Crews Letter #2011 03  A Ditsy Gipsy and a Flummoxed Fluxgate  

“The capacity of computers doubles every two years.”

Moore’s Law

 

“Companies benefit from the rapid obsolesce of equipment they build.”

Fred’s Corollary

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Good morning Crew,

 

For a sea trial, we took a three-day cruise.  It turned up two problems.  Both are computer related.  Both reflect on Perception’s age.  From an “electronics” perspective, 10 years is three or four generations at least.

Our German pilot, Otto Helm, had lost part of his mind.  If you woke him up with the boat pointed south, he was limited to a sector of 165° to 195°.  No matter which direction you steered the boat, he believed it was in that 30° window.  Turn him off and start him up again, for example heading east, every possible heading was between 75° and 105°.  When Otto is steering the boat, he needs a compass he can see.  Being electronic, his eyesight is very poor.  Actually, it is non-existent.  A Fluxgate compass is the electronic equivalent and quite suitable for him to read.  Our first guess was some errant iron stuff in the locker with the Fluxgate. 

 

          flux.jpg                                      Steer.jpg

 

The Raymarine technician expected the same thing. Not the case.  Next step, attach a new fluxgate to Otto’s brain.  Same symptoms.  They took the computer to the shop and found the problem.  They replaced an E-prom in the steering computer to restore him to full mental health.

Perception’s Auto Pilot is Raytheon ST-7000 with ST-6000 cockpit screen. 

 

Starting in 2005, our trusted navigator, Gipsy (GPS), has gone ditsy on occasion.  With a high-pitched beep, she grabs our attention and cheerfully tells us, “No Fix” or “Lost Fix”.  Either way, it can only mean she doesn’t know and now that she has told us, “Not my problem!”

Sometimes this only lasts for a few minutes and only happens a few times in any day.  Other times, it doesn’t happen at all.  The Raymarine techs have looked at her on the boat and they have taken her to the shop for bench tests.  At their recommendations, we have moved the dingy outboard engine and the NAVTEX antenna.  The GPS antenna cable has been replaced. 

On this year’s sea trial, she did not find a fix at anytime during the first two days.  On the third day, on the way back to the Raymarine shop, she found one at the start of the day and never lost it.

Fortunately, she was not so skillful when the techies came onboard.  First, they prescribed a new antennae and cable.  We said, “How much?”  and then, “Do it.”  They did and she worked for a few hours and then she didn’t.  The techies prodded her with some success when called.  After a couple of on-again, off-again days, they took her away to the bench for a complete reconfiguration.  That is computereeze for “frontal lobotomy.”  Returned to the boat, she worked the rest of the day.  The next morning she was lost.  Raymarine declared her dead and said they would give us a complete refund.  Old technology, no longer supported.

Perception’s GPS was a Raytheon rm300.  She is now replaced by her granddaughter, a Raymarine A70

 

Lessons Learned:

With the Auto Helm problem, our first thought was magnetic material stored near the Fluxgate compass.  At Phyl’s suggestion, the sighting compass was taken to the Fluxgate’s location.  The sighting compass indicated no magnetic material in the area.

 

With the GPS working properly, we established a waypoint for our place at the dock.  Lat and Lon were checked against the chart.  This waypoint was made the active GoTo.  From then on, anytime a fix was found, range should near 0.0 nm.  Sometimes, the range was in excess of 80 nm and with no indication of doubt.

 

Nothing is “fixed” until it is tested under sea conditions.

 

To better understand the naming lunacy, see Crews Letter #2008 13

Two People on One Boat ** A Name for Everything

 

In the next Crews Letter

A New Gipsy and a Flabbergasted Phyl and Fred

 

A tight luff for windward,

Phyl and Fred

 

 

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