Alway Swilby
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Posts posted by Alway Swilby
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Our Beko washing machine doesn't have just any old inverter. No, it has a Pro Smart Inverter.
Anyway, it works fine on our Victron 3kw.
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41 minutes ago, blackrose said:
If nobody's replied after 16 hours I guess you better call bimble.
Yes. My thinking too. I asked them yesterday and they "aim to respond within 1 to 4 working days".
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Has anyone ever programmed one of these before and managed to understand the erm...... "English isn't my first language" manual.
I want the relay to operate when the voltage gets to 27.1V and release when it drops to 26.8V.
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digital-relay-E1200.pdfdigital-relay-E1200.pdf
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So, presumably a flashing red light at Castleford flood lock means don't lock up onto the river because it is in
flood?
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5 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:
Expensive in anodes though!
I was speaking with a boater who got stuck in Salthouse after the end of their winter mooring a few years ago due to the lockdowns starting before the link opened. They got an eye watering quote from the only crane on the dock, and ended up getting a diver to replace anodes in the water ...
Others who planned ahead switched to zinc anodes before being moored in brackish water for a planned five months!
Good point. Maybe not such a good idea after all.
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4 hours ago, Ewan123 said:
Crikey, makes £15 sound like a bargain! Which, to be fair, is probably reasonable. Just adds up when one is accustomed to free canalside moorings.
£15 per night including electricity is not expensive. Many marinas charge more than that for visitor moorings. Get the washing machine to work overtime and leave the immersion on. We can run our Alde gas boiler on 3Kw of shore power instead of gas when we are on un-metered hook up. We did think of taking a winter mooring in Liverpool and saving all our heating costs. But we would have had to stay the full five months and didn't fancy it.
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1 minute ago, IanD said:
If you pay for a home mooring all year then surely you're not a CCer and shouldn't pay the surcharge?
(because the 9% mooring fee levy is already paying CART a similar or maybe larger sum)
I think that will be the case.
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2 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:
But you’ll be in a private Marina, so overstaying will not be CaRT’s responsibility, it will be the Marina’s, but as you say you will be paying for moorings.
What would happen to a boater that pays for a home mooring all year, but goes out cruising March-Oct, should he declare he’s CCing and pay a surcharge?
I think we’ll just have to wait and see how the system works(or maybe doesn’t) in the next couple of years. Obviously there will be various scenarios that will need tweaking/sorting.Do you think so? Our licence will show us as CC but we'll be in the same area for 4 months.
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4 minutes ago, Paul C said:
You could email/phone them to inform the change of status but decline to pay the £30 admin fee, you'll unlikely get the reduced rate for a home moorer but you've met the licence obligation and the net amount would be less (admin fees - difference in rate).
I agree. I expect to pay the CC rate all year. It's just that an extra £60 per year on top of that to change status seems unreasonable to me.
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We can't be unusual in our mooring habits. Around about the beginning of March we leave a marina and change our status on the licencing website to CC. We stop paying the marina for the mooring at this point. We then CC all summer and sometime at the beginning of November we move back into the same marina or a different one depending on availability and start paying for a mooring again. We then declare our new home mooring on the web site. Up until now these change of statuses have been FOC. As it happens our licence renews on 1st January. It seems that the six month rule will mean we pay for a CC licence which is fair enough.
BUT.... are we going to have to pay £30 for each change of status so £60 per year on top of the CC surcharge. If we don't update the status when we move back into a marina and leave it as CC what happens when we get spotted in the marina for 4 months? Will we get an overstay email?
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56 minutes ago, magnetman said:
The main problem is alternators. In reality that is the only issue facing anyone. If you don't use an altenator to charge then drop in replacement means just that and the solar or mains chargers can be installed to suit the batteries.
Add an alternator, which is what a lot of people have as their primary charging device and all hell breaks loose.
Or just put a lead acid battery in parallel with the lithium(s) and if necessary a bit longer cable from said alternator and all is hunky dory. 😊
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12 minutes ago, magnetman said:
Interesting read.
Are the BMS circuits designed to be used as on/orf switches? I don't know, presumably they are but its possible they are only meant for unexpected outcomes rather than being used routinely.
He doesn't say what happens if the BMS over voltage disconnect fails to operate.
Website needs proof reading.
Also the website pages need sorting out. Calling it 'blank page' is a bit naff.
Yes, he is aware his web site is a bit naff. It's on his list to sort out.
I don't see a reason why the BMS shouldn't be used as an on/off (its easier to type off than orf 🙂) switch. The supplier sells the batteries fully expecting them to be used as such and gives a 10 year guarantee whilst connected in a hybrid system.
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On 27/01/2024 at 13:01, IanD said:
It works fine for you (and some other vloggers), but I believe you (and they) understand batteries -- LA and LFP -- and charging and what is needed to make the system work and keep them all healthy.
