PeterF

Yes, the potential upcoming unknown changes are an issue. I was reading some stuff on Nordkyn Design who appear to be knowledgeable. Taking one extract from the page I link to below The simplest safe lithium installation: leaving a sealed lead-acid battery in parallel with the lithium bank at all times allows disconnecting the lithium capacity in case of problem without any issues. The additional SLA doesn’t contribute to any meaningful capacity; its function is ensuring charging sources always see a battery in circuit. https://nordkyndesign.com/electrical-design-for-a-marine-lithium-battery-bank/

The Wakespeed system is good in that is measures current as well as voltage so cuts absorption stage off based on tail current and goes to float. However, if the BMS in a drop in battery shuts off charge acceptance whilst the alternator is at high current delivery then you could still get damage due to the lack of communication. When linked to such as a Victron BMS, REC BMS or 123BMS via CAN BUS, the BMS tells the Wakespeed what charge current to supply, so on shutdown they get told to stop charging. Additionally, many of these also have disable charge relays which you connect to a "feature in" wire on the Wakespeed which can be configured to also stop charging. If you have a full Victron system with their Multiplus inverter/charger and MPPT solar controller all connected to a Cerbo GX then any of the 3 BMSs listed above the Cerbo Gx can be configured to manage the charging of the all charging sources. I have a Wakespeed ready for install. If I was going to use drop in lithiums with the Wakespeed I would still use a system with a lead acid buffer battery to absorb any voltage spikes on BMS detect. If you have a BMV700 battery monitor then you can connect the SOC controlled relay on this to the "feature in" wire on the Wakespeed so that you terminate charging by going to float. You can also do this from the Cerbo GX relay but need to do a workaround as the relays are not directly controllable by SOC. You have to set the relay up as a generator auto start/stop so perhaps set it up to start charging below 60% and end charging at 80%. As NickNorman said above, you need to go to 100% every so often to eliminate drift in the BMV700.

Our previous boat had a no brand 2000W sine wave inverter from Photonic Universe and it operated the Zanussi 1300W or 1301W without any problems or need for a resistive load. I can not recall which model of Zanussi it was, purchased late 2018. Our new boat is all Victron, Multiplus 3000VA and that runs a Hoover full size washer with full electronic control without issue. There are many reports of this on the Victron Community but as far as I know, Victron have not made any inputs on the threads. It appears to be a particular combination of this machine and Victron inverters. One thread got the combination working through a firmware update but it sound like the inverter was making a lot of noise trying to handle the load. https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/97454/zwc-1301-zanussi-washing-machine-not-working-on-mu.html https://www.photonicuniverse.com/en/catalog/full/533-2000W-12V-pure-sine-wave-power-inverter-with-OnOff-remote-control.html

Missed the post quoted in amongst the eco moring discussion

Just like the gunned / sprayed concrete lining in tunnels.😀

You can also moor in the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port for £10/night.

Just found my records, this time last year it was £2.23 / litre, not sure now. Worked well in the engine (Beta 43) with less smoke / smell and no issues with the Webasto or Refleks. I would like to have stayed with it but went back to red diesel this year as the cost difference is to much buying white HVO at that price.

Aqueduct Marina sell it but because of the inconsistent tax regulations it is full tax "white" not "red" HVO nor does it have any green fuel rebate applied so it is around £2.00 per litre.

The Boat Safety Scheme has a page on solid fuel stoves https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/stay-safe-advice/solid-fuel-stoves/new-stove-new-chimney/ which lists the British Standards CoP for stoves and lists a source of information from soliftec. Note that a single wall flue has to be kept further away from combustible surfaces than an insulated flue according to the soliftec information.

If it had a sterling alternator controller this may have been working but not very well. Some alternators have the internal regulator and the sterling in parallel so if the sterling is not working then the internal regulator does the job. It may be that your alternator does not have an internal regulator, or it is broke so now you have removed the sterling you get nothing. Or you have not made the connections properly. Do you still have the sterling to try it again.

This hits it on the head. Our current boat was built in a factory unit and first saw water and sunshine on the day it was launched. During the handover after craning in I too thought someone had thrown a brick at the boat as the sun got to work. We had boats previously but always used ones so we had never heard such loud noises from expansion movement before.

I agree, I always thought the problem was going open circuit and your hull is then no longer connected to the shore earth cable which is a safety issue should you then have a live to hull incident. If they failed closed circuit then you would have no galvanic protection but still be connected to earth so not a safety issue.

Having been based on Yorkshire in the noughties through to 2019 I go with IanD on this one. After 2015 our experience with increasing closures is what influenced us move the boat to Cheshire.

That is interesting, I had not heard that before, our pond had lots of mating frogs and frogspawn when we moved in but I have not seen any for years.

We have been offered Hempadur 45143 and Hempel said it was good for use on other 2-pack epoxy blackings as long as the previous coat was adherent and was mechanically abraded before coating. The work is planned for next year so I do not have proof of this.

He may have been back to see the topic without logging in and seen the many and varied views and as Arthur says above decided to not get involved further.

The link that @rusty69 gave above also listed MPPT failure and the link said that MPPT failure could allow large voltages to pass to the batteries that would exceed the rating of the BMS FETs.

I was not really sure where to post this as the issue of lithium iron phosphate battery safety and flammability keeps coming up in many threads with reports of lack of fires. The attached came up on the Victron Community forum is not a full incident report and does not report what was the actual cause of the incident but I thought it worth adding to the discussion. I find it interesting that whatever caused the incident (e.g. BMS failure allowing overcharging) did result in overheating / localised burning of one battery, the extent of the fire was limited and burnt out / self-extinguished or was extinguished without escalation. A similar event where combustion initiated with the more reactive lithium chemistries would not have self extinguished and would have more likely escalated. I know that this is not new news to many here, but it is one of the first incidents I have seen that illustrates the safer nature of LiFePO4. https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/225008/battery-fire-manufacturer-says-caused-by-smart-sol.html

No, I pump out the cassette to save carrying it to the Elsan point. 🤪

When we cruised the Aire & Calder, Calder & Hebble, Huddersfield and Rochdale canals in 2005-2019 we were very happy that we had a cassette as boatyards closed and facilities reduced in number. Diesel also became scarcer. Presume the trend is continuing. Now based in Cheshire where it is possible to get a pump out several times a week when cruising if so desired.

I will add more important information to the note above on voltage. If you look on every day the voltage is reaching around 14.4V so maximum charge voltage. Secondly, the bar chart for each day is showing a lower section in white for bulk charging where the battery is accepting lots of charge, a light blue bar which is narrow which is absorption which is the final charge at 14.4V that tops the last 10% or so of charge. Then there is a larger upper mid blue section which is float, which occurs when the batteries are full. Therefore, I agree with other peoples view, your batteries are limiting the energy received by solar as they are nearly full due to lower loads or charging from shore.

An accelerometer chip or vibration sensor mounted on the engine would indicate if it was running.

Seals Direct sell a lot of different seals, I have used them but not for boat window seals. https://www.sealsdirect.co.uk/

When we came through a few days ago there was a boat moored in the winding hole, to be correct it was across the triangular bit parallel to the main channel so the stern and bows were against the bank but the majority of the boat was well away from the bank. There was also a rope across the whole lot with no turning signs on. Given the way the boat was moored it has restricted the width available for winding because you can not get into the point of the triangle by a long way.

Earlier this year we moored overnight just south of Bamfurlong Bridge (No3) both going towards and returning from Liverpool without any problems. Last couple of years we have seen boats moored by Scotmans flash but have not done so ourselves.