AIS Receiver and Masthead Light

Posts regarding the electrical systems and electronics on a Telstar.
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wingman71
Posts: 40
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 1:52 am
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AIS Receiver and Masthead Light

Post by wingman71 »

Well, I decided that I have not spent enough on the boat this year, so I added an AIS receiver (iAIS by Digital Yacht) and masthead nav light/Anchor light (MISEA Group).

The AIS receiver also creates a local WIFI and there is free APP for iOS. It also sends the data to iNavX. I sail a lot at night and the Chesapeake Bay has too many ships and barges. I know that there are Apps that provide the signals over cellular, but it misses too many (one is too many!) and has a delay. it is also another screen to monitor, or forget to monitor!

The AIS receiver requires a VHF antenna splitter. I do not have the make that I bought, but it is about $150. You can spend much more! I had a friend who knows about electrical wiring help me do the install, but it was not too hard. If anyone is really interested, I can provide excruciating detail.

The nave light wiring was easy, but requires some guesswork to find the negative lead from the anchor light. It is there at the electronics panel, but at first we were worried that we were going to have to cut into the overhead to find it. We thought that PCI may have ganged all the negative leads into one. for the Nav/Anchor light, you should use the two-wire, although it appears that there are three wires going to the mast. I did not know that until the rigger took off the anchor light. The MISEA website can explain how the 2-wire works.

Mounting the light was tough. You need the top mount made for the light and it does not easily fit on the horizontal arm that goes aft from the masthead. The rigger had to fabricate a rectangular piece to mount to the arm and then mount the mount to it. Again, more details are available if you are really interested. one other benefit is that the light also is supposed to light the wind indicator at the end of the arm. I have not tried it at night, yet, to see if that works.
Gene
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:54 am
Location: "Tri Again" Plash Island, AL
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Re: AIS Receiver and Masthead Light

Post by Gene »

We always love pics if you have any to post ;-)
#318
Plash Island, AL
USA
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