AlanH
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Posts posted by AlanH
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Answering your questions:
Yes.
Yes, lot longer.
But not fully.
Yes, long term the battery life would be reduced.
At 1.5v below normal charging voltage you will only get about 65-75% of the maximum charge into the battery. Keeping a battery in this state will reduce its life. It is difficult to predict by how much without knowing a lot about the battery concerned, but a first estimate would be a 10-25% reduction in remaining battery life for every month that this low charging voltage was used.
It is not an easy subject, but without knowing a lot about the charging capabilities of your truck, the battery type, and the battery history I can only talk in generalities.
Looking at the other replies I think the best one is to get small, cheap inverter - something around the 500-750w will be adequate - put this on your vehicle somewhere and use this to power your mains charger on the boat. (Taking note of the comments about vehicle security and so on). We are of course assuming you are nowhere near a suitable shore supply.
Thanks.
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Given the distance between the Daihastu and the boat you are looking at a 70ft round trip - call it 25metres by the time you've got a bit of dangle in there.
You also need to consider that the alternator puts out 70A.
So with these as the assumptions the Antares cable voltage drop calculator says you are going to need a pretty serious cable, for example 25sqmm will have a voltage drop of about 1.3v, which is about as high as you should go on a charging circuit from a vehicle alternator. Ideally you want the voltage drop to be at the most half of that, and that means 50sqmm cable or more - and that gets "pigging" on the expensive scale.
An alternative (and admittedly not a nice one) is to move the batteries to the car on rotation and use a "more normal" set of jump leads.
I haven't read the previous threads on this subject so perhaps you could help me.
What effect would a voltage drop of 1.5v have on the actual charging of the battery? Would it not charge at all? Would it take longer? Would it only partly charge it? Would it damage the battery?
I genuinely don't know and as you seem to have the knowledge and are capable of posting without insults I'd be grateful for the help.
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I just cant belive that after all the threads on here about voltage drop it hasn't sunk in to some peoples brain cell.
More stupid sarcasm! Why do you have to be insulting?
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No I'm not saying they are designed that way to deal with voltage drop because they are not designed for charging but, if you are charging over that length, then the thicker the better.
A reversing sensor does not need more than 12 volts, to function, so can cope with the voltage drop.
Charging, on the other hand, does need greater than 12 volts so the voltage drop is more critical.
If you are charging from an running alternator the voltage at that end will be some 14v. You would need a very long length of say 5mm cable to lose 2v.
I'd agree that reasonably thick cable should be used but it does not need to be as thick as jump leads.
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Voltage drop, not current.
OK There may well be some voltage drop in long cables but for instance the run from my battery to the fridge is some 25ft. The cable running this length is about 3mm thick to compensate for this not the 12mm dia of my jump leads. What I am saying is that there is no need for proprietry jump leads but thinner cable would do the job.
The reason that Jump leads are so thick is not to compensate for voltage drop but to take the high currents encountered when strarting an engine. I have a pair of jump leads at home which are 12mm thick and only 6 feet long. Are you saying that the reason for this thickness is to compensate for voltage drop? That distance is less than the distance to the reversing sensors on the car from the battery and they have tiny leads.
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Why the stupid sarcasm? My battery charger has leads that are less than 3mm thick. They are capable of charging at 20 amps. OK they are shorter but losses due to cable length are not that great.
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I was going to suggest jump leads but the longest I could find via. google were too short at 20ft....
Surely you wouldn't need anything as thick as jump leads? They are designed to take engine starting currents not charging ones.
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Ten percent is a "good guide".
Within reason the higher the rated charging current the quicker the bulk phase will be over, and conversely a lower rated charger will take longer to get through the bulk phase. Neither should make a significant difference to the absorption phase time which should be voltage controlled.
My concern about the OP's choice is that it doesn't appear to have the voltage settings for "other battery types", and I couldn't the manual on their website.
The Website does say this: "Our new C and L Value battery charger is an intelligent 3 stage 20A leisure battery charger and is suitable for both Gel and lead acid batteries."
However, the data sheet Mentions lead acid only. What is the difference?
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Just got one of these and it seems to work fine. Less than half the price of a Victron 20A charger.
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If you have your heart set on a pump out I would avoid a macerator loo. They over complicate things. If I was having a pump out fitted it would be a straightforward dump through (Often referred to a Mansfiled). Basically the loo sits directly on top of the holding tank.
No fancy macerator bit to go wrong or pipes to the remote tank to start leaking like ours did. Whether you can have one will depend on how advanced your build is, though it sounds not very advanced at all in your case.
Others will be along shortly with completely opposing views - you will in the end just have to weigh up all the opinions.
I'd go along with that. Had no trouble at all in five years with our dump through.
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Yes its a daft vent but not as daft as fitting a greenhouse to the back of a narrowboat. If ya scared of getting a bit damp buy an airfix kit they are designed for the non outdoor types and dont look absolutely ridiculous.....
You can't use them whilst travelling around our way anyhow. They won't go under the bridges and you can't see out of them to steer when it is raining because they have no solid screen/wipers. I suppose they are OK if you rarely travel and need the covered space.
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Hmm yes a good price. I couldn't see whether it was 2 stroke or not though. I searched the web site, but I probably missed that bit of info. Anyone know?
Cheers
Pete
If it has an oil level indicator then it must have an oil level therefore it is highly likely to be four stroke.
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Thanks for the replies. What I can't understand is that if there is a fault then why doesn't the RCD trip out immediately instead of taking more than a day?
