Which light color should I use?
Barton
I'm in the process of designing an unmanned semi-underwater vehicle
for body (dead people) detection in canals & rivers. The boat will
move approx with 3 knots.
You can see a first design at:
http://users.pandora.be/yell/render12.jpg
The length of this gizmo is less than 1 meter, the depth under water
is approx 1 meter. So it's a very small 'boat'.
Now there is a red light mounted at the front, but I've not thought
about the color coding when I placed it there.
Should I color that front light white instead?
Should I also provide a red light to indicate the back?
And what about the sides?
Or should I just use only one red light visible at all sides to give a
'stop' action to the other boats?
Thanks,
Barton
Mark Browne
Front - split red / green, red to the left (port) green to the right
(starboard).
Back (aft) white 360 degree light.
Google for: navigation lights tutorial
to see how you use these to determine relative position at night.
Mark Browne
"Barton" <bc...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:0ati8v0ohvpcihmj3...@4ax.com...
William R. Watt
unless the canal is used by submarines. just tie it to a foat with a
diver's flag on it. canal traffic know there's something down there and
the searchers on the canal bank will see where it is too. weed beds could
pose a problem.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Capital FreeNet www.ncf.ca Ottawa's free community network
website: www.ncf.ca/~ag384 "Tank, take me in."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Backyard Renegade
> naw, nodoby's going to see running lights under a meter of canal water,
> unless the canal is used by submarines. just tie it to a foat with a
> diver's flag on it. canal traffic know there's something down there and
> the searchers on the canal bank will see where it is too. weed beds could
> pose a problem.
>
I think he was going to use the lights on the small part that is not
submerged. The standard lighting for a boat as the other poster
described will give him the ability to follow the movement of the boat
from shore or other line of sight point.
Scotty
Barton
The meaning of the light is to follow the boat/robot from the
shoreline. The colour I use therefore may not confuse the sailors when
they see it.
I think, for such a small area above the water (less than a half
square meter) it is not necessary to place a light at the four sides,
but instead use on big light visible from all the angles.
Now, which colour should that light be? Red?
Greetz,
Barton
On 1 Apr 2003 10:24:33 -0800, skcus...@eudoramail.com (Backyard
William R. Watt
> Yes Scotty, you're right.
>
> The meaning of the light is to follow the boat/robot from the
> shoreline. The colour I use therefore may not confuse the sailors when
> they see it.
I see. Its not a vessel so I wouldn't use running lights. That would be
confusing. How about a rotating flashing red light? Passing boaters will
think someone drove a police car into the canal and will give it lots of
room. It would fit in with all the emergency vehicles parked around the
search site and all the emergency people standing about sipping tea from
foam cups. A rotating blue light will make passing boaters think someone
drove a snow plow into the canal and that would be more confusing than a
police car. I still like the diver's flag. Can you get the submersable to
blow bubbles? :)
Rational yahoo.com.au>
Watt) wrote:
>Barton (bc...@hotmail.com) writes:
>> Yes Scotty, you're right.
>>
>> The meaning of the light is to follow the boat/robot from the
>> shoreline. The colour I use therefore may not confuse the sailors when
>> they see it.
>
>I see. Its not a vessel so I wouldn't use running lights. That would be
>confusing. How about a rotating flashing red light? Passing boaters will
>think someone drove a police car into the canal and will give it lots of
>room. It would fit in with all the emergency vehicles parked around the
>search site and all the emergency people standing about sipping tea from
>foam cups. A rotating blue light will make passing boaters think someone
>drove a snow plow into the canal and that would be more confusing than a
>police car. I still like the diver's flag. Can you get the submersable to
>blow bubbles? :)
I think it its a toss up. on really decent Christmas tree, or to hell
with the expence, go a nice neon - like one of the girly bar type.
the Japanese really love them.
Mind you there is always the real squid boat deal, with a couple of
million watts, for a really decent send off.
I mean this has got to be the ulitimate - sectacular toy thingeee, as
for visibility, - I guess it beats poking around with a stick.- or
does it, shit I never saw more than my own hand in front of me, so you
got to get rid of the silt, - how?
So, do we put a camera on the end of our sticks? - nope - he is not
down their either.?
I sure see a bunch of problems to solve before he has to worry about
lights.-maybe you could put a sniffer dog inside it.
Ian Malcolm
>
> Barton (bc...@hotmail.com) writes:
> > Yes Scotty, you're right.
> >
> > The meaning of the light is to follow the boat/robot from the
> > shoreline. The colour I use therefore may not confuse the sailors when
> > they see it.
