dmr

I disconnected the good pair of batteries and the bad pair successfully met the current draw of the boat (between 5 and 10 amps) at a voltage of about 12.5. With a shorted cell I would expect to see a voltage of about 10 volts???? Also the mid-point voltage was about correct. This is why I am confused. This was all measured right after an equalisation charge, I will go and measure some stuff again now that they are all half discharged. ..............Dave.

If I try to estimate the number of gentle cycles against the number of deep discharges I would say they are not at the end of their life just yet, but then I do give them a hard life and charge at about 100amps (when they will accept it) etc etc and so don't really expect to get the specified life out of them. The batteries that have not failed still look pretty good, they will charge to a half decent specific gravity.. Would have liked another 6 months out of them but still reasonably pleased with how long they have lasted. ...........Dave

Its hard to be accurate about these things, as I said, some days they only discharge down to 80% (state of charge), often down to 55% (charge) and sometimes down to 40 or even 35, so unless I had recorded every discharge and done some calculations I cant give a corrected cycle life, but they are certainly towards the end of their life. Mostly I am just curious to understand this odd failure mode as its a failure of one cell rather than a general end of life of the whole battery They are 105's ..............Dave

Theories needed from the battery experts. After three and a half years and hence about 1250 cycles (to various states of discharge between 20% and 65%, but mostly about 45%) one of my Trojans is dying. A first dilemma is whether to risk replacing just the bad one, but I reckon I will replace the lot. Does anybody want 3 Trojans with a bit of life left in them????. But WHAT has Gone Wrong???? One cell is sitting at about 1.110 (specific gravity or just 25% charged) but its not shorted and everything is working fine but with reduced capacity. I can split the pairs and both the good and broken pair can support my current draw of about 5 amps without a significant loss of voltage. Smartgage says 70% charge. Specific gravity of good batteries says about 66% charge whilst the good cells in the bad battery are at about 80% charge. Current draw is 5 amps with a 3 of those coming from the good half and about 2 from the bad half. So its not a shorted cell, its just that one cell is permanently discharged What on earth is going on here????? .................Dave

We had some trouble last year when a member of the public who saw themselves as a "self appointed mooring warden" reported us to CaRT (without making any attempt to establish the reason for our short overstay). We really really do not need an enforcement system based on reports from the public. ........Dave

I went past a week ago and it was not too difficult getting round it, however its on a bend so if approaching from the East you happen upon it a bit quick! Whilst we were in Devizes a moonbeam boat turned up so its obviously possible to get a fairly wide fatboat past it. The back is at the bank but the front is mid channel and so well sunk, so a bit of a challenge for the boat raisers, especially CaRT! ...............Dave

Its a difficult one. A lot of boaters have got very upset by this letter (or maybe they are just playing silly games, I think some on this forum are!). I think a sentence "We are sending this letter to all CC'ers to explain........blah blah blah" would have been good, but then hindsight is always a good thing. I do appreciate your sentiment, far too many communications from CaRT (such as boaters update) do feel that they view their customers as somewhere between a 4 year old and the very lower end of the Sun readership! ..........Dave

Well this letter has certainly caused a lot of excitement. We got one by email and I thought "great stuff, better than wasting money on postage", but sadly the next day we got another in the post. First, it was absolutely correct that CaRT sent this letter to every CC'er so stop been silly about this! If they had sent it to only some then there would have been something to complain about. Where would they have put the dividing line? Every boater getting the letter would feel really singled out and threatened. Even worse they would have had to send the letter to those who were just about ok but with a small reduction in movement would be slipping into danger, how would these boaters have felt????? Seriously victimised and probably spending (wasting) money on solicitors. I needed this letter (at least if I didn't keep myself informed about this stuff). We are high milage CCers but we push our luck a bit in the winter and do adopt a rather unusual cruising pattern that might bring us to the attention of CaRT, so now we need to think just a little more and keep slightly better records just in case! and second, .... it was very very clumsy and CaRT deserve the telling off they are getting. The opening paragraph should have clearly stated that it was going to All boaters to inform them of changes in the enforcemet procedures, with no implication of guilt! ............Dave

Or maybe just a plumb line. Probably not really accurate to 0.1 degree but much better than 1 degree. A list of 1 degree is quite noticeable/unpleasant when you walk through the boat, and 0.5 degree is detectable. How big is the holdall or how small is the boat Alan? ...............Dave

Yeah....River Navigation free of charge, but CaRT charge whatever they want for use of the Locks Cuts! I really liked 38 degrees etc when they started but they are now used far too much by nutters and mischief makers.to the detriment of the important battles. More seriously they suffer because they only ever present one side of the story, and a biassed view at that. ..............Dave

A while ago, on this forum, I said that fitting an alternator controller would not make an alternator work harder (and that Sterlings suggestion to fit thicker cables was only marketing BS). My recent experiences have suggested that I was wrong here. In the summer I fitted a Beta style Iskra 100 amp alternator. as my old Prestolite eventually died. With the battery bank at 50% charge I noted that the internal regulator started to reduce the alternator current after just a few minutes and the alternator ran moderately hot. With the Adverc connected the alternator remained at full output for much much longer and the alternator got very hot indeed. I suspect I had hit on almost worse case conditions as I have a bit of resistance in the battery isolator and am not running the alternator very fast, but the Adverc did make a dramatic difference to alternator temperature. Interestingly my current solution to this is to run the alternator even slower by fitting a slightly bigger pulley. I have heard that Beta say do NOT fit external controllers to their alternators. I suspect the Sterling over-temperature shutdown would save an alternator from over heating but it would be quite difficult to locate the sensor to work correctly. I believe modern alternators are happy to run much hotter than 120 degrees so the Sterling may well shut down much too enthusiastically. ..............Dave

My own view, like you, is that alternators are probably best regarded semi-consumable items, so I would not worry too much about preserving a warranty and just make the modification needed for an external controller. A lot of people obviously do not see it this way as this is the main reason for the existence of the Sterling A to B device. I suppose some of the new big alternators are getting a bit expensive, especially if purchased from Beta/Barrus/Vetus etc, so I can sort of understand owners worrying about them, and those who don't have practical skills will also be paying somebody to do the fitting. ............Dave.

