jonathanA

The first LED replacements I bought from puffer and I tend to buy another one or two if I'm passing. good range, various adapters/fittings and 'colours' If are able to visit then you can see them working. I'd have no hesitation recommending them if you don't fancy gambling on the ebay cheap chinky LEd lamps.

if you don't have a fridge battery why couldn't you use that for the starter battery ? no new door needed and hours counter installed as by'eck suggested....

agreed. - when I looked into buying the chips for a proper dc-dc voltage stabliser I realised why the pukka units from bedazzled, puffer parts , baddie etc are so expensive. (and no doubt they would say they use a higher grade LED too) I've got a mix of proper regulated units and cheapo chinese units all work reliably, none have failed so far The advantage of the uk suppliers is you can go and see what actual colour the light is and whether the lamps will fit your fittings.

just as an alternative, Sleeman-hawken are also excellent for lister spares and very helpful. http://www.sleeman-hawken.co.uk/listersailing.html I did notice some of the eBay solonoids were as little as £19 plus postage, would these be as good as the dearer ones I wonder? If they look the same and have the right mechanical/electrical connections I'd have no hesitation in using one. you could buy 3 or 4 of these compared to a 'genuine one' which is probably made in the same chinese factory anyway... That said I always buy genuine Lister filters but thats a decison I've made purposely, if i needed to save a few bob then i'd mae the effort to look for their equivalents from crossland/fram/coopers or whoever.

from a charging point of view maybe, but for SG to do its trickery I'd assume the chemistry (and therefore the batteries voltage/charge/discharge parameters) would have been the most relevant thing... clearly the op has money to spend Calcium batteries AND smartgauge...

most likley that you moved the tachometer pickup wire on the alternator and perhpas its now making poor conenction - usually labelled 'w' there will be another thin wire on the alternator that isn't the warning lamp that provides a signal to the rev counter - so check that. the other obvious thing is what happens if you disconnect the D+ feed to the allbright (or the neg either one, just to put things back to how they were...) if the rev counter works fine then you need one of the clever people to help you if no change and its not a lose wire then you probably still need one of the clever ones...

Agreed - i've done the same loads of times both on the boat and at home in various fires/stoves - just never considered the science behind it. will have to try it on a proper from scratch campfire or BBQ, as in front of an audience you'd look like a magician ...or a complete numpty if it didn't work... thing is the usual rules apply you need plenty of good kindling (or firelighter) building up the size of the fuel gradually and a good air supply..

particularly if the fuse has been wrapped with the silver paper out of a fag packet... as my dad always used to do...

Just to be clear the IET 17th Edition regs do NOT apply to boats, unless they are houseboats, neither do the part p regulations apply - thank goodness. obviously its sensible to follow good practice etc as outlined in the various standards, but Tony has highlighted the main areas of difference that could catch out the unwary. I'm not sure Tony is 100% right to suggest using normal domestic T&E is a BSS fail, i thought it was "recommended" to use flex but not a BSS requirement, but that might have changed recently (literally in the last few days with the latest update to the BSS). Slightly academic point as most people would use the blue artic grade flex thas has become 'de-facto' standard for mains wiring on boats..

Agree with your comments about the cheper inverters, but the comment about stirling is not my experience and i've measured the standby current on my Stirling 1800MSW, its less than 0.5A and its overall efficency is comparable any of the others. (check the data sheets). so suggsting the op should throw away his perefctly reasonable sterling and buy another one is just errant nonsense. I don't think theres a lot to be gained by OP in doing anything other than carrying on using whats he's already got. I use the remote control facility to switch the inverter off when I finish with it for the night so actually the standby current is irrelevant and the efficency is no better/worse than others so why change....

keep it simple, just touch a battery positive to one of the coil terminals and connect a neg to the other - a loud clunk and the relay is working. now you can mess about with the d+ etc and get it all installed properly knowing that the thing works. I'm not familiar with the all bright unit, but it looks like the 4 spade terminals for the coil are arranged in pairs one above the other. I would sugest you want a +ve to one of the upper pair and a -ve to one of the lower pair.

how does jet fuel compare ? thats just another form of kerosene too isn't it ? presumably its more refined than 28 second/heating oil and I seem to recall a big hoo hah recently about the airlines not paying duty/VAT on jet fuel so could be a good option - if you could siphon a bit out of the nearest 747...

I think the older formaldyehyde based 'blue' was nasty stuff that just killed everything off (isn't embalming fluid formaldehyde ?)whereas the more modern treatments start/aid the breakdown process and are less toxic to waste treatment plants. The issue about elsans/pumpout disposal tends to be where there is a local treatment plant or old fashioned septic tank that relies on the little bugs to breakdown the waste and chemicals (including bleach) kill them off and stop the thing working, i suppose the 'proper' mains swerage works juist handle such large volumes that this isn't a problem ?

good riddance I say - totally unconvinced about fittings that need a special tool and if you read the instructions require you buy a new 'fitting kit' (grab ring and bits) each time you assemble/disassemble which are never as available as the fittings. sounds to me like Hepworths/Wavin are just catching up with the rest of market such as John Guest, floplas etc... all of whom I would use in preference to Hep20 speaking as a DIYer, but thats my opinion and I fully respect other peoples right to have a different one...

