Do You Want to Know or Not?

[BOAT]

So, what's the story on the PCB's. You can't just have them materialize. Where'd you get 'em? What did you have to give them so they could make them the way you wanted them? Inquiring minds want to know!

Well, apparently the bread board is a universal thing that is always wired the same way. (I did not know that until You Tube)

So, you can order PCB boards that are configured the same as a universal bread board! (A whole handful for 6 bucks! )

In my case, I ordered a PCB in the universal configuration of a Half of a Loaf of Bread Board. (It's a thing, I guess).

The Half of a Loaf of Bread configured PCB boards just came in about an hour ago and since then I have soldered 7 little holes without ruining the PCB board!! (yeah, I know - wow!)

I will make a picture when the PCB board is all soldered up.

[Jimmyt]

Well, apparently the bread board is a universal thing that is always wired the same way. (I did not know that until You Tube)

So, you can order PCB boards that are configured the same as a universal bread board! (A whole handful for 6 bucks! )

In my case, I ordered a PCB in the universal configuration of a Half of a Loaf of Bread Board. (It's a thing, I guess).

The Half of a Loaf of Bread configured PCB boards just came in about an hour ago and since then I have soldered 7 little holes without ruining the PCB board!! (yeah, I know - wow!)

I will make a picture when the PCB board is all soldered up.

Thanks! I did not know that!

[BOAT]

FULL LOAF OF BREAD BOARD



HALF A LOAF OF BREAD BOARD NEXT TO A FULL LOAF OF BREAD BOARD



HALF A LOAF OF BREAD BOARD WITH HALF A LOAF OF BREAD PCB BOARD FRONT AND BACK




HALF A LOAF OF BREAD BOARD WITH A PCB MINI BOARD

MY PROJECT WOULD HAVE FIT ON A PCB MINI BOARD,
But, I am not a good enough solderer and circuit designer to make my project fit on the mini board but if you guys make one of these you are better at it than I am so the one you guys would use is the mini board.

The half a loaf of bread PCB board is for amateurs like me - if I were experienced like you guys I would have used the mini board

[BOAT]

All done - here it is:

[Russ]

Nice work BOAT

[Jimmyt]

That came out great! If you got everything soldered on there without burning anything up, you are pretty good at soldering.

[K9Kampers]

Looks great BOAT!
I imagine you'd work toward making it smaller once you're satisfied with sea trials? What are the considerations for making it weather / marine proof?

[BOAT]

They made the little cookie boards so that amateurs can solder them - on the back side the wells are pretty deep so all you really need to do is melt solder and it will flow into the little hole/well. It's not like surface electronics where there is no metal in the hole - the little cookie board has the holes protected with metal inside each hole so you really can't burn up the board.

Since it uses such a small amount of electricity I can wire a harness right off the board in the picture to feed an indicator only board that can go into the pedestal. For that I will use the mini board. The board that is pictured will go into the overhead above the dinette like kurz has his indicator mounted. The main board will be in there so no weather or water will get to that board. The board was about 90 cents. 5 transistors and 10 resistors are less than 2 bucks. LEDs are 4 cents each so the materials total about 4 dollars? The only real money here is the 7 conductor wire because you need 26 feet for a 26 foot boat and that's 40 cents a foot so it was expensive - like 12 dollars on Amazon.

When it's installed I will make a vid showing me emptying the tank underway with the motor using the light to tell me when it is empty. And i will also show the tank filling back up. That should be a good test. The purpose of the light is:

To let me know if the ballast is leaking
Let me know when it is empty when I am using the motor to let the water out so I close the gate as soon as possible.
To let me know when it's full from the pedestal so I know when to close the gate.

[Tomfoolery]

The only real money here is the 7 conductor wire because you need 26 feet for a 26 foot boat and that's 40 cents a foot so it was expensive - like 12 dollars on Amazon.

If you're monitoring ballast while draining, why do you need such a long cable? The bow will be pitched upward, and will empty almost right away while the stern is still full to the top of the ballast tank.

Or am I missing something?

[Jimmyt]

If you're monitoring ballast while draining, why do you need such a long cable? The bow will be pitched upward, and will empty almost right away while the stern is still full to the top of the ballast tank.

Or am I missing something?

Not sure I remember you missing anything, ever...

I would still want the full sensor in the bow, where I check for full now. The question then becomes, does he install a single sensor at the rear to monitor empty? Seems like he'd have to drill an access port in the ballast tank for it, but I know he owns a drill. He could actually just run a hot and the empty signal back to the stern and voila!

What say ye, BOAT? How bad do you want to know it's all dry?

[BOAT]

Trust me - it's dry - the aft does not hold much water - by the time the bow sender goes empty you have about two seconds of water left in the aft section. I could not even close the valve that fast to trap the water.

[Jimmyt]

Trust me - it's dry - the aft does not hold much water - by the time the bow sender goes empty you have about two seconds of water left in the aft section. I could not even close the valve that fast to trap the water.

You could even count your neighboring state, like we do here in Alabama... we just want to know how many Mississippis there are, after the last indicator goes out, before you close the ballast valve...

You make a good counterpoint BOAT. Those two runners don't have a bunch of water.

[K9Kampers]

You could even count your neighboring state, like we do here in Alabama... we just want to know how many Mississippis there are, after the last indicator goes out, before you close the ballast valve...

You could verify its performance by hauling at the ramp to see if / how much drains out.

[BOAT]

You could even count your neighboring state, like we do here in Alabama... we just want to know how many Mississippis there are, after the last indicator goes out, before you close the ballast valve...

You could verify its performance by hauling at the ramp to see if / how much drains out.

If there is any water in there it's going to trip the sensor when you stop the motor and the boat levels out. That's why there is a five stage sensor - the bottom sensor is for really really empty - if the second to last sensor lite trips when your level the boat is not empty yet.

So you have two sensors for the lower limits of the tank and two sensors for the hither limits of the tank (to detect leaking) and the very top fifth sensor GREEN when the water is all they way up flowing into the bowl.

[Jimmyt]

Have you started building the sensor yet? I'm anxious to see what you come up with!