Review of nasa marine mobi (man overboard unit)

Last Updated on Sunday, 20 May 2012 12:29 Written by Monday, 26 December 2011 10:49

I have decided to fit a NASA Marine Mobi man overboard (MOB) system to Pelican which i bought from allGadgets Marine. Before I fit the system I’m just going to quickly review the system out of the box.

First thing to note is that the display unit is not waterproof so I’m going to have to mount it down below out the way. The loud speaker also plugs into the back of the unit which will affect how close it can be mounted to a bulkhead. As supplied the unit is designed to be fitted into a cut out and braced with the bracket provided. Good news is that NASA Marine can also supply a mounting cradle (also used for a couple of their other devices) so no cut out is required, bad news is that its 20GBP.

Looking at the fobs you might note that they have a belt clip fitting. This isn’t tight against the rear of the unit so I thing I’ll have to find a way of a more permanent attachment or lanyard for a more secure fitting. One of the man reasons I’ve bought this system is so we can attach one to our sons lifejacket – its going to need more than a belt clip. The documentation reckons on about 2 weeks if the unit is on continuously and also recommends mounting the device somewhere where the signal will be lost straight away – so I’m thinking low down on a lifejacket or harness. Getting to the batteries (three AAA’s – not supplied) requires you to remove four flathead screws with a thin blade. Once inside you can see the “set key” (small yellow button) this is used to pair the fob with the unit(which has a unique pin) via a documented process. This would mean that you can transfer fob between the devices with ease.

I’ve added another post covering the cradle.

So far its worth noting that a cradle if required is worth ordering at the same time to avoid the bulk head fitting and that the key fobs probably need a beefed up attachment point.

To see it in action scroll to the bottom of this post for a youtube video.

Having fitted the unit I think there are a couple of things to consider. Firstly location, the unit isn’t waterproof and must be mounted accordingly. Initally it seems an easy call but you need to think about how your going to use the device. It would be easy to have the fobs activated but for someone to have turned off the power to the unit (depending how you have isolated the power). I have therefore placed it near the chart table but on the wall going to the head by the hatch exit that way you can check its on each time you pass.

To reiterate when you think about power switches you need to watch out for any accidental swich off. Im not sure that the main switch panel is the right place.

You will need to program in each fob and name – I suggest you do it before mounting it as its lots of button pressing.

Each crew will need to develop a protocol for operating, checking the monitor, turning fobs on/off etc.

As I mentoned before being able to have the fobs on and the console off is a scenario you need to think about. You have to have a protocol for turning it on and off and do need to educate the crew to check the console each time they pass by. It would be nice if the fobs also had an alarm i.e. When the console was off but I imagine this would increase complexity and cost.

Accidentally triggering the alarm could also annoy especially for any sleeping crew and also to avoid becoming numb to the alert (though you ca guarantee they will get up to switch it off). You need to make sure the fobs (that are set to active) are on before switching on the unit for example. You then need to think about switching off the fobs after the console has been powered off to save battery life.

You can also deactive fobs from the console if necessary, but you can imagine the scenario, someone has turned theirs off you switch on the console the alarm goes off. Probably just a case of watching the monitor as it powers up and picking up any switched off fobs at that point and deactivating. Or you may want to make the fobs non personal. That way you leave it to the on watch person to have a fob and ensure it’s registered if they want the alarm to sound if they get off unexpectedly.

Below couple of shots showing the install and screen shots as the unit goes into alarm.

Video demoing the key fob belonging to zac being switched off.

All in the unit looks well made, the fobs takes standard AAA batteries, the alarm sound will certainly get your attention. Once programmed you should only need to use a couple of buttons. remember to order the cradle if you don’t want another hole in your bulkhead. Chief consideration is the operating protocol around switching the unit and each fob on and off, it’s easy to pull out the speaker cable so you can test different scenarios without losing your hearing. A good price and product for what is a difficult problem to solve.