As Mike v says you need a relay with a 240V AC coil. not the 24v one you linked to or the subsequent 12 v relays posted by others. something like this : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RE04-FINDER-16-AMP-240-VOLT-DPCO-POWER-RELAY-16a-240v-62-82-8-230-0000-/221169658480?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item337ebd2a70 although this is only 2 poles so wouldn't give you idiot proof disconnection of non inverter loads (e.g charger) - would get you going though ETA- I think I'd use a manual changeover for a generator supply so that you had chance for the genny to sort it self out before putting it under load.

fair point. although the smaller heaters (1KW or less) are obviously switching much smaller curents (the ones I've used seem to be fairly reliable so far)

You could modify Tony's suggestion and use a 16A plug with 16A sockets, but your almost as easy to provide a manual changeover switch and thats much better imho. The other option is that you don't actually need a 4 pole relay, you could use a 3 pole relay which might be easier to get hold of (possibly - haven't looked myself). You don't really need to switch the neutral for the 'non inverter loads' as well as the live. It is worth making sure that you can't accidentally leave the charger running off the inverter for instance so a 3 or 4 pole changeover switch or relay makes sense. finally 2.5mm flex is only rated at 20A not 32A

why ? what disaster do think will befall, do enlighten us please? I think you would have a good case against the manufacturer or supplier if you had followed thier instructions and somehow one of these things spontaneously combusted due to poor chinese oil or something... you'd have far far less come back on tube heaters where you had to physically install them and often they come without a mains lead attached so leaving yourself open to prove your were 'suitably qualified' to install you pays your money and takes your choice... I'm quite happy with a tube heater in my shed as it happens and would be quite happy to use one on the boat but just find the oil filled rad to be a better option for me.

what are they held up with ? blu tack ? - I doubt that the weight of ice or even snow would be a problem, the dishes these days aren't that big and they are designed to stand up to high winds which put more loading on than a bit of ice or even snow. Ice and snow being water would probably attenuate the signal and cause issues.

I don't think there is any safety issue with either electic oil filled heaters or tube heaters. some tube heaters do get very hot to the touch and I've seen them damage nylon clothing that shouldn't have been placed on them anyway ! The advantage of tube heaters might be that you could spread them about a NB and permantently install them if you wanted. Personally I have a small 1KW oil filled heater that can be switched for 500w or 1000W and leave this on a simple time clock to come on for a few hours a day, but have also used frost stats in the past too. Tony Brooks does point out that there is at least one insurance company that has some sort of policy statement about portable heaters must be marine certified, so worth checking that there is no possibility of invalidating your boat insurance by using a heater. (general consensus is this is very unlikely but...) ETA - tube heaters do seem quite expensive for what they are compared to oil filled radiators from argos etc.

most radio hams will tell you that cold clear spells (high pressure) are usually good for radio propagation ! Possibly the downside is that mobile masts (apart from the misunderstood ones looking for shelter) might be suffering from a build up of ice or snow and that would affect their performance I suppose. Could just be that the nice data packets from your confuser don't want to leave the comfort of a nice warm boat of course

I agree no harm in asking questions, although there are exceptions - (this isn't one of them) one comment why would you drain down the water tank ? I never do I just make sure it isn't full right to the top to leave room for any expanding ice and turn off the isolating valve. I fitted a drain off point on the cold water system and so draining the pipe work once the pump and main isolating valve at the tank are turned off takes a few minutes. I don't drain the calorifier as its insulated and in a sheltered position under the bed. to be fair we are on a shoreline and so I leave a small electric oil filled heater on a timeclock to come on a couple of hours a day which helps keep things a bit warmer and drier.

it seems to me you have a relatively simple system. so I'd just buy a round voltmeter (52mm dia gauge) there's loads of them on ebay. They just need a positve and negative connection in light wire so are easy to wire up. Are both the lister gauges the same ? As Chris says if they are both the old 'ammeter' type charge gauges then these aren't really compatible with modern electrical systems (with their much higher demands). As for things like smartgauge and all the other clever wizardary. well to me £150 would buy two new batteries or a bigger alternator or you could buy a £10 voltmeter and keep £140 in the bank... now thats a no brainer...

I would think that many boats have the gas line running under the gunwhale past the woodburner (mine does too) and not for a moment have I thought it an issue. If you google "BSS solid fuel" there is a wealth of info - although nothing specifically refers to gas pipes that I can see. Edited to correct finger trouble (spelling)and to change 'vast majority' to many