You probably reached this "Blog10" page from the
Snoopy page,
or the
Design of Snoopy Sloop page
.
If not, click on a link to know more.
Each "blog" page describes detailed work preparing for the next Atlantic Attempt.
i.e. covering a period in the region of a year: less if more than one attempt is made. More if we miss a year, such as 2023.
The Blog pages were started after the first 2012 Attempt, where Snoopy's boat was lost. All later attempts were
with the same boat, sometimes after major repairs. The blogs provide online "Engineering Notebooks",
providing a day-by-day account of repairs, changes, and testing: mostly testing.
These blog pages are mostly about numerous repairs to the boat, results from "BRAY LAKE TESTS", or 24/7 reliability testing on Bray Lake. i.e. Snoopy sailing back and forth over a 24/7 waypoint in "Snoopy Corner". This is typically for several weeks, in all weather, including gale force winds. Sometimes, a few things happened which resulted in amusing pictures or stories, such as countering human-intervention, or testing the wheels for Snoopy's trolly. Click on the pictures either side for larger versions, or visit earlier blogs above. BlogX, the "blog of experiments", shows ideas and products, some of which may appear in future boats.
This "Blog10" page was started on 22nd April 2023, and the Youtube video on the right was uploaded the day before. There is a glimpse of Snoopy's boat at the start, that survived the 2022 Atlantic Attempt and you will see the design of the boat has not changed since Snoopy's first attempt in 2012. The 2012 Attempt was after 4 years of prototyping, design changes, and TESTING ;
This "Blog10" page will show events in the order they happened, so the latest will be near the end. e.g. deciding what work is needed on Snoopy's boat(s); doing the work; testing; then - hopefully - the 2024 Atlantic Attempt. Robin and all of Team-Joker were too busy with more important things, for the boat to be ready in 2023.
Blog10 follows on from Blog9 - the 2022 Atlantic Attempt itself :-) Why did Snoopy's 2022 Attempt fail ? The boat lost it's rudder, and water got in. Below is from the Snoopy page ...
Robin is now sure that Snoopy failed because he forgot to file a flat on the steel rod fixed to the rudder. Stupid boy Robin ! :-) This is needed so that the grub screw, in the rudder lever, can prevent it working loose. The result, in rough seas, would have been the rudder working loose, sliding out of the boat, allowing some sea water to come into the waterproof box at the back. The result of even a small amount of salt water, is electrical leakage and loss of battery power. Hence the SPOT Trace Satcoms failing - and probably everything else ! Click or Tap on that image of the rudder lever, on left, to see repairs in Blog10 . <- no need to Tap or Click - you are on Blog10 now :-)
As a start, on deciding what work to be done first, Tap or Click on these photos from the Snoopy page, showing the boat near Robin's front door. This video shows progress, and may help to give a "heads up" on work in the coming weeks and months. e.g. Gotop. I'll include the email sent to ROBINLOVELOCKSFRIENDS Google Group.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33xB5KeyVyQ&t=106s is a 16 minute rough cut photo trail and video clips, shot on Saturday 22nd April 2023. Parts of the video will be of interest to different people, around the World, for different reasons. e.g. Snoopy's Trans-Atlantic Robot boat, and work started on investigating repairs and changes before the 2023 Attempt. You will see examples of GPS Trackers, and tracking, including SPOT Satcomms and low cost, but advanced trackers from China. These trackers were tested on June & Robin's trip to, and around, Warnham Park Gardens, open for the National Garden Scheme (NGS) and Blood Cancer charities. They met interesting guys, including charity workers, gardeners, and members of the Lucas family, who have owned the estate for generations. Yes, there is lots of "Garden Project" work, including Forts built for their "Guard cats", Tody and Bentley :-) There is the 3D replay of their walk around the garden near the end, followed by them being greeted by cats Tody and Bentley. This day will be remebered by many as the one where Barry Humphries past away. There are glimpses of other things, that Robin can explain to whoever needs to know ;-) That's the Youtube description. I expect the automatic subtitles with translation will appear soon. Take Care :-) Robin www.gpss.co.uk .
