DaveP
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Posts posted by DaveP
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I've got a pair of 100ah lithiums (bms is basic with no low-temp cutoff) in a trad stern engine bay. Had them for three winters so far. This last one, they did fail to charge on two mornings after prolonged multi-day sub-zero temps. Ran the engine without the charger engaged for a couple of hours and it all came back and no permanent damage appears to have occurred. I'm going to be in London for the coming winter, so am postponing putting in a thermostat and heating pad into their enclsure until I return to the artic waters of Warwickshire in '24....
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7 minutes ago, blackrose said:
Ok thanks but I'm not sure I understand? I wasn't asking about saving up time below 14.5v, I was talking about whether the timer adds up all the bits of time at the absorption voltage - above 14.5v?
Nope, hits 14.5v, starts timer, doesn't care about voltage, counts to 10, drops to float.
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2 hours ago, blackrose said:
Ok thanks. That's a very short absorption time but I know nothing about lithium batteries.
So if a cloud came over 5 mins into your absorption cycle, would the Epever make up the other 5 mins later when the sun came out and it was able to achieve 14.5v, or would it start the 10 min cycle again from the beginning?
I'm asking because my absorption time is 3 hours at 14.8v. The MPPT is only able to reach 14.8v when the sun is shining so I'm trying to work out whether it just adds up all those bits of absorption charging until it adds up to 180 mins?
No, it just counts to 10, says 'job done' whatever happened to the voltage and switches to float. No saving up of time below 14.5v. It can be provoked into resetting the timer by pulling a large current out (1kW kettle or the like for a few minutes) but definitely not by merely hiding the sun away....
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On Epever (mine's a xtra 4215), it appears to be a simple timer counting down from when the batteries hit the absorbtion voltage on charge. That said, I've got Lithiums and the timer is only 10mins @ 14.5v - but even when the sun goes in with a minute or so of them hitting 14.5 and the voltage drops away, it still switches to float mode once the timer's up.
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V short interview with Richard Parry on BBC R4 'Today' programme at about 0855. He made an overt statement that some canals are at risk of closure, and carried on the appeal of them to the public alongside the risk to neighbours if they're not maintained - including reservoirs...
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Maybe someone's mistaken it for a chinwag?
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36 minutes ago, Puffling said:
Do you remember those large screens on airplanes, before the advent of seat back screens? They would fold up to the ceiling when the movie had finished (just a single choice of film for all passengers in those days, although the audio options were multiple).
I'm imagining something similar would work for a huge screen on a narrowboat. Either motorised or manual folding. But the power consumption issue is still there.
I use a 32" screen. Folded to the side when out of use and across doorway for viewing. Uses about 24w.
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Just to add to the general uselessness that is CRT. I just had a look at the availability of booked moorings in London for a trip down there this summer. On the same form - Vincent Street in Birmingham is bookable ( for possibly a fee), but it's all either fully booked or not available to book. I suspect this was added to the page just for the Commonwealth Games, but has never been removed.
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13 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
How long have you been on the canals ?
All they have done is clarify by adding 'Home Mooring'
2015 Licence T&Cs
The Licence does not allow you to moor the Boat in any Waterway whilst cruising away from your Home Mooring except for short periods of up to 14 days, or less where a local restriction applies.
2008 Licence T&Cs
What they have not highlighted is that the requirement to 'move enough' (eg next Parish etc) does not apply to boats with a home mooring (only to CCers). A boat with a home mooring can move 100 yards every 14 days and be compliant.
I've only been around full-time since 2008, so am still learning.
