IBEX 2023: interesting new product roundup

IBEX 2023 is in the books and, at least from my perspective, the show was a roaring success. After multiple interruptions for a pandemic and then a hurricane, it was great to have a strong, well-attended show. Plus, after a few years with fewer entries into the Innovation Awards, for which I participated as a judge, this year’s awards were packed with interesting new products.

I’ll be writing up quite a few interesting products from the show, but here’s a preview of what got me excited this year. This is a little different format than I’ve used previously after a show. So, if you have any thoughts about what you’d like to see in show recaps, please let me know in the comments.

Arco Zeus alternator regulator

Arco Marine’s Zeus alternator regulator offers a stout set of features while aiming to ease installation, configuration, and tuning. I know alternator regulators may not be everyone’s idea of an exciting product. But, in light of the increasing size and complexity of DC energy systems, I’m pretty excited about what these regulators enable. In fact, it appears I was so excited I forgot to get a good picture of the regulator, hence the stock shot above.

A lot of Zeus’ goodness comes from tight integration with its mobile app. That integration allows an installer, who may well be lying on their side between an engine and a water tank, to monitor and tune the alternator.

My friend Rodd Collins of marinehowto.com participated in the advisory council Arco put together to help design the best regulator possible. He’s shared his thoughts on the regulator over at marinehowto.com. We awarded Zeus an innovation award in the electrical systems category.

Banshee Marine Audio

The last time I saw Banshee Marine Audio founder Dan Soeters, he had on a Fusion shirt and was running the Garmin audio brand. So, it’s safe to say Dan knows a thing or two about marine audio. Dan is now on his own and has founded Banshee Marine Audio. Banshee is currently focused on the OEM market, though it sure looks like their strategy would work well in the aftermarket as well.

Banshee’s offerings are straightforward and focused on delivering the most bang for the marine audio buck. As part of that focus, they offer a single speaker, sub-woofer, amplifier, and head unit. The head unit controls up to three zones of audio, has two zones of 45-watt per channel (RMS), 2-ohm stable amplification built-in, and offers Bluetooth connectivity, USB streaming, AM/FM, and auxiliary inputs. The focus is on simplicity. So, the amplifier comes pre-tuned for Banshee’s speakers and the head unit doesn’t have NMEA 2000 connectivity or WiFi. But, it does have a nice, bright color display in its gauge-style face. During my brief listen to their products, I was pleased by the sound of a value-oriented system.

Epoch Batteries

In my initial review, about my only complaint with Epoch’s batteries was the lack of higher capacity configurations. It appears Epcoh heard me, and plenty of others, and showed up at IBEX with several high-capacity and high-density options. The two batteries pictured above are the top of the Epoch’s line in 460 ah (closest to the camera) and 300 ah configurations.

The B12 series batteries appear to tick off nearly every feature one might want. The batteries feature Victron’s Ve.CAN, NMEA 2000, and RV-C communications, heating, external 10-segment fuel type gauge, and very high current carrying capabilities. In fact, the 460 amp-hour battery is rated for 500 amps of continuous charge and discharge and 1,500 amps of surge capacity. The 460 amp hour, 12-volt battery is expected to retail for less than $2,000 and both sizes should be available soon.

Lithium Battery Company

Lithium Battery Company (LBC) brought their 12-volt, 100-amp-hour connected battery to IBEX. In addition to the, by now, familiar Bluetooth connectivity, these batteries also offer WiFi and 4G LTE connectivity and a built-in GPS receiver. That connectivity enables cloud-based uploading of operational data, remote location of the batteries, and more.

LBC is also targeting OEMs and manufacturers with their connected batteries. They believe the insight their batteries can offer will help troubleshoot electrical devices fed by the batteries.

Like many batteries and their companion apps, the Don’t Die app puts access to the battery’s data and configuration at the operator’s fingertips. But, unlike most other batteries, if the battery has a WiFi-based internet connection or 4G subscription, that data is available remotely. Plus, a lost or stolen battery can be located remotely. 4G connectivity costs $19.99 per month. Currently, there isn’t a discount or multi-battery offering.

Mastervolt Mac Plus 48/12 50 DC-to-DC converter

DC-to-DC converters aren’t new. But, as far as I know, bidirectional converters are new and much needed. Especially as multi-voltage systems become more common on boats, our reliance on DC-to-DC converters has increased. If the house system is 48 volts, but the engines are 12 volts, we may want to convert power both ways. Navico’s Fathom e-Power system, especially with its dual voltage alternator, serves as a perfect example. Mastervolt’s new Mac Plus converters are capable of bidirectional power conversion and three-stage charging in both directions.