Tap or Click on pictures below to expand. From left to right: 1) from that video above; 2) from the Gotop tracking page - more facilities than needed by many; 3) June's trip to play tennis, with a Gotop tracker in her car K555GPS :-) Robin is hoping Gotop can show how their website can be used to provide a simple link, that can be made public, to show the live position, and perhaps recent track, of a tracker, like that on the right.
Thanks to Allan at
Gotop
for explaining how to provide simple tracking links:
Gotop1 in Robin's Merc C4GPS : https://110track.com/index.php?su=7EDFBF3AA6C046030D797D767E69011B
Gotop2 in June's Merc K555GPS : https://110track.com/index.php?su=EDF901FEF5E7B32275134DDF6DAB98CC
Friday 19th May 2023:
Robin now has a third Gotop Solar tracker for tests - which continue, and LOTS of other things to do :-)
Allan continues to give great support. e.g.
sending an SMS (text) like FREQ,123456,120 sets reporting rate to 120 seconds = 2 minutes, reducing power consumption,
compared with the default 30 seconds ( FREQ,123456,30 ). For Robot Boats, one can set it to a very slow, low power, rate,
Such as every hour ( FREQ,123456,3600 ), but switch it to faster, if near, rocks, a fishing vessel, or doing a Bray Lake Test ;-)
Also
detailed documentation is here
.
Tap or click to expand these photos, starting with checking the battery voltage, guessing (correctly) what pins to check :-)
Tuesday 25th April 2023: No point in changing that rudder design - just a matter of doing it properly ! e.g. filing that flat on the shaft ! BUT, before that, I need to look at old photos and get the outline correct. e.g. roughly same area in front of and behind shaft - so buffeting waves don't make a turning torque strain on servo. Also, so area between hull and top of rudder not likely to trap stuff like weed or debris.
I'll probably use same or similar materials. e.g. plywood to cut out rudder shape, with slot for (stainless?) steel shaft from top, maybe halfway down. Solder a rectangle of brass plate to shaft, that will be "Fastglassed" to the plywood rudder. i.e. whole rudder will be covered in "Davids fastglas" resin and maybe some fibreglass.
This is where a drawing, or rudder spare, would have helped: detailed design of the replacement rudder assembly ! :-)
Tap or Click to expand that image of the rudder, taken from a frame about 18:40 into the Snoopy's 2022 Atlantic Attempt video on the Blog9 page. The box of electronics give an idea of scale. The box is about 4" / 10cm high, and about 8" / 20cm along the boat. So, Robin reckons the rudder is about 6" / 15cm wide, and about 6" / 15cm high. The details of the (stainless?) steel rudder shaft are easier to determine - by looking at what we have of Snoopy Sloop 11 - all of it - it was only the rudder that went missing ! :-) But for the reader here, the top of the rudder shaft is about 1cm from the lid of the box, and must pass into the rudder, leaving a gap of perhaps 1cm, to the top of the rudder, then perhaps halfway down into the rudder: 7cm. The brass tube that the steel shaft slides into, is about 7" / 18cm from top to where it exits from the hull. i.e. a piece of steel shaft a total of maybe < 35cm / 14" long. Can be confirmed as parts are constructed ;-)
Thursday 27th April 2023:Photos gathered for more detail on progress to be reported here. e.g. materials for the new rudder assembly; new 2300 mAH Ni MHd Overlander battery packs; spares of trusted Acoms AS-17 servos used for rudder. Typical MTBF 2 to 3 months. Testing of GPS trackers, including SPOT and Gotop.
Friday 28th April 2023:Work started on rudder shaft. Photos below, from Blog8 , and boat itself, invaluable for rudder geometry. e.g. orientation of the rudder arm, flat filed on shaft, and rudder direction - BEFORE soldering plate onto shaft. Shaft is now 33cm / 13" long. Later photos will make clearer :-)
Monday 1st May 2023: Snoopy Sloop 10 now has a rudder ! See how it was made.
