Acronym Time!!! AIS and MPPT

This morning I did a couple of boat projects all by my onesies. First, I installed and ran power to my VHF/AIS antenna splitter so I can use the VHF radio antenna at the top of the mast for AIS. I also installed my AIS receiver and hooked the splitter to it. I only felt like banging my head through the side of the boat a couple of times while contorting myself to screw a few small screws into wood. So, what is AIS? Automatic Identification System. With it, any boat in line of sight range from the VHF antenna at the top of the mast that is broadcasting an AIS signal will show up on my chart plotter screen with vessel info as well as speed and course. Most commercial vessels are transmitting, so this will help keep us safe from collision on passages especially at night or any time there is limited visibility. The AIS unit I bought, the dAISy, is really worth a look. It’s definitely the most cost effective AIS receiver, and from the reviews, works as good as anything that’s not much much more expensive. I’m planning to use it with the free OpenCPN as my chart plotter on a laptop with a USB GPS receiver. This setup is hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars less than devices that do the same exact thing. I’ll post later after field tests to review how effective it is.

Next, I simply mounted the MPPT charge controller for the solar panels. If all stays on schedule, the guys from The Yacht Rigger will be back out tomorrow or Friday to hook it all up to the panels and the batteries. MPPT is Maximum Power Point Tracking. That bad boy has a computer on board to deliver maximum power extraction under all sun conditions throughout the day.

Another fun day of boat work! Maybe I’m getting the hang of this?