BargeeSpud

Hiya, Adding to the nearly exhausted, I suspect, topic of battery charging, I'm really keen on getting some sort of 240V battery charging installed & to that end, I've been exploring the range of Sterling products. According to their blurb, I would need a 70A charger for my 675Ah battery bank. Now their range of digital chargers only go up to 60A, but they suggest that it is possible to link a combination of 2 of their chargers to make up the extra amperage required. In my case, probably a 40A & a 30A could be the cheapest option, according to their online prices. Now, I can't find anything in their downloads for a document that outlines how this is done, so my question is, is there anyone on here who has linked 2 chargers together in this mannner, Sterling or otherwise? Cheers.

I couldn't even glance at the opening shot of that vid without my legs going all trembly! Thanks for that Mike, B******D!! Ah, but I had no idea what I was letting myself in for because I wanted to experience it from a walker's point of view. Little did I realise the profound effect it would have on me. But I'm glad it wasn't the Pontcysyllte where I completely lost it & that it was the Zip World experience that totally changed my life.

We did the aqueduct in 2014. I was fine boating over it as I stood just inside the doors of my trad stern, but after we'd gone back over it & moored up, it was a different story. We walked back to the aqueduct with our 2 dogs to walk across it & to my horror, I found myself physically shaking & had to hand my dog on to the missus in order to continue across! Then I had to do it all over again, hoping it wouldn't be as bad. Not a snowballs, I felt exactly the same. I mean, there's nearly 5' of railing on one side & the canal on the other! How likely is it to have a serious accident!? I couldn't believe it, I'd always known I was aprehensive with heights, but this was ridiculous, I'm not actually scared of heights surely? Well, I was soon to find out. A year later & I was getting my holiday rental in Blaenau Ffestiniog in a fit state to hire out, when my niece who works at Zip World thought it was a good idea to give me a "flight" for my birthday. Great I thought, I've abseiled before, same difference I guess. We got there, got suited up & I was asked how I felt., "fine" I said, are you excited I was asked, "not really" I said, all seemed good, I was calm. Onto the bus to the top of Titan, still feeling OK. At the top, all off the bus, niece in attendance & would be going down with us. To get onto the lines, you have to ascend onto a platform, we were the last group to go down, but as I watched the others go before us, the nerves kicked in - big style! I couldn't even get myself onto the platform. For the first time in my life, I truly understood what "petrified" means, I could not move a muscle. Then the humiliating trip back to base on the bus, despite the consolation of the staff, I was absolutely devastated, especially as the missus, also scared, went down. So, I am scared of heights, so much so, my legs quiver if a verticle drop is shown on TV!

Both engine & genny will charge all the batteries, they both have identical Leece Neville alternators. Obviously, there is never a situation where both engine & genny are operating at the same time. How they're wired up to the batteries, I'm unable to confirm ATM as I'm not exactly certain & can't check as I'm not at the boat. Thanks Nick, as usual you've crystallised my query very succinctly. In other words, I need have no worries whatsoever running a 240V battery charger capable of equalising my batteries using my existing genset set up.

Sorry, I'm not making myself clear. Basically I guess what I'm asking is, because the fact my genny's alternator will be charging the batteries at the same time as a battery charger will be doing an equalisation charge, will this impact on that charger's ability to do a proper equalisation charge? Would I have to disconnect the alternator output for example or would a charger make allowance for the input from the alternator to compensate in order to do an equalisation charge?

Not sure what you mean by that. My genny is a Beta 9KVa Genset & all I know is that its alternator charges my batteries whilst its putting out 240V and, as far as I'm aware, that would continue if I hooked up a battery charger capable of equalising my battery bank to one of my genset's 240V outlets .

OK, dumb question time: Is it possible to do an equalisation charge with an onboard generator that also charges the batteries from its alternator?

Brilliant! I was feeling a little low until I read that, have a greenie mate.

I can't offer anything on equalising charges, but I notice you haven't said what the voltage reading is at the time you start charging. Personally, I'd forget using the SOC as a basis for deciding when to charge (its only a guide, no matter how accurate your SOC reading is) & go by the voltage reading instead. I don't let my batteries drop below 12.25 before initiating a charging cycle. Even my 6 T105's with their total of 675Ah need charging every 3 days or so when my solar isn't putting in much during these shorter days. That's with average to heavy use BTW, in summer I rely totally on my solar charger. I hope my observations & experience with my Trojans is useful to you, other electrickery wizards on here will be able to help you far better than I can. Good luck.

Oooh! Picky & pedantic. I like it!