Play the "Last Days of April" video on the right or www.youtube.com/embed/udwsBLUN0Bc . The video has lots of other things, but you can use the Youtube time bar to peruse content and play bits of interest.
Also, progress is being made on testing of the replacement SPOT Trace Satcomms tracker, and collection of bits, such as NiMhd batteries, to replace those spoilt by sea water. Other products that might be exploited can also be seen. e.g. the low cost solar-powered Gotop trackers ( when in range of shore ), and software such as that used to replay a GPS track in 3D. e.g. Bray Lake Tests, or even the GPS track from an Atlantic Attempt ?
Wednesday 3rd May 2023: Play the video on the left or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvzQmvKk1tA . International Perfection Snow White paint, used and proven on Snoopy's Robot boats for years. It is an 18.5 minute rough cut video, with two photo trails: 1) that of Tuesday 2nd May; 2) Wednesday 3rd May 2023. Much of 2) is not directly relevant to Snoopy's Robot Boat, but topics overlap. e.g. testing of trackers, and cameras used to record progress.
Tuesday 9th May 2023: Tap or Click on the images on the right, to expand or play the video on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=std16HYBPfY . The video explains how Snoopy's old autopilot system can be used to test the total servo-rudder system, when the damaged servo is replaced by a new one. The video says a lot more relevant to robot boats ;-)
Saturday 13th May 2023: Play the video on the left to see detail of work on the boat near the start, and the end. Parts of the long photo trails show "the bigger picture", including testing of trackers and tools such as prediction of weather.
Playing the Youtube video, to check automatic subtitles ( with translation into any language ), Robin questioned his words about the autopilot startup sequence, VERY relevant to rudder steering geometry. e.g. was it correct ? Remember we (once ?) used a servo-reverser. Luckily the Text-To-Speech comentry, steering the boat towards Bray Lake Waypoint "Alpha", speaks things like "Right" or "Left", when the rudder should turn that way. Robin is checking other boats like Snoopy Sloop 4 to see what they do. This reinforces the importance of correct design documentation, and value in having old photos - AND of have got the boat back - however badly damaged ! Fortunately, most of the boat seems OK, but obviously needs attention :-)
Tap or Click on photos below to expand and see detail: batteries and Picaxe 28X2 to replace ! Batteries ordered OK. Ready assembled Picaxe 28X2 ?
Buzby on the Picaxe Forum pointed Robin to www.picaxestore.com/picaxe/picaxe-chips/picaxe-modules/axe201 which looked like the same module - so Robin ordered two, for delivery by First Class Post. Even if Robin does not have the time to check it out with his software, maybe someone else can ;-)
Robin just posted this on the Picaxe Forum:
I think the latest version of my Picaxe Autopilot is version "Romeo" on
www.gpss.co.uk/ap28x2r.bas
.
Do not expect any support for this old program - but if it works, you can use it ;-)
Saturday 20th May 2023: Tap or Click on these pictures below, to expand and see the detail. The Picaxe 28X2 based Autopilot is an important part of Snoopy's Robot Boat, including making sure the rudder geometry is correct, when using the version of Autopilot program that has been well tested, and not changed for years. See Robin's Robot Boat Design Page . Robin found these old pictures on his web site, when deciding what name to give the screen shot from good advice received from the Picaxe Forum.
Sunday 21st May 2023: Below is a picture from Flenser on the Active Pixaxe Forum . Then his correction. Same ? Thanks Guys :-) Few will play this 55 minute video :-)
Thursday 22nd June 2923: Minor breakthrough: Robin finds a working Picaxe 28X2 Autopilot, and gives it a "Tea Tray Test" between his front door and the lampost. NO - he does not intend to put this into Snoopy's boat - it is too valuable for that. It can act as a "Reference System" for comparison with any we, or others, build, based upon whatever components we are able to find and buy. Robin plans to get at least a second working, before he risks downloading the very latest software into this one. Latest Software ? That's version "Romeo" - a few months after this, loaded with version "PaPa" - 21st July 2017 at 5:40pm - or at least, that's what it speaks on startup :-)
The following extract is near the end of
Snoopy's Robot Boat "Design" page
...
