Starlink on the vessel. Experience of operating the global Internet on the vessel

Greetings! In this article, I invite you to familiarize yourself with my experience of using the Internet from Starlink in ship conditions. Before buying a Starlink for the purpose of operating it on a ship, read this article to understand what the pitfalls of this miracle of technology are.

This article is aimed at beginner users; here you will not find information about setting up traffic control routers.

Below is a list of issues that will be discussed in the article. They are divided into separate topics for convenience.

1. How to purchase Starlink?
2. How to install an antenna and router on the vessel?
3. How to distribute the Internet and control traffic among the crew?
4. What are the pitfalls when using Starlink on the vessel?

Installing a timer in the electrical circuit of the main engine turning gear

Greetings! With this post I propose to start the section “reading electrical diagrams on a ship” and examine one of the interesting questions regarding the shaft turning gear of the main engine.

This article is primarily suitable for those who already have some knowledge of reading electrical circuit diagrams.

In my practice, I often come across the fact that the shaft turning device is not equipped with timers (time relays) for automatic operation from the factory, and engineers complain about this, that it is inconvenient.

Instruction for recovery of power generating plant after blackout

Simple instruction for recovery of power generating plant after blackout.

Maybe this instruction will be suitable for your vessel.

PLC failure. The cargo crane does not start. Troubleshooting

In previous articles we looked at various problems with cargo cranes, this time a PLC failure error occurred and cargo crane does not start.

What to do in such situation and how to restore the operation of the cargo crane will be discussed in this article.

The "PLC FAILURE ALARM" light is on

As usual, the first step is to refer to the Troubleshooting manual.

The anemometer gives false readings. Troubleshooting

Greetings readers! Today we have a problem with the anemometer, which shows the wind speed and direction on the bridge. The readings were stuck in one direction (opposite to the wind). At this speed the wind is displayed correctly.

What is an anemometer?

An anemometer (or anemoscope) is a weather vane that consists of a generator, a synchronous motor, bearings, gear guides, rings and a brush device. All this can be said in one name - transmitter.

Transfer fuel pump does not start in auto mode. Most common problem

Today, the transfer fuel pump does not start in auto mode, while it works normally in manual mode (the “Auto / Manual” button on the pump control panel).

In this article, we will analyze the most common cause of automatic pumps that work with the help of timers and floats.

Motor Fault on the crane. Troubleshooting

Greetings! Today we got a "Motor Fault" error on the cargo crane and the crane doesn't want to start. In the article we will consider the main actions of ETO when searching for and eliminating this malfunction.

Motor Fault on the Crane

The problem is quite large-scale and it can be anything related primarily to electric drives of both the main and auxiliary mechanisms of the crane. There was also a short-term accompanying signal in the ECR on AMS "low insulation 440V", which further narrowed the circle of my search.

Failure of the remote automatic control of the main engine. Actions of the ETO

Greetings! In this article, we will consider the actions of the ETO in case of failure of the remote automatic control of the main engine (real situation).

The vessel is equipped with the AutoChief C20 Propulsion Control System, which is very often used for fixed-pitch MAN MC engines. Produced by Kongsberg Maritime.

AutoChief C20 Control Panel (ACP)

Fire alarm system Salwico Consilium. Troubleshooting

Greetings! In this article, we'll look at some of the problems with the Salwico Consilium fire system on a 10+ year old vessel and how to troubleshoot these issues.

In the official instructions for this system, you can find a lot of information about the problems that occur during the operation of the Salwico fire alarm. But today we will consider only some of them.

Any fire system on a ship is powered by two sources (main switchboard and emergency switchboard, usually 220V), and additional batteries (usually two 12V each, connected in series).

Attention! If you have an old Salwico Consilium fire system on your vessel, avoid turning it off completely, as this may cause it to fail to boot later.

The first problem that happened with this system was error No. 158 BATTERY CABLE / FUSE FAULT. 

Procedure of restoring of power after black out on the vessel (example)

Vessel has 3 Main Diesel Generators; Power is supplied by one DG under normal operation at sea and in port. The other two DG is in place on 1st Standby and 2nd Standby accordingly. 

Power is restored after a blackout in the following process: 

AFTER A POWER BLACK OUT, EMERGENCY GENERATOR IN AUTO STAND BY STARTS UP AUTOMATICALLY AND POWER CAN BE BACK UP BY EMERGENCY GENERATOR IN LESS THAN 15 SECONDS. 

(E/G is started by battery power. If it not starts automatically, we have to manually start by switching to "MANUAL" mode position and Push Engine "START BUTTON" switch.) 

INTERCONNECTION BREAKER WITH "MSB" IS SWITCH-OFF AND THE E/G BREAKER IS SWITCH-ON AUTOMATICALLY. POWER IS NOW SUPPLIED FROM EG "ESB". 

WITHIN SECONDS FROM BLACK OUT TiME, AFTER EMC'Y GEN. STARTED AND POWER IS SUPPLIED FROM E/G "ESB", THE 1ST STANDBY MAIN DG STARTS UP AUTOMATICALLY AND GET ON LOAD. 

IF THE 1ST STANDBY MAIN DG FAILS TO START AUTOMATICALLY THE 2ND STANDBY MAIN D/G STARTS UP AND TAKE ON LOAD AUTOMATICALLY. 

If both the standby Main Diesel Generator fails to start automatically, we have to start at engine side and take it on load manually. Check that the reserve main air bottle no.2 must always be full. (Proceed to manual starting as per Starting Sequence as posted).

WHEN THE MAIN DIESEL GENERATOR GET ON LOAD, THE EMERGENCY GENERATOR BREAKER TRIPS, INTERCONNECTION BREAKER "SWITCH-ON" AND "ESB" HAVING POWER FROM "MSB". 

MAIN POWER IS NOW RESTORED. AS POWER IS RESTORED ALL AUXILIARY MACHINERY/PUMPS RUNNING IN OPERATION BEFORE THE BLACK OUT STARTS UP AUTO-SEQUENCIALLY ACCORDING TO PRIORITY SETTING INTERVAL IN SECONDS. 

STOP EMERGENCY GENERATOR MANUALLY AND RESET TO AUTO-STANDBY. 

CHECK THE CAUSE OF THE POWER BLACKOUT AND RECTIFY. 

OPERATE OR PUT TO STANDBY THE OTHER MAIN D/G AS REQUIRED.