As the screenshots above show, the Mac Plus shares operational details with the MasterBus network. A Mastervolt EasyView 5 displays that data and lets a user make adjustments to the converter’s operations.

The Q Experience

The Q Experience, the product of Finnish company Next Four, is a different spin on marine navigation, entertainment, and control. The company’s vision more closely follows the automotive approach to in-vehicle navigation and infotainment. Rather than concentrating on a consumer brand for those elements, Q Experience’s vision is that the electronics are more anonymous and instead, become part of the boat brand.

The Q Experience They offer displays in 10, 12, 16, 22, 24, and dual 10-inch sizes. All their displays, except the dual 10-inch that is already using its port, have a display port so a second screen can be daisy-chained. Regardless of screen size, the displays all use the same electronics configuration.

There’s an impressive amount of functionality packed into each unit. Each display includes navigation capabilities, a GNSS receiver, a 4G LTE radio, BlueTooth, an FM radio, an amplifier, and more. They are compatible with Raymarine fish finders and Quantum radars and currently utilize Navionics cartography. Plus, each display can also act as a monitor utilizing the 4G connection and built-in Q-Guard functionality. Q-Guard enables monitoring bilge levels, voltages, geofence, and security.

The Q Experience says they’re going to focus on the OEM market first. But, perhaps we will see displays with their stylized Q showing up at retail sometime in the future. In the meantime, I’m hoping to spend more time with one of their displays and get to know them better.

Scanstrut Atmos

It isn’t just products with the latest cutting-edge technology that catches my eye. In fact, the Scanstrut Atmos inflator didn’t just catch my eye, it also caught the attention of my fellow judges and was awarded an innovation award in mechanical systems. The Atmos is a permanently installed inflator for the myriad water toys we all seem to have now.

The inflator uses both a low and high-pressure pump to first add volume, then pressure to whatever you may want to inflate. Plus, with a dedicated deflate port, it can make easy work of deflating and stowing your toys. I realize I may sound like a paid shill for Scanstrut. I’m not, but Atmos meets a need and solves a problem so many of us have. Every time my kids ask to get water toys out, I groan and picture a repetitive stress injury. I actually have an electric inflator on Panbo(at), but it’s enough of a pain to get out and works poorly enough that I rarely bother.

Scanstrut includes an 8-foot hose and the most common inflation attachments. They say it will take Atmos less than three minutes to inflate a towable to 1.5 PSI and six to eight minutes to inflate a 10-foot stand-up paddleboard to 20 PSI. I saw it make short work of a tube in their booth so those numbers seem reasonable.

VoltSafe

VoltSafe aims to make shore power safer and better managed. They leverage EV car charging technology to control and monitor power sent to a plugged-in boat. VoltSafe focuses on reducing the possibility of shore power connector meltdowns that today are all too common. After an initial strategy of starting with the boat end of this connection, VoltSafe has pivoted to focusing on the marina pedestal and connector.

By focusing on the Marina end, VoltSafe isn’t asking boaters to modify their boat’s shore power connectors, yet. However, they are able to offer marina operators better and safer management of their marina’s shore power system. Their system is able to monitor critical safety factors like the temperature of the pedestal outlet, total power delivered to the boat, current leakage, and more. Plus, they can accurately meter power consumed and remotely turn power on and off.

There’s a lot more benefit to VoltSafe’s system and I’ll dig into that in a future article. We thought enough of BoatSafe’s system to recognize them with an innovation award in Boatyard and Marina Hardware and Software.

WIF Pro

One of my favorite things about both Panbo and the innovation awards is learning about new companies with clever products that fill a need or solve a problem. WIF-Pro is a perfect example! This clever system monitors for water in fuel (WIF) in the clear bowl of a Parker/Racor gasoline fuel/water separator.

The picture above shows what happens when the bowl of the filter is filled with water. The green float is calibrated to float in water and sink in fuel. As it floats up, it reveals WIF-Pro’s orange warning indicator. The warning indicator is installed around the clear tube in the center of the bowl and stuck to the bottom of the bowl. As the float rises, it interrupts the beam of the WIF-Pro’s collar sensor which triggers an alarm at the control panel. I was impressed with the drain bottle WIF-Pro includes with the system. It fits over the drain fitting on the bottom of the bowl and allows you to open the drain and collect the fuel/water mix neatly.

WIF-Pro offers models for one to four gas-powered, outboard engines. My fellow judges and I were impressed with WIF-Pro’s thoughtful design and useful product. We recognized their work with an innovation award in the safety category.

Coming soon

I’m planning to dive deeper into several of these products in the near future. The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS) is coming up soon and perhaps I’ll have a few more things to tell you about after that show as well.