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Medallion Redesign


TB2

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Hey everyone, I am doing my senior project on redesigning the Medallion touch screen systems for Malibu. I would like to know what you guys think of the product (visually/usability wise) and your likes and dislikes. What would you like to change about the product, what do you enjoy about it, etc.? 

Anything will be very helpful, thanks!

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Well if the old MDC is any indication of KM's design process, I would be very scared to use your systems.  Water and electronics do not play well together and I can only imagine the cost to replace the touch screen.  Heck if a 2000's vintage MDC computer is $800 USD, I can imagine the price of a screen etc.

Like others have/will say, analog is the way to go!  I'll take Old Skool any day.

 

Edited by Eagleboy99
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52 minutes ago, Rednucleus said:

Welcome to the Crew and good luck on your project. I am expecting to see ALOT of posts in the next few days!  

BTW what school/major etc?

Thanks, I go to Arizona State and my major is Human Systems Engineering. 

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42 minutes ago, 67King said:

I would honestly rather have analog gauges and regular controls.  I still can't get my ^%&Iing stereo to do what I want.

 

35 minutes ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Like others have/will say, analog is the way to go!  I'll take Old Skool any day.

 

If analog gauges are what you prefer would you be upset if the presets went away? My other project idea was to bring the presets to Axis. A lot of times there are unused buttons on the right side usually reserved for underwater lights, docking lights, etc. I think you could incorporate presets into those fields by just having the buttons labeled "Preset 1", "Preset 2", etc. Then just add the preset editor to the settings screen to where you could create a preset. 

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I think it would be nice if the MTC and Maliview were in a single integrated system. I am sure there is a reason for that, but I don't know. As far as layout and the day to day usage, I think everything works pretty well, and the layout is somewhat straightforward once you spend a couple of hours using it and going through all of the screens/menus.

I would also like to see better error handling/reporting, and for the "codes" to be provided in plain English, and be actionable. Ill give you an example, I tried to start the boat after my kid pulled the lanyard out of the safety switch. He was "driving" with the boat off, and as far as I know he pulled it out of the little housing with the switch, and the lanyard was laying in a cupholder. When I powered up and tried to start the boat (both with the bypass key and the button on the MTC), the Maliview screen showed an error that was something similar to "Warning, CAN BUS System Failure". After checking a couple of things, and cussing a bit (as we were in the middle of the lake), I figured it out, but it would have been nice to see a better description of the issue that was preventing me from starting the boat. that would have saved me a few minutes, and a year's worth of stress!

My two cents.

Also, some good reading in here:

 

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Just now, rakr said:

I think it would be nice if the MTC and Maliview were in a single integrated system. I am sure there is a reason for that, but I don't know. As far as layout and the day to day usage, I think everything works pretty well, and the layout is somewhat straightforward once you spend a couple of hours using it and going through all of the screens/menus.

I would also like to see better error handling/reporting, and for the "codes" to be provided in plain English, and be actionable. Ill give you an example, I tried to start the boat after my kid pulled the lanyard out of the safety switch. He was "driving" with the boat off, and as far as I know he pulled it out of the little housing with the switch, and the lanyard was laying in a cupholder. When I powered up and tried to start the boat (both with the bypass key and the button on the MTC), the Maliview screen showed an error that was something similar to "Warning, CAN BUS System Failure". After checking a couple of things, and cussing a bit (as we were in the middle of the lake), I figured it out, but it would have been nice to see a better description of the issue that was preventing me from starting the boat. that would have saved me a few minutes, and a year's worth of stress!

My two cents.

Also, some good reading in here:

 

My dad's nautique has one screen.  If you try it, you will understand the need and benefits of two screens.  It's way easier to navigate and check out whats going on with two.

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Pro's: I like the numeric actual speed indicator, but could be bigger. I never look at the larger analog like one on the left. I like the digital depth, engine temp, oil pressure, volts and fuel gauge and look at them often.  I also like using the rear camera when I have riders on the water and it fits nicely in the screen without it covering up any important gauges.  I love the charts on my 7" screen and use it all the time.  I like the night mode option too.

