What is a Barnacle?

WHERE DID THE BARNACLE COME FROM?

The idea for the BARNACLE (TM) was conceived during the research and development phase for REMORA (TM). During 4 years of working through various ways of remote water sensing for REMORA, we decided that one of the methods could be used for developing a stand-alone electronic switch. The initial results were very encouraging that we had created something special and very useful to boat owners.

WHAT DOES THE BARNACLE DO?

The BARNACLE is an electronic switch device which adds intelligence to an ordinary bilge pump. The BARNACLE uses a novel method to remotely sense whether or not there is liquid in a contained space. Not only does the BARNACLE know if there is liquid present, but it also knows if there is ENOUGH liquid for a centrifugal pump to work effectively to pump the liquid out of that space.

WHAT MAKES THE BARNACLE DIFFERENT THAN A REGULAR FLOAT SWITCH?

The BARNACLE is nothing like a regular float switch. For starters, it has no moving parts. It doesn’t need to be located in the bilge at all and can be installed anywhere on a boat. The installation is a simple inline wire connection between the power source and the bilge pump with only 3 wires to connect. The electronics are completely sealed in epoxy and are impervious to most corrosive liquids. It will work for any 12v DC centrifugal bilge pump between 360 gph – 2,000 gph. Various pump models have been tested from every international manufacturer we could find. It requires no calibration upon installation and can be switched between different models and makes as needed.

WHAT ABOUT THE EXTRA FEATURES?

The BARNACLE has an adjustable timing feature which allows the user to control how often the water checks are performed. This helps to optimize for timing related to the amount of water ingress, or optimize differently for less power consumption in times of mooring/docking or storage. The BARNACLE has several safety features which give it even more value to our customers. The internal circuits include an over-voltage diode which protects the switch and reverse polarization protection. Both help to protect the product in case the customer makes a faulty installation or the electronics on the boat experience a short. Additionally, low voltage, over voltage, pump jam, standby mode and active pumping are all signaled separately by a bright LED light. The Barnacle conserves power by turning on the bilge pump only when there is liquid present, and stopping the pump within micro-seconds of the pump running out of water.

WHAT WILL THE BARNACLE ACHIEVE?

We hope that the BARNACLE will replace every bilge pump float switch in the universe. We are convinced that current float switches were designed to fail. Currently boat owners have to constantly buy new float switches to replace their broken ones. Such planned obsolescence by float switch manufacturers is bad for the customer and bad for the environment. We can do better! In the future your bilge pump will burn out before the BARNACLE will.