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CaneyJ

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    Worcester
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    Designer

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  1. CaneyJ

    Laundry.

    I've tried loads of options including plungers, wash bags and a twin tub and now I swear by this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Sports-Outdoors/Brunner-29691-Wonder-Wash/B0076U5VEM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497872492&sr=8-1&keywords=wonderwash followed by this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/White-Knight-Spin-Dryer-28009B/dp/B01MZ8Q91F/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1497872503&sr=8-2&keywords=spin+dryer The wonderwash can be used in the sink or shower tray and just takes 2 minutes to tumble wash 2-3kg of clothing at a time and uses much less wash water than a twin tub for the same amount of clothes plus it's faster as it also adds water pressure to speed up the clean. A machine-assisted bucket washer usually takes 15 minutes and needs 20-30 Litres of water. This only uses 8-10 litres of hot water to do a 2-3kg load. The full-size spin dryer is filled up by a single wonder-wash load and spins faster and is more effective than the baby twin tubs. I do a quick 20 second spin before stopping it and pouring in a 2-Litre jug full of rinse water with a small bit of conditioner before finishing on a 3-minute spin dry. Acrylic and woolan clothing can be worn instantly. Cottons and polyester items can be hung on a rack in the shower area or on a line or by the fire for an hour or two and they will be dry with minimum power and water requried. The wonder washer can be stacked on top of the spin dryer on a square board to save space.
  2. OK; I came across wrong when I said about closing it down. When the ash door is screwed down tight the fire will indeed go out so I guess there are no air leaks on the rope seals. I replaced my ash door seal only last week but that won't help my current wood burning issue. Maybe the ash door screw is just super sensitive. I'm mindful about adding too much fuel to the fire overnight but I guess this tends to not be enough as it is fully burnt down by the morning. Anyhow; my focus is on latent heat retention and whether this method would allow a couple of hours extra radiant heat in the morning or should I just line out the stoves interior with another layer or fire brick?
  3. I have a 23ft narrowboat which comes with a Villager Heron 5Kw Multi-Fuel stove. I’m limited to mainly burning smokeless fuels to minimise the stove’s heat output since it only has lower airflow control, it tends to be a blast furnace when using wood. I’m yet to master keeping the stove going until the morning and it starts getting a bit chilly waking up in the mornings. If I bank the fire up before bed; even if I close it right down, the heat can get overwhelming. I used to live in a flat fitted with storage heaters which got me looking at trying out a crude form of thermal mass storage using clay bricks or concrete paving slabs laid up against the stove’s sides and back wall. Has anybody tried this method? I’ve heard of adding another thin layer of fire bricks inside the grate but I was more thinking the outside since the firebox is already quite small. Would insulating the stoves heat from the outside cause issues with the steel body? I have about 10cm of clearance all around the stove but also have a concern that the weight of bricks quickly adds up to being the at least the same weight again as the stove and could cause issues with the supporting hearth? I guess my main question is; would a dozen or so bricks on the stoves top and sides release the heat slower and store enough heat for a couple more hours of warmth in the mornings?
  4. Definitely fake. The best affordable ones I've seen are these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-20A-MPPT-charge-controller-Tracer-2210A-20-Amp-EPSolar-/152238845429?hash=item2372246df5:g:30UAAOSwyjBW4D8xwhich are offered in 10A - 40Amps. Anything cheaper is a fake PWM.
  5. I have the older Electrolux version off this which I can run from a 600W inverter. Very good suction and coming up to 10 years old now. I can use normal vacuum heads on the hose extension and have even abused it hoovering up stray stove ash. Just wash the cloth filter off once a month if under heavy use and is great, The motor driven brush is great for carpets and optimum for an area the size of a boat. https://www.amazon.co.uk/AEG-AG71a-RapidClean-Handheld-Cleaner/dp/B00F3U1R4A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462948220&sr=8-1&keywords=Stair+and+Car+Handheld
  6. This looks to be better than the Kildwick Kraft 380; cheaper too but a little longer. http://www.simploo.co.uk/product/simploo-waterless-composting-toilet-compost-toilets-eco-loo/
  7. Best budget MPPT you can get at the moment is this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-40A-MPPT-charge-controller-Tracer-4210A-40-Amp-MT-50-Visual-display-Unit-/152042779821?hash=item236674b4ad:g:YRsAAOSwFMZWsGKG Is of the Tracer brand of MPPT controllers but compared to their main model of controller, this cheaper vesions only difference is that it's maximum panel open voltage rating is lower but is still 100V instead of the 150 Voc rating found on their main line converter found here: http://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/mppt/Tracer4215BN Tracer are a proven brand for the budget conscious but 40-Amps is their maximum for these types.