"A boat with a home mooring can move 100 yards every 14 days and be compliant." - that's now ruled out as well under "5.1. You must travel on a journey when You are away from Your Home Mooring. Your journey should be a genuine journey. It should start and end at Your Home Mooring. It does not have to be over a certain duration, distance or range, or follow a single direction. It cannot contain short, repeated movement in a small part of the Waterway for an extended period, unless You return to the Home Mooring between repeated trips. Each time You leave Your Home Mooring You start a new journey"
So, repeated 100m hops forward (or forward and backwards) are breaches. so now you need to undertake a series of hops that aren't short and repeated - I suspect they'd still be somewhat unhappy about a set of 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 105, 115 m movements though.... -
1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:
Just rememebr that as a 'boat with a home mooring', you do not have the legal protection of the '14 day rule' which is only applied to 'boat with no home mooring'
BW / C&RT have "allowed" for boats with a home mooring to moor for up to 14 days (unless otherwise posted) but it is discretionary and can be withdrawn at a moments notice.
I used to enjoy my back and forths with Nigel Moore - one of his postings on the subject.
From the very first enabling Acts, the towpath was not to be obstructed; it had to be available to all for the use it was designed for – accordingly, overnight stays would have been the only (perhaps) tolerated use for mooring. In one of the major canal company’s Acts, in fact, pleasure boats were even banned from ANY use of the towpath (and that clause has never, to my knowledge, been explicitly rescinded).
Over the latter part of the 20th century, longer temporary use of the towpath for mooring became tolerated on a pragmatic basis, with 14 days fixed upon as a rough guideline for reasons lost in obscurity (for all that BW came up with postulated origins during the Select Committee hearings on the 1990 Bill).
Obstruction remains on the statute books as an offence, updated even in the 1995 Act, and overstaying stated times on selected sections has been used with County Court approval to qualify the boat – being thereby regarded as an obstruction - for being moved under s.8(5) of the 1983 Act. Anything longer than an overnight stay, as I see it, is simply permissive – with the exception of boats without home moorings, for whom only, the right to 14 days (or more if circumstances dictate) is enshrined in law.
For boats with home moorings when cruising away from those, the 14 day limit would apply only as a permissive one based on a fair-play comparison with the ‘continuous cruisers’. It is simply, in other words, that CaRT would find difficulty in justifying the application of differing standards based only on the nature of the boat licence application.
That's now changed with the specific item in the June '22 T&C's - "5.2. Whilst travelling Our Waterways when away from Your Home Mooring, You may only moor for periods of up to 14 days, or less where a local restriction applies."
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I had a 1000t until the drum bearings went and I replaced it with a Candy 1042D1 (which is the replacement 4kg model) because it fitted the same cubbyhole. It's happy with a cheapo pure-sine inverter, but only has a cold-water feed and has a higher power (1.25kW)heater. But it doesn't object to being fed hot water from a Morco and on the cold-wash option the heater does not activate at all. Having uprated my batteries to lithium and a skip-found 1800w inverter, I can now run the heater - but had to upgrade my battery-inverter wiring to cope with the near 2kW draw....
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I have a wall calandar that has a record of water fills, gas bottle changes and purchases, diesel purchases, destinations and hours travelled (and battery charging hours), grocery costs and seller. Summaries are transcribed monthly onto a spreadsheet, along with mobile data and cost totals. There's a little orange book for servicing and repair notes, and the environmental, location and electrical states are copied to a cloud server every minute.
It's all revisited and is useful (some more so than others). Next item is to automate the engine run time recording...
[Do I have a problem?]
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1 minute ago, MtB said:
Did you not know this when you voluntarily chose to live on a boat? 😅
Nope - but that was well before the discount card was introduced in late 2012....
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2 hours ago, IanD said:
But this might be worrying about nothing anyway -- how do CCers with no home mooring or fixed address prove to the council that they're resident in their area and should have their license fee (and benefits) paid by that council? Cash-strapped councils are quite averse to paying out money unless they absolutely have to...
I have been cc'ing around London for the last few years, on and off. I'm registered to vote in a central London borough under the 'local connection' rules. I turned 60 this year, so attempted to get an over 60's Oyster Card off TfL - no dice. If I don't have a fixed abode with bills in my name (not necessarily Council Tax) I can't get the discounted travel unless I get a street homeless shelter to vouch for me....
