Comprehensive on 12-Volt Systems

By Bob Howie

?2005 Bob Howie

Up to now, boaters looking toward having entertainment and computer systems aboard had few options.

Entertainment systems have typically been off-the-shelf retail units, either 12-volt automotive or marine systems coupled with various makes of weather- and water-resistant units for vessels without gensets or home component systems for use while tied to the pier or under way utilizing generators for on-board AC.

Having the PC on board has typically been confined to laptops utilizing inverters for recharging or coupled to on-board 110-volt systems.

And, with the advent of Internet-based music providers such as Apple?s iTunes, laptops are also serving as electronic jukeboxes as well as highly-capable navigation systems.

What has been missing so far, however, has been an affordable, competitively-priced, customizable and extremely capable electronics system that combines all these capabilities in a small, easily-installed, modular unit capable of running off a boat?s 12-volt system without an inverter interface.

And, before the argument begins, the operational words here are ?affordable? and ?customizable.?

Leave it to a bunch of tech heads catering to the southern California car crowd to come up with a solution for all seasons?and pocketbooks.

?We are computer hardware engineers,? said 12-volt Systems President David Hay of his Yorba Linda-based company.

?We are interested in designing computer system solutions that have broad applications in the automotive, aviation and marine industries that provide exceptional capabilities that can be customized for a customer?s own unique applications while not breaking the budget,? Hay said.

Components smaller than bread box

With units smaller than the smallest laptop, the central processing units ? or CPUs ? produced by Hays and his associates pack heavy-duty computing power utilizing well-known and easily-recognized internal components such as the popular Intel Pentium processors, hard drives by Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital while other names such as Teac and Toshiba add to component reliability.

?This all got started about two years ago with the custom car crowd famous for its innovations here in southern California,? Hay said. ?Our own interests in this area dictated we find a way to couple our interests in computers to units that could be installed in cars.

?With components getting smaller, faster and more dependable every day, it became not ?could we do it,? but rather, ?just tell us what you want,?? Hay said.

?The automotive focus has been on using the systems for entertainment such as audio and video and then along came interest for car navigation systems and that was easy given the wide use of GPS today,? Hay said.

Word-of-mouth has gotten the company?s story around SoCal and some inquiries from the boating community has given 12-Volt Systems pause to consider adding maritime units to the mix.

?We?ve have some inquiries from the local boating community and what we are seeing is an opportunity to let boaters and yacht owners know that we are very interested in providing them the same computing solutions we?ve been providing the car clubs,? Hay said.

Benefits of ?marinization? debated

While none of 12-volt Systems? current units are considered ?marinized,? Hay scoffs a bit at the use of the term.

?All electronic components today are solid-state and, as such, are not prone to corrosion in a salt atmosphere,? Hay said. ?And, a lot of the electronics going on boats are not touted as ?marinized,? so there?s plenty of room to argue the values of marinizing an electronic component.

?You might look at all the cars and trucks going up and down the California coast ? any coast, actually ? and see how many (automotive) systems do you see failing because of the atmosphere?

?Let me just say this; our units are as reliable and dependable in any environment as any other solid-state component of similar design would be,? Hay said.

?I?ll go a bit further and say that if any unit of ours fails within two years of installation due to normal environmental concerns with the exception to any abuse, we?ll repair or replace that system at no cost to the owner,? Hay said. ?That?s just about as good of a guarantee as you?re going to get anywhere from anyone and that?s how much we believe in our products.?

Customizing without customized prices

While the finished units contain off-the-shelf components ? 12-volt Systems stays away from proprietary electronics ? there are no ?standard units? sitting around for walk-in purchase.

?We do have several units we consider sort of our ?standard packages,? but since each of our customers have their own preferences for any given installation, just about all our projects are custom-ordered,? Hay said, ?but, because of our standardization in using easily-obtainable technology that?s already out there, it?s just a matter of installing whatever components our customers want.

?What that does ? and what it allows us to do ? is to essentially provide a customized system without the customized cost,? Hay said.

Don?t be misled though, Hay said, because the out-the-door price can vary depending on which components a customer chooses.

