How safe is your transponder and connected equipment on the boat? If you've owned a boat for any length of time, you probably know that electrical systems on boats can result in faults.Voltage differences between battery banks and the inverter, genset or shore supply can result in stray current. This may severely damage connected equipment.
That's why galvanic isolation is so important. All Vesper Marine transponders have galvanically isolated(GI) ports that protect your transponder and marine equipment from high current damage. Imagine your PC and transponder connected to same battery bank. A fault in the wiring to your PC supply will isolate your transponder from any damage because of GI protection and protect your PC as well. If they were connected to different batteries on the boat, just the voltage difference between the batteries could result in stray current flow if not for GI USB ports. The problem gets compounded with AC power supply due to a genset or inverter where current flows could be extremely high.
Galvanic isolation means isolating the electrical circuits within your equipment from external electrical circuits, by ensuring there is no conductive electrical path between the two. Connectivity is achieved via a different medium such as light or high frequency electromagnetics. For instance, the exchange of information over USB between your Vesper transponder and your computer takes place optically (via LED pulses which are sensed at the other side of the isolation boundary) and high electric current flows will not affect your transponder and computer.
Galvanically isolated (GI) ports. Warnings on AIS transponders without GI protection
GI is used for NMEA 2000 (N2K) and NMEA 0183 protection as well. Most transponders are N2K GI protected but not 0183 GI protected. Imagine a chart plotter on 0183 drawing high current. The damage would prove very expensive for equipment as well as the boat.
When you choose a Vesper Marine transponder, you can rest assured that your transponder and connected equipment are protected from high current damage.
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