DaveP
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Posts posted by DaveP
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CRT are refilling the flight, now only about 30cm down....
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Below Wilmcote locks (pound 50-51) water down around 60-80cm due to boater leaving paddles up on lock 51 last night.
Also between middle and lower flights (pound 47-48) water down around 50cm.
little pounds in lower flight now down 150cm....
Awoke with the boat on the serious lean. Have used the small pounds in the bottom flight to get boat off bottom and fridge back to its side of kitchen.
CRT aware.
Dave
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Done the narrow a few times single-handed. Preferred stopping points;
Start at the uni in Huddersfield - before looking out in the morning, check for graduation ceremonies to photobomb
(poss stop near the golcar aquaduct if needed)
Then Slaithwaite, beware of the extremely low bridge
(Possibly stop in-between 31/32 if knackered)
Up to Marsden.
Through tunnel,
Stop at Diggle, but there's not a lot going on here.
Then down to Uppermill.
Into Stalybridge, Look out for the burnt out buildings and goose poo
I've then got onto the Peak Forest and just past the lift bridge No 1.
It's a great canal, but can be hard work, both in terms of merely working the locks and the sheer number of them. But at least you generally don't have to worry about oncoming unseen traffic.
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I concur with the other posters - start with what you've got and work from there; use the smart phone (or buy a second-hand one specifically for the task) as a hotspot. It'll need charging in situ, so make sure you've got usb cables that will reach a window or porthole to perch it in.
58ft boat - it is possible, depending on what's where, that a wifi signal won't reach from end-end, especially if the phone/router is at one end. If so, carefully consider where to put the phone...
1 each of laptop, tablet, phone and TV - yes, if you're going to consume video, you will need unlimited data. 3 (or smarty) are the best (only) providers of unlimited data (others, including Giffgaff claim unlimited, but seriously throttle throughput after a limit). There are some areas where you will not get a good signal; check the coverage map carefully, and take it with a pinch of salt; don't forget the canal is usually the lowest feature in the immediate vicinity and the transmissions will be masked by hedges and trees. Get an app (Network Cell Info Lite?) that will tell you where the tower you're using is; then you can position the phone to best advantage. You will not always get enough bandwidth to operate all your devices - consider getting Freeview and Freesat aerials for the TV, ensure that you've got onboard datastores for when the cloud is not available....
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As CC'rs, no single provider is best at every place. However, I've not had many problems with 3 over the last decade or so (apart from their customer service and withdrawal of plans etc). You need to provide more information on what you want from your internet connection - what devices and quantities of data do you want(both upload and download), how vital is it to you, whereabouts are you proposing to cruise, how big is your boat, what power supplies do you have, what's your level of knowledge and competence with modems, routers, electricity?
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14 hours ago, Laura K said:
This was assessment from Bimbly,
At a glance I'd say that your rice cooker is woefully underpowered - I'd suggest 140W at least. It's an example of water heating which is best never done by electricity. Also missing are (possibly) radio/tv, speakers, 4G modem/router, lighting. Also, how are you heating the boat - anything other than a simple solid-fuel stove will use electricity to power internals....
I have about the same solar power (1250w) and consume about 1.2kWh/day - this setup suffices for about 10/12 months. If I turn my fridge/freezer off then winter is mostly possible (my consumption reduces to 700Wh/day) , as long as the sun makes an appearance occasionally - but I do have lifepo4's, so charging is not so much of a lifestyle choice. -
19 minutes ago, IanD said:
Another new alternative would be to try and sign up to Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite internet access network, because coverage is independent of cellular and if anything is more likely to be good in the middle of nowhere where cellular is worst.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/elon-musks-starlink-gives-amazing-broadband-to-uk-villages/
Its not cheap (90 quid a month plus 440 quid for the dish) though business use should be able to justify three quid a day, and you'd probably need cellular as a backup as well since it can also have dips in speed, though these are getting less frequent as more satellites are launched.
Starlink might not be terribly useful - the power consumption of the units appears to be around 100w! https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/03/electricity-costs-of-starlinks-uk-leo-broadband-satellite-service.html - presumably you'd also need one of the, not yet released, vehicle ground stations to combat losing connection through rocking. And you will need a clear view of quite a lot of sky to pick up a satellite (not just the one line you need for the geostationary Freesat reception).
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15 minutes ago, IanD said:
The problem with wireless internet access is that the speed is not guaranteed everywhere. If you put in a decent wireless router or access point with external high-gain aerials and choose one of the networks with good 4G coverage (and a suitable data deal) you'll almost always be able to get good enough speed for most uses. The key is the word "almost", on the canals there will inevitably be some reception black spots where this isn't true, and you may have to move to get better reception.
A partial answer to the blackspot issue is to have sims for different networks available; but this may be less effective than it sounds if the carriers are sharing masts. Local knowledge and attention to the coverage maps are essential. It is getting better though, I was able to do a zoom call in the blackspot that was Lower Heyford last year - but that was with a 4m mast. At boat level, reception (on 3) was still distinctly poor....
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16 minutes ago, Murflynn said:
I think if you read your attachment you will find your statement is not quite true.
I sit corrected - but it is recomended over the '-1' certification.
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I haven't been through it for a few years, but my memory of a 59' boat is quite a tight fit with buttons up, and the cill is well above the bottom water level. The middle lock I think tighter, but doable...
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Check the BS marking of the CO alarm - there are two variants, only one of which satisfies the BSS. See https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/stay-safe-advice/carbon-monoxide-co/co-alarms-save-lives/
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23 minutes ago, Loddon said:
Why am I not surprised ?
