New One Man Boat

[yoderjac]

I think I'm making some slow progress. One issue was a bad crimp on the power cable for the ethernet switch. The second issue was a bone-head thing on my part.

I decided to buzz the power cable to the ethernet switch since I was not getting a power light and I was able to verify power coming out of my new battery box. Sure enough, the wire had popped out of one of the crimps under the shrink tube. I clipped off the cable and put on a new power connector. The ethernet switch powered right up!

Now that the switch was working, I decided to try to clean power up sequence humminbird gave me again. I powered on the Megalive 2 and was supposed to wait a minute. I waited several and the ethernet port light never came on for the Megalive 2. As I was scratching my head and looking at the port on the box for the Megalive 2, Something dawned on me. What a bone head move I had pulled!

Before I got the new battery and battery box, I was using the old 12ah battery box. That box was built before I got the Megalive 2. It only has two ports, one for the Xplore and one for the charger. The 3 amp charger uses the same kind of SAE power connectors I've been using between the charger and the terminal ends (like alligator clips, rings, etc.). Because the charger is a power source like a battery, the SAE connector is wired hot-protected. So, rather than making an adapter, I simply wired that 12 amp battery box charger port as hot-exposed so I could plug the charger in directly.

Well, when I got the MegaLive 2, before the 50 ah battery and box came in, I was using that 12 ah battery box to test it on the water. I wired the Megalive 2 properly with hot-exposed (since it is not a power source). So I made a 1' adapter cable so I could plug it into the charger port of the 12 ah battery box. When I got the new 50 ah battery and box, I forgot to remove the adapter, so the Megalive 2 power was wired backwards.

I removed the adapter and plugged the Megalive 2 directly into the power port on the new battery box. After about a minute, the green light on the ethernet port came on indicating a connection!

The bad news is that even after fixing my bone-head mistake and reparing the ethernet swtich power cable, when I powered up the Xplore, it did not recognize the Megalive 2. The port like for the Xplore on the ethernet switch came on. After a minute or so, I got the same error message indicating the Megalive 2 was lost.

Something new I learned from humminbird during the email exchange. None of the mega units, DI, SI, or Megalive will produce an image if they are not in water. So, when I'm dry testing on the trailer, I can't rely on those screens to indicate whether it is working or not. The only thing I can find indicating connection is the tiny icons in the top corner of the display. There is a red question mark on the megalive 2 but not the SI or DI icons.

So, I'm wondering if testing dry is valid. I'm speculating about how these devices might be communicating. There three possibilities I can think of, a publish and subscribe model, point to point model, or a broadcast model. With options 1 or 2, the Xplore would likely see the Megalive 2 when a connection was made between the units, but with a broadcast model, the Xplore would not see the megalive 2 until it started broadcasting data, and if it won't broadcast sonar data out of water, that could be why it is not recognized.

I have a question into Humminbird to see if I could use a 5 gal bucket of water for testing.

 

[yoderjac]

I decided to try to patch the boat today. I mixed up the Aquaseal and accelerator/cure after marking and cleaning the spot of the leak. I also used 2x4s to support the frame on the trailer while the chamber was deflated. With the chamber fully inflated, I applied the Aquaseal liberally to about 1" around the leak.

I then used the Seamax pump with the hose hooked to the deflate port to put negative pressure on the leak.

I kept it sucking for about 3 minutes and then left it connected for another 5 minutes. I then removed the hose and put the valve cover back on.

I will let this sit overnight before reinflating.

 

[yoderjac]

I made one more modification today to my Megalive 2 pole. If you recall from previous posts, I did not cement the handle Tee to the pole. One thing I've noticed using it is that the handle and pointer are great when it is deployed, but they make it hard to store. There is a limited position I can put it in because the handle hits the seat.

So, I removed it from the boat. I took the inner EMT to the belt sander and slightly sanded down the end of the pipe. Now instead of a snug fitting it is a loose fitting. I then put it back on and made sure the indicator was pointed in the same direction as the Megalive 2. I then took it to the drill press and drilled a 1/4" hole through the coupling and pipe. I have a 1/4" x 3" wire lock pin on order. This will allow me to detach the top when I store it.