  8. Ok seriously people need to stop mentioning LiPos. They are great for maximum power to weight ratio in small electronics but they will blow up when abused. The Lithium battery that should be talked about here is LITHIUM IRON PHOSPHATE [LiFePO4] It has a slightly lower power to weight but will not violently explode. Here's an example video on a LiFe cell and what happens when you abuse one: Plenty of videos showing a comparison of LiPo cells exploding as a comparison. Bare in mind lead-acid batteries can also explode. As for the Twizy argument, that again uses a third lithium technology called Lithium-Ion which can be charged at sub-zero temperatures. LiFePO4 is the battery to use in our situation but it can't be charged at sub-zero.
  9. I wanted to design a small LIFEPO4 system that is as basic and cost-effective as possible. Whilst it’s still theoretical, it should work and I will try to break it down based from what I’ve taken from the articles wafflings. To start with; my boat is small and for leisure use only. I’ve calculated I just need a 90AH ‘Balanced’ Dumb LIFEPO4 pack [about £490]. This is about equivalent to a 135-150AH lead-acid battery [when used very conservatively in its 15%<->90% power band] and can power constant 1KW sustained loads such as a Microwave and small hair dryer. The pre-built packs I’ve linked to before are ‘pre-balanced’. In theory; if you don’t over-charge or discharge a LIFEPO4 pack you don’t need a BMS [internal control electronics] which makes the system a lot easier to manage. BMS PCB’s can fail and the ones I’ve looked at cannot handle high charge and discharge currents beyond 90-Amps constant. The first part of my planned setup is a standard arrangement of having the alternator connected to a starter battery with a VSR connecting the starter battery’s positive to the service batteries. My system simply uses 2x voltage monitors which each control a high-amp ‘normally-open’ 12V relay. One controls the incoming charge current from the VSR and cuts it when the voltage monitor reads a pack voltage of over 14.1V and requires a manual reset. The other relay goes on the master load output cable and cuts the load output when the pack goes below 12.6V and re-enables load when pack voltage recovers through charging to 12.8V+. Keep a pack within that voltage range [12.6V-14.1V] and you should be gravy. Bare-in-mind there is no voltage sag with LIFEP04 so straight-up voltage monitoring is easier. An Amp-Hour counter is also good due to the flat charge curves allow you can simply add more-or-less what you took out. A fully charged LIFEPO4 pack tops out at 14.4V but if one of the 12V packs 4 cells is out of balance a long way [+0.3V] and hits 14.7V, that cell will eventually die. Keeping the pack at 14.1V [which is still at a 90-95% complete charge] keeps all unbalanced cells below that critical 14.4V mark. In the same way, taking cells below 12.2V is even worse and will kill them within an hour if left that way. Cutting a load draw when at 12.6V is around 10-15% of a packs final capacity and allows for lower balanced cells to not drop too low. A BMS allows a pack to have a wider range being able to go down to 5% capacity [12.2V] to 100% [14.4V with a charge set to 14.6V] If float voltage can’t be avoided; it should be at 13.2V and for no more than 2-3 hours.
  10. I’ve looking into the logistics of retrofitting lithium batteries and they are viable. The ones to go for are the LIFEPO4 variant as they are non-reactive and almost as safe as lead acid. Major advantages of lithium for us are greatly reduced charging times as it’s basically a flat charge curve with next to no Peukert effect so if you take 50AH out you can put back 50AH in an hour with a 50A charger with hardly any current taper. They can also handle massive sustained current so you could even run fan heaters, electric cookers, microwaves, washing machines etc. [assuming you have a good inverter] without damaging them. You could even use them in a multi-function setup to crank start you engine no problem. Another big advantage is energy density needing less physical space to mount them. Weight saving is a non-issue for narrowboats so this advantage is a non-issue. One major thing to consider is you cannot charge them in sub-zero temperatures so they need them to be inside the boat and the stove needs to have warmed the boat up to keep them warm before any charging takes place. They don’t gas so are safe like AGM. The batteries also don’t like being fully charged or discharged below 20%. They are best stored in a state of partial charge from 20-80% but are safe to leave in that state and don’t discharge. They also don’t like being held at float voltage as they will overcharge so you need a way of cutting the voltage and that can be complicated with solar setups. They are also difficult to measure the state of charge as they basically hold their voltage at 12.8V until they suddenly drop and if you are not quick you can over-discharge. Some good reading can be found here with relation to boats. http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/lifepo4_on_boats And here’s a good place to buy LIFEPO4 packs http://www.ev-power.eu/Winston-40Ah-200Ah/
  11. Which is why I specified the Tracer with the MT-50 input controller. It allows seperate adjustable absorption, equalize & float ratings between 9V to 17V in 0.1V increments using a custom charge profile. It also allows adjustable timing on how long it remains in absorption phase from 10-mins up to 3 hours. I'm guessing with deep cycle you need to be 7+ hours before float? There is no shut-off once it reaches float but that is usually when you shut-off the generator anyway or simply set the float to 13.2V for Trojans to leave in storage.