My own recent experiments and experiences certainly support this. Most alternators appear to have very "soft" regulators so go very rapidly into absorption mode, meaning that they only runs at full output for a short time. A controller keeps themt at full output for much longer so they just get hotter and hotter. I know 24 volts has many advantages but 12v is still a lot more convenient. I can see to other possible solutions. One would be to fit alternators that are not working at their thermal limit. I suspect the 100amp or 120 amp versions of the popular large 175 amp alternator would be a lot more reliable. The other would be an external controller that properly measures and limits maximum current, but I don't think anybody makes such a thing (at reasonable cost). This would allow a much more controlled output (and belt loading) over the speed range. Essentially as you say, its not realistic to expect an alternator with a 100 amp rating to deliver 100amps continuously, especially at the lower end of its speed range. ..............Dave

I would think that fitting either a controller (with a wire fixed to a brush) or an "A to B" could void any warranty as you have changed the operating characteristic of the alternator. Controllers can make an alternator work quite a bit harder than intended so if the design is thermally marginal they could do damage. I have heard that Beta specify No controllers on their bigger alternators. The advantage of the A to B is that if YOU remove a failed alternator and return it the supplier will not know that it had a controller fitted, though they will probably guess. The A to B looks like a lot of power electronics just to avoid what is usually a very quick alternator modification. .................Dave

Why is it that every no hope total wreck of a boat is marketed as an ideal liveaboard???? Can they really imagine anyone wanting to live in what is essentially an open hull with a tiny little uninsulated cabin. ..............Dave

The ops batteries are almost certainly sulphated, possibly terminally, so just charging to a 1% tail current is not enough as this will only see the batteries recharged to their currently compromised capacity. A big equalisation is needed, then a better routine charging regime. ........and probably a Smartgage. For the majority of boaters who are not ultra technical these amp hour counters are a disaster. How do you persuade someone that their expensive and reputable meter does not tell the truth??? ..............Dave

Thats almost 1500 cycles from batteries that were likely specified for about 300 cycles. They have done very well so don't feel bad about replacing them. What make were they???? .................Dave.

I really cant see you doing the K&A at the moment, though I think some dredging is planned. I was just touching the bottom on the long pound last week. However if you are tempted then talk to the Boatyard at Hilperton. There coal boat is pretty deep when fully laden so they will know more than most. ..............Dave

All this messin' about with diodes and trying to break into the regulator sensing line sounds dodgy to me. I'm an electronic engineer and I wouldn't try this sort of stuff. Bite the bullet and fit a proper alternator controller. If you don't like the Sterling then buy an Adverc (which on balance is probably the better of the two). In addition to controlling the voltage in a reliable way these will also provide temperature compensation which can be quite significant in the winter. I suspect this diode stuff comes from Gibbo and was not one of his better ideas. He said "modern alternators don't need controllers at all so lets make one ourself with a diode???". I suspect this illogical thinking arose because he makes the Smartbank which is marketed as an alternative to alternator controllers and he was letting his desire to put down his competitors over-ride his engineering judgement. And if you really like DIY and messing with alternators you could always design and build your own external controller, possibly based on an Arduino. ...............Dave

Residential moorings are very rare and also expensive. you don't need one. If you are only on the boat at weekends a standard leisure mooring will be fine, almost all marinas will let you have two nights each week on the boat on a standard mooring. Marina electric supplies can be unreliable so you will be vulnerable to freezing during cold winters, but there are ways of handling this. .............Dave

If you move 5 miles every weekend on CaRT waters you will easily satisfy the continuous cruising requirement. There is no minimum distance as such so as long as you are moving forward, rather than shuffling up and down, you will be fine. 5 miles is not very far at all so you may choose to go quite a lot further, and in some cases you may need to to find a safe/good place to leave the boat. ...............Dave,

As someone who sleeps in a backcabin and is not known for early rising.......... The noisy bit is usually the rush of water when the early risers engage drive and use a fair bit of power to get the boat moving. this can cause ore rudder to swing over with a bang. So my suggestion for early starting would be to start the engine and run for a short while to take the chill off it, then to push the boat out before engaging drive. so CaRT where half right on a boating matter, they are making progress!!!!!!! I don't like the idea of setting off before starting the engine, but setting off then realising you have forgot to put the tiller arm on is really embarrassing. ..............Dave

I'm going to upset a few people here, but I found most of the Llangollen to be a fairly bland rural canal though with a few good bits,, no great architecture and no spectacular views. The K&A and Macc/Peak Forest all do it better. Its only the last few miles that make it all worthwhile, and earn its reputation as a spectacular canal, so it would be very sad not to go right to the end (and visit the steam railway). ..............Dave

You should have only slight troubles with touching the bottom. The interesting thing is that a big boat fills the bridge 'oles, tunnels and aqueduct channels and so with the significant flow you might virtually grind to a halt. I ended up pushing us along the walls with my hands in the tunnel. On the way back you pop out like a champagne cork. Take care coming out into the tight turn at the aquauct as you will be going faster than you intend! .............Dave

Good Grief Nick, you can't say stuff like that, Gibbo was almost a God on this forum, if you carry on like this he might come back just for the argument! .............Dave