Things I would like added\changed: It would be nice to have the water and air temp on the "Boat" tab.  The color is cool but may not be for everyone, so add more color options.  On my boat the time gets cutoff when using Bluetooth so add a dedicated place for time.  I always forget to turn off the cruise so make that indicator more visible.  Add a tab for stereo controls to the 12" screen.  The fill all, stop all and drain all buttons could be bigger and spaced out more.

Finally using a Windows operating system for a control system is stupid and probably the root of most users problems.  I had to live 2 weeks with a 7" screen that had of mind of its own before getting it replaced. It would stop working or randomly turn the heaters or blower on, switch radio setting and do all kinds of things on its own. I had to constantly stop the boat shut the power off to reboot the system( while my wife was asking "and how much did you spend on this f'ing boat?") so I do agree that analog is much more reliable.

Hope this is the kind of stuff you were looking for. I think you picked a great field with lots of demand/potential.

Good luck on your project.

  • Like 2
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46 minutes ago, hunter77ah said:

My dad's nautique has one screen.  If you try it, you will understand the need and benefits of two screens.  It's way easier to navigate and check out whats going on with two.

I could get there on the "two screen" idea. maybe a "first world problem" kind of a thing, but it would be nice to have them both at eye level, or maybe one of the newer screens could do a "split screen" where you could have the MTC functions on one side and the MaliView functions on the other. let's get really crazy and maybe you could customize what "Screens" are displayed at any one given time and have a set of buttons that would toggle through the different combinations, i.e. presets for your screen combinations. Gauges + (MLS)Ballast, Radio + Lights, Presets + Radio, rear camera + gauges, etc.

I have no idea, but maybe the new "Command Center" can do more. it looks like a huge screen.

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58 minutes ago, dcarl said:

....Finally using a Windows operating system for a control system is stupid and probably the root of most users problems.  ....

 

Windows?  WTH?  Even Win RT would be a poor choice for this.

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2 hours ago, TB2 said:

 

If analog gauges are what you prefer would you be upset if the presets went away? My other project idea was to bring the presets to Axis. A lot of times there are unused buttons on the right side usually reserved for underwater lights, docking lights, etc. I think you could incorporate presets into those fields by just having the buttons labeled "Preset 1", "Preset 2", etc. Then just add the preset editor to the settings screen to where you could create a preset. 

 

Nope, not a bit.  Either no ballast, or full ballast plus overflow PnP bags, meaning the presets actually slow down me since they stp when the hard tanks read full.  And I often tweak the wedge and speed depending on conditions so presets are not really useful.

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1 hour ago, 67King said:

 

Nope, not a bit.  Either no ballast, or full ballast plus overflow PnP bags, meaning the presets actually slow down me since they stp when the hard tanks read full.  And I often tweak the wedge and speed depending on conditions so presets are not really useful.

I agree I don't use presets either or home because the computer has no idea whats in the PNP bags.  Maybe @tb2 redesign will address this. I fill mine until the rear "worthless coolers" start pushing up the rear seats then let out some air and I'm good to go. I empty until the water stops. Not really high tech.

Edited by dcarl
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The lower screen is processing time is garbage.  The touch-to-action delay is unreal by any standard.  Not being able to use the volume controls as functional sliders is very frustrating... Having to tap the sub volume button 50 times just to watch it take 30 seconds to process all the taps and overshooting your target makes me so angry!

If you can't already tell!

I actually disagree with the negative review above on the Nautique system.  The single screen is a little busy but all of the main functions are close at hand.  And the placement is awesome as it opens up your windshield for the little things, like seeing where you are going while underway.  And above all else, it appears to have a processor from the most recent decade!

  • Like 3
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The scope of senior projects seems to have expanded quite a bit if you're going to redesign this system.

I have an alternate suggestion.  It's got the merits of being easier, immediately useful, and potentially profitable to you later on.

Design a system that can sit beside our boat's computer systems and  interpose itself if needed to give back manual control for so many of the useful things like managing ballast, surf system, cockpit accessories, and at least managing the remote line for the stereo components.

