EricMark

There are a number of ways to monitor battery state. The hydrometer must be best but not really an option with a gel battery. The charged battery is normally 2.1 volts per cell so 12.6 volts is normally regarded as fully charged but where the battery is being used or charged then hard to measure a meaning full voltage as it can be artificially low or high due to resent discharge or charge. Charge current is a good indication and for a 110 AH battery being float charged at 13.2 volt one would expect less than 5 amp charge when the battery is full. This will vary with age of battery but is a good indication. Commercially with milk tankers where the milk was sucked in with a vac pump with wagon engine stopped then batteries re-charged before it reached next farm the ammeter method was used. The driver would sometime wait outside the farm until the ammeter started to drop before uploading next batch of milk. However in the main Nichol Iron rather than lead acid batteries were used. The lead acid battery is damaged by deep cycling and being left discharged where the Ni/Iron does not suffer from this problem. Plus the voltage of the Ni/Iron does not vary as much so volt meter did not help too much. The big problem with boat batteries is sulphation and at least one a month one needs to ensure the batteries are fully charged. Unless some form of step charger is used the only real way is 24 hours plugged into the mains at a marina. And then only if you are not drawing more than the charger can replenish. I looked at the step charger and even these are not as good as one would hope. They monitor the current for final stage so if the battery is sulphated the current can drop before the battery is fully charged and trick the charger into going into final stage too early. The balance between equalising charge and boiling off too much water is hard and not helped with gel batteries. My son bought a boat two years old and the domestic batteries were shot. He replaced them and two years latter having lived most the time on the marina the batteries were still A1. Batteries of traction type should last between 7 and 10 years yet many on narrow boats only get 2 years service because of the abuse they give them. Often there is nothing one can do. Running lights and heaters at night and with only a few hours cruising does not allow batteries to fully charge. NiIron are very expensive. OK life is around 25 years but need to take out a mortgage to buy them. Maybe with the advances in electric cars cheaper batteries will become available? I would use belt and bracer's approach and have both ammeter and voltmeter. Old bus is place to look for ammeter shunt. The AC203 fitted to buses was about the only alternator I know which had current control. The special 440 regulator had M1 and M2 terminals which went across a steel shunt which also connected to remote meter to measure amps. (It was really a volt meter but calibrated in amps) These work well as the thick charge cables do not need to go to ammeter only to the shunt. The bus AC203 alternator came as 60A or 80A and gave nearly full charge amps at tick over so the bus interior lights would not discharge battery. However the design meant that at high revs it could supply more amps than the alternator could do without overheating so needed the special regulator with current control. The 440 regulator was also used with the AC5 and AC7 CAV alternators but instead of M1 and M2 you had Hi Med Low terminals to adjust charge rate.

Long time ago living in a caravan I wanted to use a cheap charger without overcharging the battery. I tried adding a transistor to the output but the 0.6v drop across it resulted in the charge being next to nothing so I ended up with an independent unit. The idea was simple when the battery was flat it was switched off. As battery voltage started to rise it would start to switch on and light bulb. The head lamp bulb used enough power to stop it overcharging and to show the battery was charged. Something like this from memory.

I was looking at same problem with my sons boat. To use both alternators will of course increase charge but only until the voltage raises to the float level so in real terms this does very little to help as within 1/4 hour the single alternator is at float voltage. So there are three methods. 1) Use less 2) Use non engine charging wind or solar. 3) Use a step charger. If I look at number 3 there are two methods. 1) Change the alternators regulator. 2) Use an inverter to boost output. The first gets rid of any guarantee and is messy to fit so the second seems the best method. As far as I could see this means "Sterling" as they were the only people I could find who made the device. Since unlike the simple replacement regulator it pulsed the charge and measured to find requirement between pulses it seems in theory the better system anyway. However as with all these systems proof of pudding is in the eating and I have not talked to anyone who has used them. See here http://www.sterling-power.com/products-altbatt.htm and make up your own mind. Reading what they say it should cure the problem. However son's boat now out of water and for sale so no longer worried about the problem.

It was that you needed a licence to have a TV. But it is all on case law and it seems some one showed they could not receive a TV signal and used only the DVD and so it was modified. You need to demonstrate it can't receive TV so if you have an aerial then that will not wash. http://www.tvcatchup.com/ Lets up watch Live TV so needs a licence but watching programs on BBC web site does not. However for the licence fee is it really worth taking the chance? Well I suppose if your one of those who don't pay the waterways licence then just the same thing. Remember as well as fine they take all equipment. However they do seem to be reasonable and I have heard how when a genuine mistake has been made if you get a licence without delay they often let it go.

