Lochwarden

I once saw someone operating the wheel with a geared down cordless drill with an attachment that fitted on the large square nut in the centre. Always been meaning to try that myself, but never got round to it.

That other group wouldn’t be the 12 volt boating group would it? As on here, there are some very knowledgeable people on there, and some not so knowledgeable as well.

Run your new LiFePO4 in parallel with some LA. A lithium/ Lead acid hybrid set up will negate the need for any fancy charging gadgets and will protect your alternator once the LFP is fully charged and the BMS stops accepting the charge current from the alternator. It’s as simple as that. On my boat I have one 300ah LiFePO4 and 3 x 110ah lead acid in parallel. They work just fine together.

For that price LiFePO4 would definitely be a good choice I think. I paid £1140 for my 300ah LFP. Sounds like a lot of cash for 1 battery, but it should be good for 15 maybe 20 years. Running it in a hybrid set up with 340ah of LA. It’s been a game changer for me on my boat. Been off grid for 6 weeks now, running purely off solar. Can heat my water if I need to, even cook on electric with it occasionally to save on gas. Will be interesting to see how I get on in the winter though, with less sun. Probably have to return to the marina soon 😞

Indeed. Luckily 50amps from my alternator is enough for me, with the 800 watts of solar as well. My boat isn’t very power hungry, with just the fridge, pumps, lighting and occasional 12 volt tv. I do run the 950watt immersion in the calorifier through the inverter sometimes if I’m not running the engine. Don’t think I’d do that with an LA bank!

My own actual build. I recently fitted a 300ah LiFePO4 battery running parallel with 340ah of lead acid. They’re charged with a 75amp alternator and 800 watts of solar. They complement each other perfectly. The LiFePO4 does most of the work, with the lead acid just sitting there on float for the majority of the time and taking the current from the alternator once the LiFePO4 is fully charged. I’m no electrician, but a hybrid system like mine is really simple to set up and can just be left to do it’s thing, with the batteries built in BMS looking after the LiFePO4 preventing over or undercharging. I also have a lead acid starter battery, also charged from the alternator, through a split charge relay. Hope this helps. I agree. My new A127 75amp alternator puts round about 50amps into my hybrid bank. Since I’ve started learning about batteries / 12 volt electrics / methods of charging etc, it’s become a bit of an obsession! An enjoyable one though 😊

Hi, thanks Dave, but I’ve just ordered one from Bowers. £75 with vat and delivery included.

Thank you, it’s all much clearer now.

Thank you Tony, after looking at the diagram it makes sense now. Thank you.

Need a new alternator for my 1.5 BMC. It’s the A127 I need I believe. Just not sure if it’s right hand or left hand fitting I need. Looking at the front of the engine, fan belt end, the alternator is on the left. So silly question, but is it the right hand fitting one I need or left hand. Just seems to be conflicting information as to which one I need, left or right fitting? The obvious answer for me is left hand fitting? Thanks.

That sounds like a good idea, I will have a look today. Thank you.

The operating lever was identical to the old one, and it fitted perfectly. I did partially refit the old one to make sure the new one felt and fitted the same. The old one was replaced as it was leaking fuel.

The lift pump is only a few months old, with very very few hours use, so am assuming it’s ok.

No they haven’t. I think the way forward is to start at the tank, work my way to the injectors then back again, making sure everything is leak free and unblocked.

That would make sense, thank you. I only recently added more diesel as I’ve only had the boat a year and it’s been on a marina for most of that, so perhaps adding new fuel could of stirred up muck and transferred it to the pick up pipe? Thank you, I will look at doing that if all else fails.