You'll have to analyze and decode all the relevant bus communications, design a switch panel with indicators or a graphics screen, and seamlessly be able to insert it into the system so that you can cut those functions out of the computer and operate them manually.  If you're really ambitious you can start to get into the boat's CAN bus and start snooping on all that data for all sorts of things like mentioned above.

Edited by Slurpee
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9 hours ago, rakr said:

better error handling/reporting, and for the "codes" to be provided in plain English, and be actionable.

 

Thanks for the information and previous thread, this is a big problem that could be fixed. 

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8 hours ago, windy1 said:

Ballast pre-sets are worthless to me. We only use all full plus more or none. Now I do like the pre-sets for speed and wedge.

I don't know how many people are using the intermediate wakeboard preset and actually trying to achieve "half full" ballast. Regardless it is just eliminating the amount of buttons having to be pressed to get full ballast. 

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8 hours ago, dcarl said:

Pro's: I like the numeric actual speed indicator, but could be bigger. I never look at the larger analog like one on the left. I like the digital depth, engine temp, oil pressure, volts and fuel gauge and look at them often.  I also like using the rear camera when I have riders on the water and it fits nicely in the screen without it covering up any important gauges.  I love the charts on my 7" screen and use it all the time.  I like the night mode option too.

 

Things I would like added\changed: It would be nice to have the water and air temp on the "Boat" tab.  The color is cool but may not be for everyone, so add more color options.  On my boat the time gets cutoff when using Bluetooth so add a dedicated place for time.  I always forget to turn off the cruise so make that indicator more visible.  Add a tab for stereo controls to the 12" screen.  The fill all, stop all and drain all buttons could be bigger and spaced out more.

Finally using a Windows operating system for a control system is stupid and probably the root of most users problems.  I had to live 2 weeks with a 7" screen that had of mind of its own before getting it replaced. It would stop working or randomly turn the heaters or blower on, switch radio setting and do all kinds of things on its own. I had to constantly stop the boat shut the power off to reboot the system( while my wife was asking "and how much did you spend on this f'ing boat?") so I do agree that analog is much more reliable.

Hope this is the kind of stuff you were looking for. I think you picked a great field with lots of demand/potential.

Good luck on your project.

I do think you could do away with the analog speed gauge and put something else there or a larger digital gauge. 

A lot of other good ideas, thanks for the help!

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7 hours ago, 67King said:

 

Nope, not a bit.  Either no ballast, or full ballast plus overflow PnP bags, meaning the presets actually slow down me since they stp when the hard tanks read full.  And I often tweak the wedge and speed depending on conditions so presets are not really useful.

Would you like to see the fill just be ran off a timer system that you can adjust? That way you take the time once or twice to see how long it takes to fill hard and PNP then set your timer for that long on the preset. Or when you hit fill it just runs until being shut off, maybe with a 15 min max fill time before shutting off?

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5 hours ago, Slurpee said:

The scope of senior projects seems to have expanded quite a bit if you're going to redesign this system.

I have an alternate suggestion.  It's got the merits of being easier, immediately useful, and potentially profitable to you later on.

Design a system that can sit beside our boat's computer systems and  interpose itself if needed to give back manual control for so many of the useful things like managing ballast, surf system, cockpit accessories, and at least managing the remote line for the stereo components.

You'll have to analyze and decode all the relevant bus communications, design a switch panel with indicators or a graphics screen, and seamlessly be able to insert it into the system so that you can cut those functions out of the computer and operate them manually.  If you're really ambitious you can start to get into the boat's CAN bus and start snooping on all that data for all sorts of things like mentioned above.

The product is only going to actually be a paper with research/interviews and wireframes of a redesign. Nothing too complicated as far as back end programming. 

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58 minutes ago, TB2 said:

Would you like to see the fill just be ran off a timer system that you can adjust? That way you take the time once or twice to see how long it takes to fill hard and PNP then set your timer for that long on the preset. Or when you hit fill it just runs until being shut off, maybe with a 15 min max fill time before shutting off?

Sometimes less is more.

  • Like 2
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I would like to see a HMI that has bigger buttons and less clutter. the design is nice when you are sitting at the dealership playing with it, but when you are driving and trying to push a button, you have no feedback from the screen and it is often hard to hit the right button while in motion.

  • Like 2
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