Going by the number of boaters who manage to kill off their LA batteries before their time, many are not technically minded, don't understand any of this and don't take much notice of what is going on with their batteries. They're quite likely to come a cropper one way or another, especially if they just drop-in LFPs to a system with an alternator -- and may end up with prematurely dead batteries, either LA or LFP or possibly both.
The insurance and regulations issue is a separate one, and it remains to be seen what the industry does -- but clearly they disapprove of parallel LA/LFP systems, as do all the battery manufacturers/suppliers. For the time being you're probably OK doing this, though given the LFP suppliers specifically say "don't do it!" it will be interesting to see what happens if something does go wrong with a system like this which results in an insurance claim -- maybe not common today, but it's going to happen sooner or later if more people keep going down this path.
I'm not saying people shouldn't do it, just that they should be aware of the potential problems and what care and maintenance is needed, and keep an eye on the insurance issue... 😉
The LFP/LA hybrid is ideal for people who don't have a clue about looking after batteries. The BMS looks after the LFP batteries for them. They are impossible to over charge or over discharge. Impossible to chronically under charge. The LA battery is kept fully charged nearly all the time which is just what LAs like. The system looks after itself and just works.
There is a company called Life Batteries (https://www.lifebatteries.co.uk/) who sell LFP batteries and will set them up for a hybrid system before sending them out. They are fully aware of how the hybrid set up works and are very happy to sell you LFP batteries for use in a hybrid system. Their web site has a section explaining it all. https://www.lifebatteries.co.uk/blank-page
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1 minute ago, IanD said:
Are they just bare batteries, or are they inside a plywood box like mine?
While the boat was being designed and built I did have some concerns about how cold they'd get and whether the BMS low-temperature limit would kick in, but not any more... 🙂
They are just bare batteries sitting on the swim. It's not too much of a problem while we are not there. The Multiplus and the mppt are both programmed not to charge if the temp is at or below zero. If we were there and wanted to start the engine then I would worry about the alternator putting out many amps. But that situation has never happened in seven years.
Our batteries were the first lithiums that Finesse fitted, they are manufactured by ReLion and the BMS is not very good. I don't have access to the settings and I don't think Finesse did either. They are now about eight years old and one of the three has died. I am going to replace them with two self heating batteries from LiFe Batteries and get about three times the Ah (460) compared to the old ones.
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1 hour ago, IanD said:
Blimey, your batteries are cold -- mine (sitting on the baseplate) haven't got below 4C this winter...
They are sitting on the swim close to the engine bay vent. The vent is facing north so there will be a bit of a breeze through there. I blame Ricky, he put them there 😀
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On 01/01/2024 at 11:29, rusty69 said:
Cheapskate🤣
I must say I'm missing the little Christmas tree!
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8 hours ago, LadyG said:
Yes, but it's a boring four hour round trip and I'm back where I started.
I know last time I was here we had a car and used a filling station red diesel.
You could stay in Goole, then it would only be a two hour trip and you wouldn't be back where you started. Goole's nice by the way, you can watch ships coming and going. Tune into VHF channel 14 and you can listen in.
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8 hours ago, LadyG said:
I'm looking for diesel at the moment, not urgent, I'm currently at Whitley lock, and it's not a great place, any ideas as to an interesting journey, I only do about an hour a day in winter.
Ty
It doesn't take long to get to Goole from there, maybe a couple of hours. Two marinas sell diesel there.
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Which are the NBTA candidates? If I know that I can miss them off the list.
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13 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:
Even that would probably work out cheaper than hiring for a week and maybe the OP could sometimes use the second week.
Almost certainly. We had a 1/12th share (three weeks in season and one in winter) and ignoring the capatal cost, most of which we got back when we sold , it worked out about the same as one week on a hire boat. And even if they didn't use the second week someone else probably would.
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When we had a share boat through Carefree Cruising it had some 1/24th shares. One week in season and one in winter.
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Another video from Pink Hat Man. https://youtu.be/sdsOZi_q-jY?si=Ni5pFT_JogWZRKbR . I've spoken to him and he's aware he's over the towpath. Vigilance required on the way down!
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I expected Pink Hat Man would have been safe moored in the cut below Pillings Lock. Seems not though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2pPcafmAJk
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Is that the moveable towpath underthe M62 is no longer moveable?
Boat sightings
in General Boating
Posted · Edited by Alway Swilby
You have to scroll down a bit (ignoring the map bit). Click on the "Boat" box and your boat(s) will apear, click on the relevant boat (if you only have one boat it will be the only one listed). Don't bother with dates, click on "Search" and a list of your sightings will appear. You can then, if you wish, use the "Functional Location" code to find that location on the map. The map doesn't show your boat.