?There are some cost variations due to component choices,? Hay said. ?But, that?s the only thing that drives cost differences between our products and what is ultimately installed in a customer?s car, van, limo, airplane or boat.

?For example, if a customer is looking to have video capability and needs flat-panel screens, there could be serious difference in costs due to the variety of panels, their size and whether they have ?touch? capability,? Hay said.

?In those cases, though, the customer knows right up front what the costs are going to be and can then choose his or her own direction thus having control over their final price,? he said.

As far as installations are concerned, Hay said the units are modular and can be installed either professionally or by the customer.

User-friendly installations

?We do a lot of installations ? especially if the installations are particularly complex using a number of component systems such as the CPUs, speakers, inverters or amplifiers ? but a customer who has reasonable skills can install a unit his- or herself,? Hay said.

?Because of the very small overall footprint of the units, you can install them practically anywhere and in any configuration,? he said.

And, if a customer decides to do the installation himself, Hay said his company will gladly provide whatever support the customer requires.

?We?ll be here to help in any way we can,? Hay said. ?Installation ? at least to us and maybe because we do it all the time ourselves ? is fairly straight forward and we provide very clear instructions on how to set everything up.

?But, if a customer has a question, we?ll certainly do what we can to supply the answers and to guide the customer through every step of the installation.?

So, once the components are chosen and installed, what can they do? What ?can?t? they do?

?The heart of the system is essentially a Windows XP-based computer system utilizing Microsoft?s operating system and a hard drive,? Hay said.

?Most of our customers install audio and video programs on them and that?s it ? roughly 50,000 songs and 80 DVD?s ? and while that?s a huge entertainment library, it?s only a small portion of what our units? capabilities really are,? Hay said.

?With the Windows XP operating system, you can have typical Microsoft Office capabilities, Internet browsing, email; just about anything and everything you have already on your laptop or desktop at the office,? Hay said.

While the units are true multi-taskers, there are, like with all computers, some limitations.

?Well, you can?t listen to both music and watch a DVD at the same time, but you could listen to music and work within your Microsoft Office applications just like you can on your laptop,? Hay said, ?and if you are working on a letter, let?s say, someone else isn?t going to be able to watch a movie.?

There is a solution to those limitations, Hay said.

?The units can be daisy-chained together ? you can tie two or more CPUs together ? and that way if you have different people wanting to do different things with the system, they can have as many choices as you have CPUs,? Hay said.

?Of course, that drives the price up, but if you?re talking installing this kind of system on an $11-million yacht or a $125,000 limousine, at what point does the cost become relative?? he asked.

Controllability issues not a problem

Hay said the units are also designed to be controlled through a variety of means.

?We have a proprietary piece of software that easily installs on a laptop and through a wireless network can control the CPUs,? he said. ?They can also be controlled with common remotes and, depending on screen choice, through touch screens.

?With touch screens, too, you can have a number of touch screens at different locations ? in the case of boats, perhaps in every stateroom, the main saloon ? and be able to control the system from each of those locations,? he said.

?The flexibility of the system really does not place any limitations on controllability; we can even install touch pads with control choices popping up on the monitors so you can control the system in the same way touch pads control your choices on a laptop.

?Just about any control method a customer can dream up, we can implement in the system; even voice recognition if that?s what the customer demands,? he said.

Keep up with technology

As technology continues to expand, Hay promised his company will keep up with it.

?Of course, all our systems can be configured to a particular customers tastes just like any computer system can,? Hay said. ?A customer can have all the capabilities from one of our units as they can from a desktop or laptop system bought right off the shelf at a retail outlet, so there?s never a question about what can be included in our systems.

?We all know, however, that computer technology changes every day and we?ll change with it and add those capabilities to our product line,? he said.

An example Hay pointed to is the interface between various audio systems and Apple iPods.

?We will very soon incorporate the iPod interface with our systems so customers who want to run their iPod Mini?s playlist through the system will be able to do it,? he said. ?This is just one example of how we watch what?s going on in the industry and respond to changes we know our customers are going to be asking about.

?We certainly consider ourselves innovators in this field, but true innovation requires the ability to interact with all the technology that?s out there and that?s what we plan to continue doing,? he said.