The hardware is key on this, as are the gozintas and gozouttas. Both new and old NMEA protocols should be included.

Cell is critical as WiFi vanishes the minute the boat leaves the harbor.

A text interface with a settable time interval would be helpful too, in case folks wanted alerts when certain events take place while they’re not using the app.

I assume the prototype is using an Arduino and Zigbee? Slick marine compliant packaging is key.

I’d volunteer to do some beta testing however I keep it simple - handheld GPS, no chart plotters, no weather instruments beside a barometer, and handheld anemometer.

Best of luck on your project.

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain — Milford, CT
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philagnes2003
1st Mate

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USA
68 Posts
Response Posted - 11/12/2020 :  04:15:04  Show Profile  Reply with Quote

No we did not use an Arduino, we spun a custom interface board to handle the I/O and married it up to a PyComm module for mobile/cloud development and testing. We are now swapping out the PyCom for a new Cellular module (Not publicly Released yet). As you mentioned a local interface makes sense and we are considering a Blue Tooth communications for that.

We considered NMEA, but we would need to power all that stuff up to take a reading. Our goal was to keep it simple and have the knowledge before heading out to the boat (Gas Level, Battery Level, Environment, GPS Location (From the GPS location get the Tide and the weather forecast).

I will keep you in mind for testing, thanks for the feedback.
Mac's Bounty
2003 C250 WK #679
Orient Harbor, NY

If you think you can, or think you can't, pretty soon you find out your are right! H.F.
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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts
Response Posted - 11/12/2020 :  05:42:43  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I like your approach. I’m pretty good at breaking SW, so happy to help.
Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain — Milford, CT
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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts
Response Posted - 12/08/2020 :  20:33:45  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I just saw an email from WestMarine for a device and app that sounds quite similar to theSmartNautics product. It’s an intelligent hub which measures and reports GPS location, battery level, bilge water level, temperature and other sensors. It also offers the ability to control up to five relay switches to power on/off ice makers, ACs, pumps, fans, etc.
According to the ad the system requires you purchase a subscription, and you cannot use free WiFi for data communication to/from the sensor.
See this ad for more details:
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/garmin--ondeck-boat-monitoring-system--20122412

I’m curious about a feature comparison versus MSRP between the two products.
Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain — Milford, CT
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bjoye
Navigator

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USA
105 Posts
Response Posted - 12/11/2020 :  08:37:14  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
This year, Santa Claus gave me the Simrad BoatConnect Hub with sensors: Monitor Location, Geofence, Trip History, Battery Voltage, Temperature, Bilge water level, Entry alert, Smartphone App. Hub is ~ $100, sensors ~$50 each, Subscription $19.99 per month, no contract. Uses AT&T 4G.
"Frayed Knot" 1989 C-25 WK/SR #5878
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philagnes2003
1st Mate

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USA
68 Posts
Response Posted - 12/12/2020 :  04:40:27  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Voyager, that hardware looks nice, but expensive. Our hardware price would be more inline with Boat Connect without the need of specialized sensors. Our App looks way better too. We have tossed around the idea of NMEA 2000 but we just don't see a lot of boats in our target market having it and you would need to power up the devices/network to read the data. When I think about NMEA 2000 I think about running data, our goal was to have all information you need before heading to the boat (Levels, Weather, Tide). Now we are strongly considering remote relay control. Should it be in the first release or not. We could do it natively on the hardware or use this NMEA relay board https://www.navstore.com/maretron-direct-current-relay-module-dcr100.html

Lastly the device say cellular 3G/4G not necessarily 4G LTE or LTE, AT&T will shutdown the 3G on Feb, 2022. We are LTE that works across AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.

Bjoye, Interested in your thoughts on Boat Connect, do you need to wait until summer?

Thanks
Mac's Bounty
2003 C250 WK #679
Orient Harbor, NY

If you think you can, or think you can't, pretty soon you find out your are right! H.F.
Edited by - philagnes2003 on 12/12/2020 04:45:43
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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
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