standard horizon 1700e vhf

simonafloat · 12 June 2016, 18:56

I am thinking of buying this vhf unit to go in my bombard aerotec. I like the sound of the built in gps and simple waypoint navigation. Has anyone got one? Any good?

If pikeydave is reading this post - many thanks for donating the raymarine vhf... but i managed to fry it! I was redoing the wiring setup to incorporate a gps receiver for the dsc and managed to reverse the polarity to the raymarine. smoke came out and basically i have cooked a diode on the circuitboard. possibly fixable but possibly not.

simon

ShinyShoe · 12 June 2016, 19:04

1700e gets a good write up. What else do you have on-board to talk to?

It would be unusual (?maybe even impossible) to fry a radio by reversing the NMEA connections. Did you put 12V into the NMEA?

simonafloat · 12 June 2016, 19:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

1700e gets a good write up. What else do you have on-board to talk to?

It would be unusual (?maybe even impossible) to fry a radio by reversing the NMEA connections. Did you put 12V into the NMEA?

No, i managed to reconnect the 12v supply to the radio with reverse polarity...

at the moment i am only using navionics on a cheap android tablet. it does the job fine but i want some redundancy in case it malfunctions. the 1700e allows you to programme in up to 100 waypoints which would provide a navigation backup. plus with the built in gps its one less cable to think about as it wont require an external gps mouse. my boat is deflated and packed away between trips so the simpler the better.

ShinyShoe · 12 June 2016, 20:42

Ah... ...yeh that'll burn something out! GPS mice these days all seem to be 5V so down volting that too adds a whole extra complication. If you were doing that I'd have wanted to build that into a waterproof enclosure... although you may need to anyway as the back of these units isn't usually designed to get wet...

But an all in one sounds a good plan.

I bet you don't enter those Waypoints though. Nightmare task on any unit I've ever used that didn't have a PC connected to it! But despite me being a techie on a wet boat I'm still old school and tend to use encapsulated chartlet and chinagraph pencil.

willk · 12 June 2016, 20:58

I have this set fitted in standalone format, now in it's third season. It's a fine piece of kit - as a VHF. I don't use the navigation functions but like you, I regard it as a backup should all else fail. Like Shiny, I'd have reservations about it's suitability on a SIB - you'll need an enclosure.

simonafloat · 12 June 2016, 21:22

the bravo pump that i bought for the boat came in a nice padded camera-style storage bag. I am using this as an enclosure for the vhf, 7ah battery, tools, first aid kit, spares etc. it works really well compared to a solid enclosure when i am crashing around in the chop. and the aerotec really does crash around a lot. the bag is rigid enough to hold everything in place in their compartments but has some give to it - and no sharp edges.

ShinyShoe · 12 June 2016, 21:45

But that wont be waterproof? By waterproof I don't mean will it keep a bit of spray off it... I mean when a really big wave crashes over your bow and you end up with 6 inch of water in the bottom of the boat - what stops the water getting in the bag and shorting the + and - wires on the back of the VHF. Its designed to mount on a console so you can get the front wet. In fact you can probably get the back wet and it will still work once dried out... But if the reason you are half full of water is also the reason you need a VHF the two aren't compatible. I've seen some very nice installs inside a waterproof box with a nice flush mount panel on it.

Something like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdU6R5og8ug

Box can be strapped in place on board.

Poly · 12 June 2016, 23:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonafloat

... padded camera-style storage bag. I am using this as an enclosure for the vhf, ...

beware if you actually use the vhf a lot to transmit the back can get hot...

simonafloat · 20 June 2016, 21:32

I bit the bullet and bought the 1700e. Very nice piece of kit.

I am going to build a compact enclosure for the vhf, battery and step down for the 5v gps mouse. I am a carpenter so thinking wbp or marine ply with one face of the enclosure made of aluminium to radiate heat from the inside of the box.

I bought a 12v to 5v step down for the gps mouse which also has two usb charging sockets for phone etc which i will install in the enclosure. I've noticed however that the step down introduces a little noise into the vhf reception. would a suppressor on its 12v feed improve it? the vhf already has one on its feed.

ShinyShoe · 20 June 2016, 22:26

Certainly wont do any harm trying. Noise off USB chargers is a fairly common complaint unfortunately. I've seen mention of it being down to the "Buck Convertor" not clear if you can get a 5V "transformer" from 12V that isn't Buck.