I think it works by the pressure (weight) of the water on the sensor. I'd be extremely surprised if it could determine height! I like the idea of filling up so, in my case, water flows overboard from the vent pipe, then checking whether my filler pipe is also full & if it is draining off to empty the filler & then recalibrating to have that point as "full". Thanks everyone, some very interesting points raised, cheers all.

If you make the mistake I did once & leave a full, hot ash can on the hearth you CO alarm will go off because the hot ash will still be giving off CO. Another place to check with the stove is inside the firebox immediately below the flue. This area can have a plate below it & the space will fill with ash reducing the effectiveness of the flue. Hope you find the cause quickly & that it's something simple. Good luck,

Thats a good idea, but I think I'm going to replace the vent pipe anyway, so I can do a fill after I've removed it, but before I replace, it to see if that makes a difference. This could also help to decide whether to increase the pipe diameter or not. Cheers.

I hadn't considered the tank being pressurized, that makes loads of sense & is possibly the route to solving this problem. I can see that despite my clearing the vent, that it is possible this was only partially achieved, so if the vent is still restricted it would explain why the tank could be put under pressure if the water enters the tank quicker than the air can escape. Plus it could also explain how the "level would drop quicker than in the past without really using more water". Something else I didn't mention is that when the filling got close to completion, I'd get a gurgling & then blowback of water out of the filler. A clear indication of a tank under pressure. I should've thought of that! Doh!! Unfortunately, the vent is welded pipe, but I could cut it out & replace with a clear flexible hose that I could both see & remove to clean any build up of crud. Our water supply isn't exactly the fastest, pressure wise, & I've always wondered whether the vent pipe could be too small in diameter, maybe I could also help matters by fitting a larger diameter vent pipe. Cheers, most helpful.

Hiya, I have both these gauges fitted & they are brilliant, however, I've recently had level issues regarding my water tank/water gauge. In the last few water fills, the gauge reading has climbed to the full position with the little dot showing at the top but when turning off the tap, the reading tends to quickly drop down to show 3/4, this has only just started happening. I did notice before this started that the level would drop quicker than in the past without really using more water. I've checked & cleared the tank vent, checked all the electrical connections & all seems fine. I've not experienced this issue with the fuel gauge, but then I've only filled that tank twice since installing its gauge & initial calibration. Could this simply be a need for recalibrating the gauge or could there be issues related to filling the water tank, air locks for example? Any ideas?

I've used the yellow jacketed fully insulated bullet connectors on my shoreline fridge on this & my previous boat, leaving enough cable to pull the fridge out & disconnect. Very simple, quick to install & cheap.

OK. Thanks again.

Thank for that! I'll be making enquiries.

I would suggest that it depends on the initial draw of the 8Kw unit on start up. A lot of electrical units draw much more than they're rated at on start up, that's why you tend to need more available power than you think. There are members on here who can give you chapter & verse a helluva lot better than I can!

I would think a 16Kw or greater would be more likely to cope with an 8Kw load.

Only if the OP's a mathametician.

Having experience of an Eberspacher D7W & now a Webasto Thermotop C, I can only concur. The only very minor thing the D7W can have over the Thermotop is its ability to be thermostatically controlled with a room thermostat & frankly I don't miss that feature at all, the Thermotop smashes the D7W into the ground at every level.

Those are very interesting reading with some really good info, thanks. My only reservation regarding genny charging with a mains charger is that in my case, my onboard genny's alternator also charges the batteries. Therefore, rightly or wrongly, I have concerns that both the alternator & mains charger both charging at the same time doesn't seem right somehow. I have the same mindset when it comes to combi inverter/chargers, it seems bizarre to me that the unit gets the batteries to charge themselves! I must admit though, that if my concerns are pure rubbish (likely! ) I would definitely like to be able to do a proper charging cycle over alternator charging when my solar is restricted during winter.

I too have the Victron battery monitor & I've learned to completely disregard the SOC reading. I've had a reading of 90% when my batteries have been down to 12.1V, so I now use the voltage reading to decide when I need to do a charging cycle & in my case its when the voltage drops to no lower than 12.3V to be on the safe side. I also use its amp reading to determine when I should stop charging which, with my battery capacity of 675AH, means dropping to around 9A maximum. This will give me a final percentage of 1.33%. Its only a rough guide I know, but it seems to do me OK until the Victron solar charger can do its thing properly once daylight quality gets stronger as we approach summer. Anybody with any tips on how to modify or complement this regime to make it more efficient would be rather cool. Have a great New Year, LL&P.