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We've just got shore power on our moorings. I bought a cable, a battery charger and a GI and plugged it in. Nothing happened.
I discovered that the input socket on the boat had been disconnected. I wondered why but thought that I would re-connect it and see what happened. All seemed to work fine. All the sockets worked. I left the boat plugged in but when I came back to it the following weekend the boat (Not the shoreline) trip switch had tripped. I then left the boat connected with nothing plugged in and the same thing happened. This was after a day with a lamp plugged in and working.
In my view it is unlikely that there is a wiring fault as the trip would fail immediately if there was a short circuit etc.
What could be the problem?
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You sleep over twelve month old poo??
Each to their own I suppose....
David
And you sleep over millions of gallons of dirty ditch water Weils disease and all. No doubt you enjoy carrying and slopping poo to a disgusting Elsan point.
Each to his own I suppose.
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After 6000 hours at an average speed of say 30 miles per hour, your car will have done 180,000 miles, so you might expect to see some signs of old age.
But boat diesel engines are generally simpler and more robust than car engines. Most are derived from engines developed for industrial or plant applications where they are expected to run for several hours a day every day for years.
Narrowboat use is pretty light compared to this, so as long as your engine has been properly maintained and regularly serviced it should have years left in it.
David
According to my car computer my average speed is more like 22mph which would give a figure of 132,000 miles. Not an awful lot for a modern engine. Most diesel car engines are good for at least 200,000 miles and, as you say, they sre not engineered for the amount of work expected from an industrial engine.
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Which was the answer you already knew ... You're right about the cassette though, Roger.
There you go. Some people actually like entering a shed which is spattered with other peoples sh*t just to add their own splatter to it. Others abhor it and prefer to have nothing to do with the stuff. There is no answer.
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Hi Everyone, can you advise us. Our Marina owner is fitting meters for our electric and will be selling the cards for £20.00 each, however will be charging us £1.00 admin fee for every card - does anyone else have this - what I mean is, can he do it ?
They are not allowed to charge any more for electricity than they pay for it. However they can charge for providing the facillity. On our moorings this costs £90 p.a.
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Q. What do you call a banjo at the bottom of the cut?
A. A start.
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Can someone explain what this is all about? I've looked through the thread and can't really find anything very cotroversial in Guitar Doctor's posts. At least nothing more offensive that the usual arguments. Is it because he is relativley new?
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Ok thanks for that...I think welding up the old holes and lining the bottom of the locker with something else non-corrosive is the answer.
Vertical slots would be a good idea, but the current ones, even if made larger, would still be taking on water...whether this is a concern or not with gas bottles I'm not sure...Maybe I should fit anodes to them...
just to be safe...The vent at the bottom of our gas locker is about 2" above the waterline. It is always wet inside but it is blacked and the fact that it is wet doesn't matter a jot.
Hoe about lining it with polythene at the bottom and then using concrete?
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Mr. Forbes, your view of buying versus renting is a very British one. I too am British, and I (along with Mrs. Athy) now own my home freehold. But many of our Continental cousins, for example in Germany and France, are in favour of renting. The principal reason, I think, is that when something goes wrong, someone else (the landlord) pays the bills, and this expense should be set off against the cost of the rent. Of course, prudent home owners will take out insurance on their property, but there again it's an expense which a tenant does not have to meet, as he would pay only contents, not buildings, insurance.
So why did I buy rather than continuing to rent (I was living in school houses for some years)? Because I met Mrs. Athy who told me that I wished to own a property. She who must be obeyed, & c.
After 25 years with a mortgage I now have an asset worth some £200,000. After 25 years renting the tennant has just one more month's rent to find and no more than he can save given that he has a monthly outgoing much the same as the house owner.
I had a spare house until a year ago, sold it and made £40,000 in eight years on an investment of £50,000 and that is without the rental income of about £28,000. Maintenance cost me about £3,000 in that time. Those kind of figures are not possible nowadays but nevertheless bricks and mortar on the whole appreciate so it is worth borrowing money to get a house considering that you would have to pay out the same amount or more in order to rent.
Most people rent because they cannot raise the deposit required for a mortgage. They are paying out much the same each month as those who are lucky enough to get a loan.
This may be a British attitude but that does not make it wrong.
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Or hump a tank full of crap around until you eventualy find a pump out machine and PAY
to have it emptied. But of course you could always use the Proper boat toilet that pump out brigade carry with them err " Just in case " I'm beginning to believe that you are either obsessed with toilets and their contents or you are a Thetford employee. How on earth do you manage to divert a conversation about a survey to the usual boring pumpout/cassttre debate? A tiny mention of a toilet is enough to start you off.
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Hi once again, i am in the process of fitting an aquadrive unit i recently picked up to our beloved boat to avoid all those tiresome alignment problems and allow us to use soft engine mounts to cut down a little on noise and vibration, does anyone know of a supplier for an adapter from the 5 bolt c.v joint onto a hurth ZF 4 bolt gearbox flange please ?
Many thanks....Rob.
TW marine supply and fit both Hurth gearboxes and Aquadrives. They are a very helpful firm although I believe that Willie Webb who ran it has died. A great pity - he was very helpful and knowledgeable. The firm is still going with Nick in charge I think. He is also very helpful and has a lot of experience.
just to be safe...
to have it emptied. But of course you could always use the Proper boat toilet that pump out brigade carry with them err " Just in case "
Marina electricity prices
in General Boating
Posted
We pay 14p per unit and 25p per day for connection.