QUOTE:
Robin believes the latest version of the Picaxe 28X2 based autopilot software, used in Snoopy's Robot boats since December 2017,
was version "Romeo", and the
Picaxe 28X2 source code is here - in ap28x2r.bas is here
.
When downloaded, and opened with a simple text editor, like Notepad, the first few lines should be those below ...
'AP28X2R.BAS 01Dec17 "Romeo" of Snoopy's Picaxe 28X2 Autopilot Software. (c) Robin Lovelock www.GPSS.co.uk
'AP28X2R.BAS 06Dec17 "Romeo" rudder gearing constant MAXDERR = 30 to 60 after today's test
'AP28X2R.BAS 01Dec17 "Romeo" Only change is rudder gearing constant MAXDERR = 120 to 30
'based on
'AP28X2Q.BAS 31Jul17 "Quebec" Correct cross trackj error by comparing W24 CBWP Course Between Way Points
'AP28X2P.BAS 16Jul17 "Papa" remove spoken range bug when ~ 100m E-W heard on 12th July 17.
etc, etc ...
UNQUOTE.
Friday 23rd June 2023: This Youtube video, from 31st October 2021, was invaluable to see that the most recent version was "Romeo" and that I need to reverse the rudder geometry. i.e. on startup, the Autopilot does a Left-Centre-Right-Centre movement of the rudder.
This was confirmed, looking at the rusty remains of the boat's electronics: Robin found a Turnigy Servo Reverser, between the Picaxe 28X2 computer board and the rudder servo. Searching on the Net I found that some suppliers had discontinued this product, but I found and ordered TWO from Greensmodels, at 19.45 GBP for fast delivery. I also found and ordered a cheaper product from China: FIVE at 10.14 GBP for delivery by 4th July 2023. This should be enough spared for several years of Snoopy's Robot Boats :-)
Of course, we could change the steering geometry, to remove the need for a servo reverser - another component that might fail. But, on this Snoopy Sloop 10, Robin will stick to the same, proven, design ;-)
Wednesday 28th June 2023: Other more important things have delayed work on Snoopy's boat, but good progress made. Servo reversers arrived, and one was soon plugged in, and - of course - worked :-) More importantly, today Robin found an old "Maplins" plastic bag, full of needed electronics bits, such as circuit card, diodes, resistors, etc, etc. The old Picaxe 28X2 module, seen in the low left of this photo, will make it so much easier, as a reference, when soldering the module, then pins, resistors, etc - into the right places. THEN we can try loading the Autopilot software into it. But before that, Robin used an old multi-meter to check the current drawn by the total 5v NiMHd battery->GPS->Picaxe 28X2 Module-> Servo reverser->Acoms AS17 Servo. The current drawn seemed a little more than earlier blog notes, and schoolboy arithmetic can be used to make sure our duplicated solar power system is adequate. It obviously depends on what part of the year, such as if in Summer, Autumn, or Winter. Note that if the system runs flat, it should start up again when it gets enough light to recharge batteries. Rough figures of current drawn are as follows: 70mA peaking to 120mA when moving servo. So average of 80mA current drawn ? The old Snoopy Robot Boat Design page speaks of < 40 or 50mA. Most school kids should be able to calculate how many hours and days batteries should last. e.g. 4 x 2,400 mAH batteries = 9,600 mAH capacity divided by 80 mA -> 120 hours / 24 = 5 days ? BUT, with enough average light ( not just sunlight ), it MIGHT not run flat at all. Others can check my references, arithmetic, or might even test the same components themselves ;-)
Sunday 27th August 2023: VERY LITTLE PROGRESS during July and August. What little time Robin spent working on things, like replacement ( and spares for ) the Picaxe 28X2 Autopilot, and replament of the I-Got GPS Logger, was mostly him making mistakes ( with nobody to check his work ) - but we learn from our ( and other people's ) mistakes. Few others will wish to search for the relevant events on Robin's Youtube Channel "photo trails" ;-)
BUT, these very useful extracts from Blogs were invaluable on two topics: a suitable replacement of the I-GotU GPS logger, and - more important - Robin's shifting his time to rebuilding of the Snoopy Sloop 11 hull, including adding the new replacent solar panels.