  12. Ok; my crude understanding was that a solar charge controller was basically a DC-DC step-down converter with a multi-stage output behaving like a charger that just so happens to run on a wide-VDC input. The Tracer-A manual says that so long as the input voltage is +2V above the battery charging voltage it should work. In the case of charging traction batteries in cold weather, that means it needs a bare minimum of 18-19V. The manual for the controller also shows efficiency curves that show whilst an MPPT can take higher voltage; like a PWM; its peak efficiency is actually best at lower input voltages closer to the battery which makes sense as the less-extreme a DC-DC conversion, the more efficient it is though there is only a tiny % efficiency difference between 17V and 68V input. I know that the higher voltages are great for long cable runs and that you can use the cheaper high-voltage 250W house panels over the expensive 100-Watt 18V caravan ones. Indeed some MPPT controllers can only operate up to 50V VoC max like the EcoWorthy 20-Amp controller. Switching power supplies can also be bought cheaply in the 600-Watt ratings which have 36V & 48V outputs should there be a need to supply a 24V battery bank. I’ve seen controllers that are rated upto 100-Amps. If they are supplied with enough watts input, how are they gentler on the batteries when supplying the initial full bulk charge?
  13. I currently have a CTEK M200 15-Amp marine-charger hooked up to a pair of sealed 85-Amp batteries in parallel. I want to upgrade these to a pair of Trojan T105 batteries as well as installing around 400-Watts of solar panels. The current CTEK shoreline charger cannot charge these future Trojans to a decent voltage nor do proper equalisation so it will also need replacing. I’ve done some research and I’m looking at getting one of the newer [and cheaper] MPPT solar chargers, the Tracer A-series rated to 100VoC. Complete with an external MT-50 digital controller; the 30-Amp version only costs £127. I was also eying up a Victron Bluepower IP22 30-Amp mains charger but then had an alternative thought. Why not combine the two devices to work as one by providing an alternative AC-DC converted source and feed it as an alternative DC-Input into the MPPT controller via a 3-way isolator switch to swap between either the solar input or a generator’s input in winter? A 600-Watt rated 24V switching AC-DC power supply can be had for quite cheap. An example on the amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/AC110V-DC24V-Switch-Supply-Driver/dp/B019RNKV5E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456146216&sr=8-1&keywords=600w+24v+power+supply is only around £34. Switching power supplies usually aren’t too picky about the quality of the AC input so it can be run from a basic 700-Watt rated generator like the Honda EX1000 or smaller Screwfix Impaxx 800. This would cut down on wall-mounting two devices as space is limited and will only require connecting the switching supply via an Anderson plug only when needed and save on costs as the Tracer charger offers much more in terms of custom charge times and voltage adjustment than most budget shoreline chargers. The specs state that the MPPT controller can handle panel ratings up to 390-Watts so I assume there is a point where there is current limitation of some sort so it shouldn’t overload a 24V, 600W supply? 1-2 hours of basic bulk charging will be done first by the engine’s 65-Amp alternator by which point; the input current will have dropped to around the 30-Amp mark and the MPPT charger can then be left take over. This setup should turn-out to be cheaper, have less cabling and be more compact having only the MPPT unit being permanently wall-mounted. Thoughts?
  14. Victron do a budget Charger the Bluepower IP22 which can do 30-Amps, charge to 14.7V on high setting and offers 15+V on a re-condition charge mode and only £160. Can get it with single or triple outputs. Don't know what it's power factor is or it's startup surge if any so don't know if 650-Watts AC is enough. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VICTRON-BLUE-POWER-12-VOLT-IP22-BATTERY-CHARGER-15-20-30-A-1-FREE-EU-Delivery-/301578475523?var=&hash=item46377a5803:m:mqjC6cH21BcYPcEKfYD4JjA
  15. The maximum output of the B2B Charger is 30-Amps and the alternative input AC-DC switching power supply I suggested was rated at 33-Amps but they also offer 500-watt and 600-Watt (50A) versions for not much extra cash and there must be a cutoff on the maximum input. I'm more interested in top-end multi-stage voltage output than raw amps in the first hour of charging or I'd get a volt-sebsitive relay.
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