If we are doing the boat page whish list, I would like to put an emphasis on the separation of the propulsion system from the onboard power supply system. The current boat page feature is based on a hidden assumption that everything runs of a single primary battery where in reality the largest battery is most likely a separate 48V, 80V or 96V propulsion battery with several smaller batteries in use for 12V, 24V DC boardnet power and, for instance through a MultiPlus also 230V AC boardnet on its own 48V battery.
It would greatly enhance the useability of the VenusOS + display + I/O + VRM platform if boat page could be freed from that hidden assumption by means of:
- Independent battery selection for boat page (separate BMV Smartshunt f.i.)
- Independent display preference settings (re: amps versus watts discussion)
- A page lock protection (block access to settings from the dashboard display)
- (Nice to have: a Node-RED GPS ‘datastream’ node to allow adding a custom speed filter to smooth those jumps out)
And yes, a propulsion efficiency / economy feature is almost a must. We use a virtual motor to display ‘virtual Amperage’ for power and ‘virtual Ah/KM’ values (abusing the RPM display). Virtual Amperage meaning Power/nominal battery voltage, to stay linear with actual power over the full voltage range of the battery. This not only provides valuable information to the captain/skipper driving the boat but also allows direct logging of speed, power ánd propulsion efficiency to VRM which has proven to be very helpful for troubleshooting, ever had a plastic bag in your propellor and you’ll understand instantly.
If you’d want to shoot for a ‘near perfect’ boat page update, I would add the ability to run multiple displays from a single Cerbo: one dedicated to the boat page / propulsion system, the other(s) as regular display for the onboard energy and power systems.
And a final longshot: will there ever be a new BMV Smartshunt for 96V nominal batteries? To close the gap between the current LV and HV options.