Electronics: Looking to go iPad based

[mdscole]

My boat came with an electronics package that was probably great for the day, but things have come along way since 1998 when discussing marine electronics. The Raymarine display alone must have been a couple grand back then.

But, they really do suck. The GPS has limited map data, it's black and white, you can't customize the display, etc. The fishfinder is simply an older sounder with a lousy display and broken thermometer...

So, I started playing with Navionics. I already had the iPad - but it was WiFi only and therefore doesn't contain an actual GPS antenna (Gen 4). I picked up a gps Transponder from Dual - that connects to the iPad via bluetooth. In hindsight - I should have simply bought the iPad with the 4G and the GPS antenna. It worked great till apple released IOS 8.3 - which accidentally killed the ability for apps to see the data from the 3rd party transponders. The word online is that they're fixing that with 8.4.

Used iPad 4 4G Wireless are about $250 on ebay. When the Navionics was working - the value of the data, the visibility, and the customizability of the display were all fantastic. The cost of $50 was just crazy cheap.

With this experience in mind - I started looking at the depth sounder options using an iPad as well. The Raymarine WiFish with the Chirp Downvision sonar looks like just the ticket. It's <$200, the install is easy since you are connecting the unit wirelessly to the iPad, and a fishfinder with a 9.7" display and resolution of 2048 x 1536 is better than anything on the market...for far less $$.

I am planning on removing all of the overhead electronics, building a mount with starboard and installing an iPad based system that is fixed. Removing the electronics for safekeeping at the end of the day is also a breeze.

Anybody else take a look at these options?

 

[ocnslr]

I love my iPad. I love my HDS-12M Gen 2 Touch and NSS8.

The iPad is used on the boat to BT music to the stereo. And yes, I do have the full Navionics apps and chart package on it, but that's for use off the boat. Conversations, planning, etc.

JMHO.

 

[Mwills98]

Looks like a great option. Wish I had seen something like this a couple months ago before I shelled out 1200+ for the humminbird 999si hd. So far, not very happy with it. Good luck and please share updates on the install and usage.

 

[Bayhouse]

My 330 came with `2003 Furuno equipment that desperately needed upgrading. I pulled a unit from the helm and tower, replacing them with Garmin 76xx series but could only fit a 7" display at the helm. I picked up a used iPad, the iNavX app and a SeaSucker mount and have been really pleased with the combination. I added an AIS transceiver that has WiFi so I can get AIS targets in iNavX as well - or, I can use the Garmin Helm app and run the 10" unit in the tower from the helm station. Lots of flexibility for me.

Will also be able to put the iPad closer to the cockpit when fishing so we can monitor the sounder. Note, this pic is before everything was more 'finished'....

 

[mdscole]

That looks nice. I have the same "Lifeproof" case as well.

My plan is to surface mount a couple Ram mounts that lock and work with the lifecase on the 4th gen iPad. This will be on the upper electronics box - safe from exposure. The other idea is to mount them from the back of the electronics cabinet so they slide in a groove and are easily removable at the end of the day. Either way - it'll be in the electronics cabinet on the hard top.

 

[mdscole]

Turns out that the WiFish only has the downview option (the high resolution images) and no standard sonar. The standard sonar is supposedly better for actually identifying fissh. So, the first model with both types of sonar that transmits to tablets via Wifi is the Dragonfly 4 Pro.

It has both types of sonar, and a lousy little 4" screen. I plan on installing it in the glovebox and mounting the Wifi iPad in/on the electronics box above. So the screen size doesn't actually matter. I'll update in a couple weeks after I have a chance to get it and install it.

 

[Doc Stressor]

Isn't the WiFi output limited to the screen resolution of the head unit? I don't think that you're really getting anything close to the native iPad screen resolution from the output of a 4" screen.

 

[mdscole]

Isn't the WiFi output limited to the screen resolution of the head unit? I don't think that you're really getting anything close to the native iPad screen resolution from the output of a 4" screen.

That is the $64,000 question.

Details on technical information for this game have been very limited.

I will let you know when it is all hooked up.

 

[mdscole]

The Dragonfly 4 Pro came in the mail yesterday. So, I gave it power and put it on demo mode to see what the image quality looks like on the iPad. The picture quality is great. There is some pixelation of the image because this iPad screen is bigger than anything Raymarine sells without going to some of the professional models.

For $265 delivered, it's hard to beat.

Now I just have to fab up an enclosure.

Here's a screenshot:

 

[Doc Stressor]

Not bad at all!

 

[fullphase]

is the Dragonfly 4 Pro sending out the wifi signal??
I really like where this is going, please keep us informed on your progress.

thanks
Mike

 

[mdscole]

Yes - that image is from the Dragonfly sent via WiFi. Don't spend any money till this is water tested. Still a bit to go.

I yanked all the electronics from the overhead console. There was a polypropylene filler piece - is that factory or aftermarket:

 

[fullphase]

looks aftermarket......nothing looks like that on my 208....not sure though?

 

[CdP_Sailfish]

Thanks for doing this... I just bought a 92 Sailfish with a variety of older electronics and have been thinking about switching to an iPad set-up.

Anyone know if there is a way to either a) fully control or b) replicate the screen from a JRC 1500 Radar onto an iPad? I'd love it if everything could be on the iPad. If I have to settle for only fishfinder and/or chartplotter, that's fine as well...

 

[River Rat]

This is all rather intriguing. How is the screen in the sunlight, or on a sunny day under the hardtop?

 

[mdscole]

The screen of an ipad has a glossy finish that is more reflective than standard LCD marine electronics. Mounting it in the overhead should minimize the problem - but you don't really know till you try. The iPads do have an adjustable brightness which gets pretty bright.

Working on fabbing up a support frame out of starboard. It's been so HOT out here in the central valley.

 

[fullphase]

mdscole,

How is your project going? Have you hit any issues?

 

[mdscole]

It's been a little while since I posted on this topic. I finally got the electronics installed. The results are good, not great. The original plan to put the thing together with king starboard didn't go too well. The plastic has to be connected with mechanical fasteners and the tolerances I had on the electronics case were tight. That didn't leave much room and I ended up making a bunch of expensive sawdust. So I made it out of wood (which allowed glue) and painted it. This is what it looks like. A bit more reflection than I was hoping for, but it works.

The two different iPads have different colors (one black and one white) so I can tell them apart for the GPS function.

Two units with 9.7" displays and the investment was <$300 for the raymarine fishfinder. (assuming you have iPads lying around.) The pic was with the units on maximum brightness. This photo was in my driveway at about 1 pm. They're relying on battery power with no ability to charge while in the housing. When they're constantly on, the battery life is around 8-10 hours.

The wood strength is questionable. I would like to make one out of kingboard where the internal housing is simply milled from a solid brick of kingboard. Currently that's beyond my tooling and word working skills.

 

[mdscole]

The wood enclosure is not strong enough. It needs to be more significant.

But

The electronics were great. The communications to the ipads worked flawless. The Navionics ipad started to redraw the depth contours based on the information from the depth sounder. It was really impressive.

The iPads have a battery life of about 7-8 hours at constant on and max brightness. So power needs to be arranged.

Here it is in use heading out of Alameda (near San Francisco)
Alpha unit complete, time for beta phase.

 

[fullphase]

looks great in that pic.....shouldnt be to hard to figure out the power issue...