>
> I see. Its not a vessel so I wouldn't use running lights. That would be
> confusing. How about a rotating flashing red light? Passing boaters will
> think someone drove a police car into the canal and will give it lots of
> room. It would fit in with all the emergency vehicles parked around the
> search site and all the emergency people standing about sipping tea from
> foam cups. A rotating blue light will make passing boaters think someone
> drove a snow plow into the canal and that would be more confusing than a
> police car. I still like the diver's flag. Can you get the submersable to
> blow bubbles? :)
>
Read the COLREGS sections 27 d & e. As code flag 'A' means diver(s) in
the water, IMHO it should be reserved for real divers, not automated
underwater operations. Vertical, all round static Red White Red lights
has a similar meaning but would not be readily confused with the dive
flag. Dont use ANY flashing light that can be mistaken for ANYTHING in
the colregs or relevent local regulations, You would possibly be OK with
an all round yellow flashing something appropriate in morse. Maybe 'D'
-.. 'keep clear, manoevering with difficulty' switching to 'U' ..- 'you
are running into danger' if anyone gets too close?
--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk [at]=@, [dash]=- &
[dot]=.
*Warning* SPAM TRAP set in header, Use email address in sig. if you must.
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy circa. 1961
Picture now up thanks to Lee Yeaton at his great site
The boats of rec.boats at http://www.thebayguide.com/rec.boats
Lee's The Chesapeake Bay Guide at http://www.thebayguide.com
Backyard Renegade
> Barton (bc...@hotmail.com) writes:
> > Yes Scotty, you're right.
> >
> > The meaning of the light is to follow the boat/robot from the
> > shoreline. The colour I use therefore may not confuse the sailors when
> > they see it.
>
> I see. Its not a vessel so I wouldn't use running lights. That would be
> confusing. How about a rotating flashing red light? Passing boaters will
> think someone drove a police car into the canal and will give it lots of
> room. It would fit in with all the emergency vehicles parked around the
> search site and all the emergency people standing about sipping tea from
> foam cups. A rotating blue light will make passing boaters think someone
> drove a snow plow into the canal and that would be more confusing than a
> police car. I still like the diver's flag. Can you get the submersable to
> blow bubbles? :)
How is this not a vessel? It moves through the water, with part of the
item above and part below, just like a boat. I would imagine that if
Barton called the local USCG station and asked them what he should put
on this for lights, they would say that the standard red, green, white
would apply... And if not, why would you not want to use the standard
colors anyway, out of all the solutions other than that I have seen
here, it is the only one that allows a line of sight view of exactly
where the boat is, and what direction it is moving and or facing? As
far as the diver down flag, there is no diver down, I am quite sure
the USCG would not go for that!
Scotty
Anonymous
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm in the process of designing an unmanned semi-underwater
> vehicle for body (dead people) detection in canals & rivers.
> The boat will move approx with 3 knots.
>
> You can see a first design at:
>
> http://users.pandora.be/yell/render12.jpg
>
> The length of this gizmo is less than 1 meter, the depth under
> water is approx 1 meter. So it's a very small 'boat'.
>
> Now there is a red light mounted at the front, but I've not
> thought about the color coding when I placed it there.
Dude, you're obviously not getting the types of responses that
you are looking for, so why don't you contact your local Fire
Department's Rescue Team, your local Police Department, and
the Coast Guard to see what they have to say about this? If you
are really designing what is, after all, emergency equipment,
don't you think you'd be better off going directly to the source
for information, rather than just embarrassing yourself out
here in a group full of recreational watercraft people?
Hope this helps, man...
---
Stephen Baker
> rather than just embarrassing yourself out
>here in a group full of recreational watercraft people?
>
I don't think he's embarrassing himself here - I think we're doing it for him.
Barton,
Please don't be disheartened or upset by some of the responses. You will find
a great deal of sense in many of them, even if some of it is contradictory.
However, as Anonymouse says, the place to start may be with the Emergency
Services to see what they would like to see on it.
Nice concept, BTW
Steve
Barton
And, yes, I'm confused.
Greetz,
Barton
On Wed, 2 Apr 2003 19:47:08 +0200 (CEST), Anonymous <cri...@ecn.org>
wrote:
Backyard Renegade
> Yes Scotty, you're right.
>
> The meaning of the light is to follow the boat/robot from the
> shoreline. The colour I use therefore may not confuse the sailors when
> they see it.
>
> I think, for such a small area above the water (less than a half
> square meter) it is not necessary to place a light at the four sides,
> but instead use on big light visible from all the angles.
>
> Now, which colour should that light be? Red?
>
> Greetz,
>
> Barton
I don't think the size of the vessel is really an issue, the fact is,
it is vessel traveling in the water.
I think seeing a light that did not have a specific application like a
strobe or colored flasher would confuse more than anything else...
Part of the beauty of the red, green, white lights is from a great
distance you can:
Identify something as a vessel and not a static mass or structure.
Although you can not tell distance, you can tell which direction a
vessel is facing and which way it is moving in most cases.
I am not sure if anyone has explained that you do not just put red
green and white lights on the boat but there are specific rules as to
where they should be placed, and what angles to the boat they are
visible from. Using this convention, you can identify a lot of things
about the vessel from a good distance...
Scotty from SmallBoats.com