While living in a caravan I also was worried about having a TV licence back in 1990 I did not want to watch TV I wanted it for my computer and when I enquired as to what was required so the TV could be used I hit a brick wall and ended up with a BBC monitor (Colour) and a Black and White TV. I was working on the building of Sizewell "B" and there were hundreds like me and seemed I was only one with licence. I expected to see a detector van as it seemed they would catch a whole load of people and would have been worth while but it never did happen. However when I left that job and let the licence drop I got loads of treating letters in spite of having a colour licence for the home address. The law has since changed and you only need a licence to receive live TV no longer do you need a licence to own a TV. The whole licensing law is full of silly things like "Apparatus for receiving monochrome broadcast TV radio signals" when I went to school was called an aerial out of the coax into TV it is no longer a radio signal but courts still hand out fines and this is the problem it is all done on case law rather than what it says on licence. It seems if the TV has batteries built into the set it does not require a licence so using a laptop to view TV as long as laptop is not plugged into boats supply does not need a licence. I can't see how they can ever work out if it was plugged in? Only it you admit it was plugged in could they really do anything. As to detector vans they can pin point a TV in a block of flats when parked 1/4 mile away and they would have no problem in pin pointing a TV on a boat. But if you are on holiday in a boat and are not using the set at home then your home licence likely covers as it does with a caravan so again unless you admit not having a licence to catch one is very hard. You just give an address as your home where they do have a licence. I am sure the TV guys know this. And just like they never bothered checking us all on the construction workers caravan site likely they feel not worth the hassle checking narrow boats. But if they wanted to they could and saying no to them for access will not help they can still do you without going on your boat. It is all up to giving right answers to their questions. I did get accosted by them once. And luck I was using the TV legally to receive slow scan TV which is not broadcast to a one to one connection and again by luck I had my validation document to hand but I did have to prove it was being used on amateur band and not broadcast. This was back in the days when their equipment was not as good with cathode ray tubes they could tell you what station you were listening to. Not sure now with freeview, sky, and broadband what they can detect. I guess if using broadband to watch live TV they could ask your internet provider but not sure if they keep a record of what you do on line or if they would tell the TV people anyway? I will watch to see if anyone has been done in a narrow boat. For me I would never work without a licence as I have signed to allow the DTI access to my equipment at any time and they can remove my licence at will so it is just not worth me taking a chance. It's not the TV licence but my amateur radio licence that allows them access at any time. Never had a visit and hope I never will.

Walking into Ellesmere Port about 2 miles from boat museum. Second blockage and another photo of same I would guess boats would not get through this very easy. Is this what is meant by a stoppage?

9.4 Amp and I switched off it did not fail.

Inverter arrived back. So refitted and retested with a monitor unit recording max and instant current and watts and washing machine was tried. Whole 30 deg cycle without a problem however we noted the heater never cut in so repeated at 40 deg and the heater came on and everything seemed fine. Couple on minutes and inverter fan started case still cool and the fan started to cycle with one then two and back to one fan or at least fan noise changed and draft changed showing it was controlling the temperature then I started to smell something so turned off. By this time it had been running about 8 minutes. Smell soon went and re-tested inverter and it seems to work OK but now feel although it says 3000W continuous and 6000W peak for 5 minutes that it is not as stated on the inverter and it can't supply that sort of load. Since washing machine would run on a 6A MCB but not a 4A MCB we intend to connect a 4A MCB to output to limit the load that can be placed on it. With a B4 that would be max 20A load with around 8A for any length of time. Before we used the washing machine last time we used a 2.2Kw kettle and we had smelt something then. Having found the isolator was faulty we had considered it was the isolator we had smelt. However seems it was the inverter and we must have damaged it which caused it to latter fail.

I have been trying to get my son to set up a radio then I can find him on the cut. Seems mobile is always flat. However not so easy to get licence for sets we have now. OK for him and me but for his wife now needs a whole series of tests to get licence gone are the days of one exam and if you really want distance a Morse test. Now foundation, intermediate then full so cheaper to use old CB's even if we do need to buy the sets. Not seen any boats will aerials although long enough for HF. 73 Eric GW7MGW ex VP8BKM and VR2ZEP

I find 12v iron works OK. The inverter will work Dyson but we have had problems with inverter. Sent back under warranty and still cost £100.20 transport and customs although repair free of charge. Inverter only cost £139 new. So at the moment I am a little peeved. Customs was big problem as unexpected seems I should have marked warranty repair and 30USD to avoid duty. So not recommending cheap inverters from internet even if it did work for a time and allowed the use of an air velocity cleaner (Told by manufacture does not work with vacuum but air velocity and having right gap is important mind you it was a big one for cleaning roads)

I note the reference to radio. Hadn't considered the idea with canals although I should have done wagon drivers use them. I wonder if there as a frequency used as a net and if so what it is? So close no need for repeaters. Even the band would help. At the moment only have 2m and 70cm plus some old FM CB's.

I must say I love them. As without locks I would not go on the cut. Well not quite there are other times I get invited but when my son wants to move the boat he asks if I will help at least while my grandson was unborn. Although my other hobby photography I see more opportunities for good pictures in the lock area than most of the other areas. But always busy so very few photos taken.

We seem to still have a problem working out why the inverter burnt out. It was never used outside it's stated capacity and the manufactures representative does not know want a MCB is. They don't understand the fuse specification. And do not understand what a soft start is. I am sure they have a computer screen with a load of questions and answers as they repeatedly ask same question. In spite of including history. Question is although they will repair not much good if it will burn out again and when asked if we used a semi-conductor fuse rated at 10A with a I²t of 22A if this would protect the inverter they answered "I'm sorry we can not understand the above well." one feels one is banging ones head against a great wall. We get replies like "As we advise it is better we can know all the power of appliances you want to run then we can check which one can run,thanks" does this mean every time we want to buy a new item we have to ask them first? That is not really an option.

Good news the supplier has agreed to repair but we need to pay postage however they claim due to overload but it is a 3Kw inverter with 6Kw surge capacity and largest item was a 2.2Kw washing machine with an inverter driven motor so soft start and as yet no idea why it should have failed? I will keep posting as I am sure others will be interested in a 3Kw inverter with 6Kw peak at £140? However they are no good if they burn out of course. Since web site has gone I did not expect to get repaired but still for sale on Ebay so thought there was a chance.

Sorry, dynamic pages in the tags are not allowed or I would post pictures but all the control wires burn out on inverter. Clearly the inverter at fault. Stopped working while on light load charging some batteries for power tools. Under Guarantee but note web site has gone so not holding too many hopes. It was Pay Pal but as soon as I post off no proof of course. Anyway it was not washing machine at fault and LG do run as they said on a modified sine wave it was inverter up the creak.