Recent pictures and information may be added in due course, but first here are extracts from blogs in 2019 ...
From near the end of
Blogx - Experimental Work POSSIBLE REPLACEMENT OF I-GOTU BY GT-730FL-S GPS LOGGER ? ...
QUOTE
Saturday 2nd March 2019:
Maybe Boat 13 can assist testing of Boat 11's SPOT Trace solar power supply on 24/7 duty ? More in due course.
Priority "research" is in support of Snoopy Sloop 11, before this year's Atlantic Attempt.
See end of
Blog7
, including work on the I-GotU GPS Logger, in All Snoopy's boats since the first 2012 Attempt.
Click on pictures to enlarge.
Robin is testing a more recent product: the GT-730FL-S, having purchased two from Germany.
This product MAY be a better long term solution than the home built GPS Loggers for Bray Lake Tests,
or even - after software work and lots of testing - a longer term replacement of the I-gotU.
But not yet: the I-GotU has worked well for years and has been "proven in Battle"
- see Snoopy's
2015 Attempt
:-)
So now onto work in progress - where progress IS being made - helped by
Blog7 - Experimental Work REPLACEMENT OF OLD SOLAR PANELS ...
Thursday 26th February 2019:
Above photo shows boat after minor work on replacing string. There are now extra lower mast side stays. knots are smeared with silicon sealant.
2nd January 2024:
Below, on left, is the photo taken on 25th October 2023, of Robin with Sloopy Sloop 11.
The photo seemed have got lost from this "Blog10" page, but Robin saw it in our
2023 Christmas Newsletter
:-)
As might have been mentioned before, a lot of nitty-gritty detail
may be tucked away on those "Rough Cut Photo Trail videos" on
www.youtube.com/user/RobinLovelock/videos
- if you have the patience to look :-)
Tap or Click on the picture to expand.
Perhaps I should simply insert the relevant section from the 2023 newsletter below ...
QUOTE
Robin has been able to do a LITTLE bit of work on Snoopy's Robot Boat, Snoopy Sloop 11, that survived 6 weeks at sea last year,
before miraculously sailing into Rottingdean, east of Brighton, so many miles from where it was last seen, west of Weymouth.
This picture, from
Blog10
- linked from the
Snoopy
page,
shows much of the basic work on the boat completed, by the end of October 2023. i.e. hull, sails, rudder, etc.
BUT much more remains to be done, if and when Robin has help to at least check his work, such as soldering :-)
The video on the right, of Snoopy's autpilot being given a "Tea Tray Test", shows what most will consider the most complicated
part of Snoopy's Robot Boats - the GPS Autopilot, which includes GPS, computer, and a servo to move the rudder and steer the boat.
This stuff has not been changed for years and is well tested. The stuff that failed are simple things, like a rudder breaking off,
due to being made of carbon fibre rod instead of steel, or what happened last year: the rudder fell out,
then water got in, because Robin
had not fixed it in properley. LOTS of other simple things to check - like dry soldered joints ! :-)
On Monday 22nd May 2023, Robin enjoyed a trip down to Chesil Beach, near Weymouth, to meet Phil Smith, and see "Phil's Boat" - even smaller than Snoopy's !
Dick was kind enough to pick Robin up from Sunninghill, and we enjoyed the conversations on the trip. We particularly
enjoyed meeting Phil, and his family and friends. We also met up with Peter, also of Team-Joker. Robin admires Phil's Boat,
since it has performed better on the East-to-West Microtransat Atlantic Attempts than most, if not all the others ;-)
Phil made the attempt later in the year - and Dick helped with a rescue. But that's another story :-)
UNQUOTE.
However, Robin has not yet found anyone with the time to get one or more of those "spare"
autopilot boards to work. One could waste a lot of time trying, if it turned out that
the module he purchased was NOT completely identical or compatible with the old version.
