WotEver

Pages 24 & 25 https://www.victronenergy.com/Manuals/PhoenixMulti/UKISM010054000-rev00.pdf

I suspect he hasn’t opened the case to see the little connector block labelled ‘G’ It’s explained and shown in the installation instructions.

You have to check them with the vacuum cleaner connected and running.

The manual states that it has a 1A charger output for the starter battery. It also explains how to set the DIP switches: https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual-MultiPlus-1600VA-EN-NL-FR-DE-ES-IT.pdf The first setting in 5.4.1 will be fine for your batteries.

Assuming that neither the TV nor the vacuum cleaner draw more than 5A (which is a reasonable assumption) then the voltage drop down 4m of 2.5mm2 would only be about a quarter of a volt. Therefore one or more of the following must be true... The cable isn’t 2.5mm2 The run is much longer than 4m There is a bad connection somewhere in the feed. I’m guessing the latter. Where did you pick up the 12V? How did you make the connection?

Show a metalworker the image in the post above yours and ask him to make the top bit a sliding fit over the tiller, and the bottom bit to be a hinged clamp that you can tighten with a wingnut. Bingo! No welding.

Presumably, but the info on the ad is somewhat sparse and the link to the instructions has been removed. You could give them a call to discuss it I guess?

You'll probably get a 50/50 split of folk saying do it/don't bother. I'm aware of 30+ year old boats boats with unpainted baseplates with virtually zero corrosion, and I've read of much younger boats with painted baseplates with lots of pits. It's a filthy job, so that's one reason some folk don't bother.

And with solar the battery will never flatten...

Slightly below the maximum you're prepared to pay. If they accept it, great. If they don't, you can go up a bit. If they still don't accept it then you can move on.

Lol. So true

yes Most vinyl sign cutters could make you one.

Yep, as Alan says, without this you're unlikely to receive any help here unfortunately.

Yup, perfectly possible.

AFTER a clean? Good grief! Well done for taking on this project

Well I did so on Friday after spending a fair bit of time wording the para. No response so far...

I wonder if OP has read this...

Get the hull thoroughly inspected prior to dropping her into the water, Jon

Absolutely. The Amphour ‘law’ holds true. So put a 450Ah bank on charge and at 80% SoC it’ll still take 90A if the charge source can provide it. At 90% it’ll be looking for only 45A etc... but it’s that last 10-20% that takes the time.

Several ways... 1. Measure the relative density of the electrolyte. 2. Look for a current in the region of 1% of battery capacity whilst charging at around 14.4V. 3. Remove the surface charge (say by turning on the tunnel light for 10 or 15 mins) and measure the resting voltage. 4. Use a Smartgauge (but only truly accurate during discharge). That’s why it’s always a compromise between time/cost/engine wear/battery life. Nope, but it will limit it. Some manufacturers supply tables or graphs which show number of cycles vs depth of discharge. Simply consider them as a consumable and get on with your boating. Or, fixate on them, treat them carefully and probably get a longer life out of them. It’s all compromise. Charge them fast and hard and they’ll die of grid corrosion before they sulphate, don’t charge them fully enough often enough and they’ll die from Sulphation. As previously said, it’s all a compromise. A decent Solar installation will result in a much longer life for your batteries. You can start the charge off with a bit of engine running then leave the solar to take care of the long, slow, boring bit. But it’s not a lot of use from November to March.

Me too. I love Stollen.

According to the manufacturer, “sophisticated electronics” They're for connecting a charging source to two banks whilst keeping the banks separate at all times. Don’t know why you couldn’t simply use a VSR...

Not really. I’ve known for years since when you first told the story. Hence the joke 9 hours ago about the spelling.

They generally know nothing about boat electrics, plus most boat 'standards' are completely contrary to their learning. We don't use twin & Earth for mains, for instance. We don't use the hull for a negative return as they might have got used to in cars, low voltage cables are selected for voltage drop, not current carrying capacity... etc.

Ignore the childish bickering and enjoy your life on your widebeam and, hopefully, here