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Just got my email. Strike 1 for the gentrificationof the waterways and anti-cc'ers - first watch a 200MB video; 20% of my monthly mobile internet allowance (or £10 on payg). Thoughtless idiots, as ever.
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Travelling -diesel engine @ 1lt/hr = 10kWh, plus the potential energy of the water being let out of the locks @ 0.4kWh per narrow lock (150m^3 falls average 1m) or double that for a broad lock. Are we counting the energy then needed to evaporate it all and send it back up to the reservoir as rain?
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Solar panels texting my phone to tell me they were awake and I should be happy for them....
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A lot of the discussion is about operating the boat - but just as important, is operating yourself; liveaboard life can be very different from that on the hard with respect to interactions with others, both in authority, casual acquaintances and closer friends. So there's keeping the boat tidy, keeping yourself tidy, keeping stocks of food and other supplies around (and in date and in good shape) without (sometimes) the presence of others to keep you on the straight and narrow. Plus, if you're working, not only navigating the boat, but also navigating to/from a workplace either by your own or public transport....
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2 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:
Wasn't there a problem a couple of winters ago with smoke from the stoves of boats in Paddington Basin affecting a local hospital, or perhaps it was flats?
There was - I was close by the wazzock who did this. The stench was pretty unbearable; I have no idea what he was burning, but it was horrible. The hospital air-con intakes are close by the East end of the visitor moorings in the basin. I was told by the ranger who came round the following morning that St Mary's had closed down their cardi-thoracic ward that evening and were all for removing all the moorings for ever to prevent a reoccurrence. The wazzock at first denied he'd burned anything other than smokeless, until it was pointed out that the audience were his fellow moorers and we were not happy bunnies.
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I have penned an objection to this 'consultation' on the grounds that they're not following the agreed process and not answering the questions that the process says must be published at least six weeks before a trial period (of not less than six months) starts. In essence I'm saying that no case for the 2-day all year restriction has been made, that the signage problem is of their own making (and is easily fixed....), and that they are not saying how they'll review the trial and the difference it's made to behaviour....
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On 04/02/2023 at 20:02, rusty69 said:
Does lotus 123 still exist? I learnt to drive that long before excel.
I believe someone found, and released, a verion for Linux recently. I've been meaning to load it onto a Pi for nostalgic purposes - that's today's indoor mission sorted. I've always felt that Excel was far inferior....
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I bought the Screwfix one last week. Good as a worklight in a shed, but not a nice reading lamp - it's cold, rather than warm, white. But for what it is, I'm happy.
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12 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
If you are a liveaboard CCer you are by definition a 'nomad', so how can you be resident in an MPs constituency ?
You use the MP of the constituency you're registered to vote in through a 'delclaration of local connection'. Residency is not a criterion, although it should be a place where you do spend time. Personally, I'm locally connected to Paddington Basin....
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2 minutes ago, cuthound said:
Why would any boatyard or marina decide not to offer their facilities to CRT if they are paid to do so?
They have made a significant investment in providing the facilities in the first place and by entering a contract with CRT means it will enjoy a greater rate of return.
The only times I have known marinas and boatyards restrict access to facilities are where they have a hire fleet and restrict access on turnaround days.
Can you provide examples where third parties have unilaterally decided to no longer provide facitirs such as water and elsan disposal to those that are not their own moorers?
When CRT sold off BWML to Aquavista, several did. The one that was closest to me at te time was Packet Boat at Cowley Peachey Junction. Limehouse Basin has also restricted non-moorers from their facilities in recent years using covid as an excuse, but not lifting the restrictions to date....
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Issues with lithiums in very cold weather?
in General Boating
Posted
I misspoke - thevoltage shot up immediately to 14.5v and the bms went to float after only about 1-2Wh of input....