AND, of course, there could easily be faults in Robin's wiring of the boards :-|
More details here in due course :-)
See "BlogX", describing background experimental work from 2008 until now.
See the
Recce,
Compass
,
Software
, and many
Blog
pages, for details of the vast ammount of experiments and testing, done over the years.
Yes, there is a lot there, and you need a wide screen to scroll through it.
I wish I'd written the blogs tidier, but they are better than nothing, and my time is precious.
Now WHERE are the details of the autoplots in Boat6 and Boat10 used for that race in July 2014 ?
Play the video to see how well
Snoopy's 2014 boat 10 did against the smaller experimental boat 6 on 11th July 2014.
The speech from the autopilot of Boat6 implies it was using experimental compass-based steering.
i.e. "ahead, ahead, left, ahead", etc. Boat 10 used our old, trusted, GPS-Only steering.
Why did Boat6 win ? Much less weight: see the Blog for Boats 11 and 12 having a race
with identical autopilots on Thursday 6th July 2017, three years later.
We can learn a lot from what we did in earlier years, if we write it down -
or better still, film it :-)
From Robin: It's very convenient for me, that there are so few visitors to this page: just those given the link.
See map and words near end of my
Home
page ;-)
The visit counters may give a rough indication on who else is visiting, or has visited, this page.
I don't hide or disguise my visits, but they may appear as "Ascot", or miles away, like "Redhill" or even "Southend-on-Sea, England" (on my Lounge PC),
or "High Wycombe" or "West-Drayton, England" ( on the Study PC).
Positions may not be accurate, but times are.
These may change at any time, without control by me.
e.g. if we have a power cut, or I reboot a router.
So, you may see if I'm "working" in the Study, or "relaxing" in Lounge :-)
Not all visits are seen, and some browsers hide location, but you may find
Revolvermaps livestats for this "Blog10" page
of interest.
The video on the right shows several guys visiting my
Covid19
page
, shortly after I posted the link to the
Microtransat
forum, linked from the
Snoopy Robot Boat
page.
That's right - Hobby activity and Charitable Causes, rather than earning money.
Us
Grumpy
old men sometimes find that, "there are just not enough hours in the day"
;-)
© 2023 Robin Lovelock.
There have been
visits seen by
since Friday 5th August 2022.
e.g. Where exactly to put the panels ? Below was invaluable. No need for Duck Tape this time ... so far ;-)
QUOTE
Friday 1st March 2019:
Watching the video of Snoopy Sloop 11 being 24/7 tested, I was reminded that the Navigation Light was not working.
At the time I thought the two small solar panels had let the 3xAA NiMH battery go flat.
Yesterday I discovered that there was corrosion on the small circuit I'd built to switch off the lamp in daylight.
I've kept the old one, in case Peter or Dick want to test their electronics skills :-)
This time I covered the board in Fastglass resin, before assembling with plenty of Wickes Silican Sealant.
I've also taken more care with the two monitoring and charging terminals, following Peter alerting me to
the significant power drainage through salt water.
Click on photos below to enlarge or play. They show work on SPOT Trace solar power supply, to be tested before putting back in boat 11.
Robin's car is
here
:-)
Saturday 2nd March 2019:
See
BlogX
for supporting experimental work such as new GT-730FL-S GPS Logger and Boat 13. This could be be used
on 24/7 at Bray Lake,
to test the SPOT Trace solar power supply with identical solar panel, batteries, but
SpotT2
.
Lateral thinking is being applied, including strapping the SPOT sub-system onto sheep :-)
UNQUOTE.
Sunday 27th August 2023:
Above was invaluable, and four large solar panels are now on Snoopy Sloop 11. Next is wiring through to NiMHd batteries in box.
Finding that working Picaxe autopilot was important, and some may wish to play the video.
Since then, Robin has successfully loaded the later version "Romeo" of the autopilot software
- and it worked ! :-)
Other stuff ...
Snoopy's Bray Lake Test ... sail 530 metres automatically, through 5 waypoints ...
Who has visited this page ?