RichW

Whilst walking past the locks at Stoke Bruerne on Saturday I heard screaming coming from one of the locks. When I went to have a look I found Wyvern’s Kingfisher in the lock, Mum and Dad at the tiller, Grandparents at the top gates and two young children at the front of the welldeck screaming. Why were they screaming? Well is was due to the entertainment that the torrent of water was providing in front of them, because the grandparents were, I can only assume, deliberately not bothering to wait for the ground paddles and filling the lock as quickly as possible with the gate paddles, while the boat banged about in the lock on its own just short of the cill!

Some good points to consider. I will have to remove one of my brass ones and see if the spray foam is intact behind before I decide what to do. I think the brass ones are prone to damage and if the seal fails will let water in. I also think that they look a bit naff on a black gunwale. I would like to keep the possibility of using them now the holes are there but have something more robust and less obvious. Rich

Hello I currently have brass recessed fender eyes in the sides of gunwales and would like to replace them with a mild steel version that can be welded on. Does anyone know of a supplier. Thanks Rich

That should not be too hard. The split charge relay is energised by the D+ on the alternator to stop the starter motor drawing current from the BT batteries. So if I open circuit that connection with a small relay energised by the BT control panel it will also stop the BT motor drawing on the engine battery. Thanks Rich

Hello This is one of the jobs I need to look at. My boat is 58 foot long and has the BT batteries at the bow. The batteries are charged by the 45 amp engine alternator using 10mm cable. The alternator and engine battery are connected to BT circuit via a relay which is only energised when the engine is running. I am not sure why the relay is there? I am also not sure where the charging lead should be connected at the BT end of things? At the moment the BT batteries are connected to the motor via a fuse and then the isolation switch. The charging lead is connected directly to the BT batteries on the basis that should the BT fuse blow the motor would then not be able to draw current from the engine battery/alternator. I have no other fuses so I am guessing that I really need another two at either end of the charging cable run? As it stands the setup works ok, all be it not as safe as it should be. The problem I can see is getting the fuse ratings correct so that the cable is protected and the fuses not blowing when the BT is operated? Rich

The Smart Speed controller is for the ACC/Cubigel GD30FDC compressor and is not a Danfoss compressor. Looks like it is best to get a fridge with one of them fitted unless you can be sure the Danfoss compressor is fitted with the current screened control unit. The Smart Speed unit is a clever piece of kit, its settings can be programed using a PC. http://www.cubigel.com/cubigel3/pdf/User-Manual_GD30FDC_OK.pdf

This might answer the EMC question. http://www.ra.danfoss.com/TechnicalInfo/Li...0_en100g102.pdf

Freesat is a company that markets a group of channels to the UK and provides the EPG (electronic programme guide), teletext etc for them. You need a Freesat decoder in your receiver to get the services they offer especially the HD channels. However most the channels are available free to air, plus a load of ones you probably would not want watch, and all you need to receive them is a satelite receiver without the decoder.

The last RR102 fridge I looked at did not have a Danfoss compressor but a Cubigel GD30FDC with Smart Speed electronic unit. Perhaps this is why some people are having problems and others not? David, Thanks for the link to this post. I was going to buy one of these because it is the only one that will fit in our cabinet. The 240v ac version of this fridge is £120 in Currys!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm not impressed with the quality of it either especially compared to our 9 year LEC. The salad bin is next to useless. Rich

When the fridge has gradually become empty due to us consuming the contents, I have found it to be cycling on/off a lot so I have then turned the stat down from 3 to 1. The fridge then stops cycling until it warms up to the 1 setting and then starts doing exactly to same thing. There is plenty of space for air flow. There are no LED alarms from the Danfoss. How does one change the cycle time if possible? Rich

Just interested how a level trim affects the dynamics of a boat in the water compared to one that is bow up? My boat is almost level especially if the water tank in the bow locker is full and is really nice to cruise. Rich

I have a 12 volt fridge with a Danfoss BD35 compressor that when it gets to the setting of the thermostat, turns off and then comes straight back on again. This cycling on/off happens whether the stat is set to 4 or 1 . I have tried filling the ice box and varied the contents of the fridge but nothing seems to alter its operation. It freezes the contents of the ice box ok and keeps the food cold but the batteries do not like it too much! Could it be the hysteresis of the stat? The fridge is 9 years old and I believe the stat is now obsolete. Any Ideas? Rich

Well unless the Beta tacho is telling lies, no. But that brings another question to mind if the tacho is fed from the engine alternator which has a pulley ratio, how does it measure the actual engine rpm? Rich

Thank you for you replies. The alternator is a 95A Iskra (machine sensed) on a Beta 43 which is 9 years old. I think I have two main areas to address. Firstly the condition of the alternator brushes and slips rings, secondly the fact that it is probably not spinning fast enough. The first is simple to fix, the second not so. Due to the hull design and prop size ( 58ft with 18 x 11 prop) we only need to cruise at 900rpm, which with a 3:1 pulley ratio means the atlernator is spinning at 2700 rpm. I therefore doubt if the current flowing into the batteries is any where near 95A. I probably also have the same problem with our Travel Power alternator. I did some rough alternator voltage measurements when recharging the batteries from 50%, battery bank is 4 x 110 ah. 30 mins = 13.36v 45 mins = 13.43v 1 hr 15 mins = 13.44v 5 hrs = 13.68v I suspect the alternator is a 13.8v unit similar to that on our previous boat which had a Beta 38 engine. On this an Adverc unit had been fitted and I suspect we need the same again. I will get a DC clamp ammeter and make some measures in the next week or so. Does anyone know what the maximum continuous rpm of the Iskra is? I do not what to exceed it by increasing the pulley ratio to 4:1 and assuming we were on river 4 x 2800 (Beta 43 max rpm) would be an alternator rpm of 11200. Hope I have not missed anything Rich

If an alternator is capable of producing an output of 14.1 volts when connected to a set of fully charged batteries. Is it then the regulators job to maintain this voltage when charging the batteries? Assuming that it is being asked to produce current within its designed specification, it is spining at a sufficient rate etc. The reason I ask is that I am only seeing 14.1 volts on the output of the alternator just after I have removed the shore power charger. Once I have taken charge from the batteries when out cruising, I am seeing sarting off 13.36 volts and 13.68 volts after a day cruising. Rich