My SMS based system tells me if the batteries drop below 75%, the shore power has dropped out and the inside temperature is below 6degC. I have also added whether the charger is on or off since it refused to come back on after a power cut.
Similarly - RPi monitors the batteries to a database and sends sms on alerts (low charge, temp) and will also reply with status to a specific sms message from my phone.
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Hours of geeky fun to be had!
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The sticking point seems to be 'adequate volumes'. Ask of both what is being supplied, and what the supply requirements are. If there is no difference or CRT's suupliee volume is greater, then your answer is that ABP don't want to deal with you, if CRT's volume is smaller, then ask why the larger volume is not being supplied.
Personally, I reckon they'll both refuse to answer the pointed question on the grounds of 'commercial confidentiality' or at a pinch 'national security'. Which means that neither of them actually want you as a customer.
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1 hour ago, Lord Maffi of Oxford said:
Do people really moor with their centerline?
No, but I might use my centreline....
Bad Maffi, you need a new spoolchuck to go with the new title....
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I used an optical output from the pi to eliminate this problem. I used this one, only issue being having to cut the housing to get the connector out. https://www.tindie.com/products/beni_skate/tinytoslink-raspberry-pi-optical-audio/
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There's also a boat for sale on the Hythe Bridge arm moorings (which are aso apparently transferrable). Having glanced over it whilst I was there last summer, I'd say that it was 50/50 boat/mooring price. I don't particularly like that location (too close to the lock and the commuters can get a bit much), but it does have electric and water on the plot....
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Grimsbury Wharf? Dusty moors there now, in between runs, worth giving them a bell.
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How long have you had the panels /how big are they?
What roof estate do you have, are you single-handed?
Are you a liveaboard, what's your average consumption, what other electricity generating equipment do you use?
What controller have you got and what are you thinking of for the 2nd?
If you've got the room, then I'd recycle the current panels, and get a pair of 300w domestic panels (either the 295w or 325w ones from Bimble), and (if you want a second controller) a 20A Epever one, or a 40A one. These can't cope (but won't be harmed) with the full rated output of the panels (assuming you're outputting 12v), but it would be extremely unusual for the panels to overload the controller up here in the UK even in the height of summer.
295w - https://www.bimblesolar.com/solar/large-panels/295w-perlite-54cell-small
325w - https://www.bimblesolar.com/solar/large-panels/ja-325w-halfcell
20A - https://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/mppt/XTRA2206N-XDB1-BUDGET-20a-mppt-solar-controller
40A - https://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/mppt/XTRA4210N-XDB1-BUDGET-40a-mppt-solar-controller
MT50 Meter for the controllers - https://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/mppt/MT50-meter
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Credit card, telephone.
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It's wasteful. But whether or not you can afford the waste is up to you. How much power do the inverter and router take? How are you going to replace that energy (plus upwards of 20% depending on the batteries)? Would this drain in addition to your other usage come close to a tipping point where you're not able to replace the energy or recognise that you've reached that point?
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In the engine 'ole I have a cheap car radio - which bluetooths to the phone for music on the move.
In the main cabin, I have a Logitech surround sound system connected to a (12v) HDMI/BT box the connects to the phone, Pi(kodi), Chromecast and Roku. In the winter, the surround system is replaced with a smaller 12v powered pair of stereo speakers.
Sound sources include free Spotify and Soundcloud and stuff I've ripped from CD's (which now live in a big box under the bed).
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Last last rwo months - 900w of panels and a baseload of 800Wh/day - in January it generated 17.4kWh (and the engine made another 12.2 in 23 hours (14 occasions)), in February it generated 28kWh (and the engine made another 1.5 in 7 hours (4 occasions)). The baseload is understated as I've been charging a neighbour's battery for him...
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5 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:
It seems I am wrong
Composting toilets are increasing in popularity, particularly in areas with few facilities or very busy areas that suffer from frequently malfunctioning pump-out machines or Elsan units. Composting can be a great solution, but there are some important considerations for people choosing this approach.
The main thing to consider with compost toilets on boats is having sufficient space to compost solids correctly. Solids can take anything from three months to twelve months to break down into harmless compost. And as anyone who has ever lived on a boat for any length of time will tell you, space is always at a premium.
As the waste from a composting toilet may not have enough time to decompose sufficiently on board the boat before it needs emptying, this waste will still need to be disposed of in an appropriate way – for example a suitable composting site away from the canal. It should not be put in our bins – and absolutely must not be disposed of on or near the towpaths. Liquid waste can be emptied down an Elsan point. With the increasing popularity of composting toilets, we are hoping to provide facilities for solid waste from composting loos in future. Please don’t ever dump liquid and solid waste on the towpath or into the water.
What to do and what not to do
One important part of the page also needs including here:
Last date edited: 15 February 2021
Previously, it said that compost could be placed in the bins in appropriately labelled bags. So, Damian's email was the first anyone had heard about this change in policy, now this page has been updated - and surreptitiously! If it's a blog, then the previous Nov '17 entry should be marked as superseded and a new blog entry made. In any case it should be made clear what has been changed between the original page in 2017 and the new advice.
S Stratford - Wilmcote water shortage
in Stoppages
Posted
That's because I emptied them into the long pound - they're prob only 100cm deep at the edge and less over on the off-side, but the channel is that deep (lots of transits and locking/filling over a couple of boat lengths distance forming a distinct scour channel)...