Second day living onboard my narrowboat... A little lost!

[howardang]

Some very good advice above. May I gently ask about other systems on your boat. In particular, water and toilet waste? Have ypu an understanding about how to dispose of toilet waste- is it a cassette system or a pump out? 

 

You may well find it very helpful to find someone nearby who can take you through all the boat systems. There is much information on this forum but there is nothing to beat a friendly boater looking over your boat and giving you some detailed advice.

 

Howard

[Alan de Enfield]

47 minutes ago, howardang said:

 

 

You may well find it very helpful to find someone nearby who can take you through all the boat systems. There is much information on this forum but there is nothing to beat a friendly boater looking over your boat and giving you some detailed advice.

 

Howard

Good suggestion from Howard - if you give an indication of what part of the world you are in, I'm sure there will be a forum member near by who could give you a run-down of some basics.

[MHS]

Hi Naomi

How are you getting on? I hope you’ve been running your engine from 8.00 this morning. 

We don’t want to worry you, but it’s possible to ruin a set of batteries very quickly if you don’t charge them sufficiently. 

You didn’t answer Murflynn’s question as to when you bought the boat whether anyone talked you through how everything works. You do need someone to walk you round some of the systems.

[johnmck]

The chart, hopefully below, is a handy guide.

[nashworth]

18 hours ago, howardang said:

Some very good advice above. May I gently ask about other systems on your boat. In particular, water and toilet waste? Have ypu an understanding about how to dispose of toilet waste- is it a cassette system or a pump out? 

  

You may well find it very helpful to find someone nearby who can take you through all the boat systems. There is much information on this forum but there is nothing to beat a friendly boater looking over your boat and giving you some detailed advice.

 

Howard

Hi Howard, 

 

Thanks for your response, I have a cassette toilet and am aware of how to empty it into the elsans dotted around. I think you're probably right about finding someone near by to come and talk me through some of the things I can't quite get my head around!

Thanks again, 

Naomi 

 

[mrsmelly]

22 hours ago, nashworth said:

Hello out there!

 

I've just moved on board my narrowboat, and am very much a novice looking for some advice regarding electricity. I have 4 leisure batteries along with a Victron inverter. I have had the inverter on constantly for the past two days (without running the engine) in order to power the waterpump, fridge and occasional phone/laptop charging. 

 

My inverter is now reading that is has low battery, from what I can see via other forums, about 1.5 - 2 days running from the inverter is normal. But i'm wondering now, how best to charge the batteries again? Do I just run the engine, and if so how long for?

Does anyone have any tips for low energy consumption for things like laptop/phone chargers (has anyone used a solar or dinamo powered energy bank?)? Can you suggest any alternatives to running the engine? Are solar panels / generators a good idea? 

 

Also on another note, I seem to have no hot water - yet when I have been moving the boat prior to moving aboard I have always had quite a generous amount - I have a twin coil calorifier 'heated by the engine & Eberspacher' - I suppose this means I have to run the engine in order to get hot water - does anybody know if so, how long for?

Very much appreciate any ideas you might have... 

Thanks! 

Naomi ✌️

 

 

Naomi

i have no idea where you are but you will find the majority of us older boaters are happy to help people out. Is there anyone near you or your mooring that would not come and have a quick look at your set up? We may not all be experts but some of us have lived with and seen numerous instalations over many years and could give you some first hand pointers. Just sayin like 

[nashworth]

4 hours ago, MHS said:

Hi Naomi

How are you getting on? I hope you’ve been running your engine from 8.00 this morning. 

We don’t want to worry you, but it’s possible to ruin a set of batteries very quickly if you don’t charge them sufficiently. 

You didn’t answer Murflynn’s question as to when you bought the boat whether anyone talked you through how everything works. You do need someone to walk you round some of the systems.

Hi there, 

I'm doing well thank you, I ran my engine for an hour last night while I still could have had it on from 9am this morning until about 3pm. My battery monitor seems to be reading above what it should. 

I'm going to look into getting a generator asap, I had a recommendation from a friend who uses a gas fuelled generator for their campervan, has anyone experienced one of these? 

 

Regarding somebody walking me through everything on the boat, I bought it over a year ago with the intention to move on straight away, I was given some loose indications on how to run things and made notes at the time. But due to the discovery terminal illness in the family I moved home and I put off living on the boat, and of course lost all of my notes and memory of what was said... I would love some advice, i'm currently moored near bridge 136 a little north of Cowroast Marina (near Tring)

Thanks for your response!

Naomi 

[mrsmelly]

Come on one of you GU guys,  pop over and help the lady out.

[nashworth]

P.s my fridge is a shoreline 12V, should this have run the batteries out so quickly? Or was it because I thought I needed the inverter on in order to power the fridge?

Thanks!

Naomi x

[Tony Brooks]

12 minutes ago, nashworth said:

Hi there, 

I'm doing well thank you, I ran my engine for an hour last night while I still could have had it on from 9am this morning until about 3pm. My battery monitor seems to be reading above what it should. 

I'm going to look into getting a generator asap, I had a recommendation from a friend who uses a gas fuelled generator for their campervan, has anyone experienced one of these? 

 

Regarding somebody walking me through everything on the boat, I bought it over a year ago with the intention to move on straight away, I was given some loose indications on how to run things and made notes at the time. But due to the discovery terminal illness in the family I moved home and I put off living on the boat, and of course lost all of my notes and memory of what was said... I would love some advice, i'm currently moored near bridge 136 a little north of Cowroast Marina (near Tring)

Thanks for your response!

Naomi 

 

I am sorry to tell you this but a voltage of 16.5 volts is far too high unless a battery charger, solar controller, or fancy alternator controller is trying to do a equalisation charge. For normal day to day charging I would not want to see more than about 14.5 volts or just perhaps up to 14.7.  16.5 volts  will dry the batteries out and destroy them unless you keep them topped up.

 

If you have been using a very,very old car type battery charger it could well produce this sort of voltage at teh end of charging so you would need a more modern multi-stage one.

 

Now we know that you have a BVM it would be a good idea to warn you to TOTALLY IGNORE any reading other than volts, amps, or Amp hours out. The other readings will almost certainly be lies and ably assist you to ruin your batteries. The BVM is good for monitoring your charging. Charge every day and/or ASAP if the battery voltage falls much below 12.2 to 12.3 volts. Keep charging until the amps equal between 1% and 2% of battery capacity so for  a single 110Ah battery that would be around 1 to 2 amps. Then the batteries will be as good as fully charged.

 

Regrettably I have too much on at the moment to offer to drive over and talk you through your boat but I hope a more local member can oblige.

I hope others will come on a give their opinions on this.

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, nashworth said:

P.s my fridge is a shoreline 12V, should this have run the batteries out so quickly? Or was it because I thought I needed the inverter on in order to power the fridge?

Thanks!

Naomi x

Both.

 

The fridge is (probably) the largest individual consumer of 12v on a boat.

The inverter (depending on make and model) could be a huge consumption (could be 75+ Ah per day)

Edited June 3, 2019 by Alan de Enfield

[Tony Brooks]

5 minutes ago, nashworth said:

P.s my fridge is a shoreline 12V, should this have run the batteries out so quickly? Or was it because I thought I needed the inverter on in order to power the fridge?

Thanks!

Naomi x

When batteries are left discharged they lose capacity very quickly so the nominally 110 Ah batteries may now only be 30A or so. Anything would then run them down quickly. My guess its sulphation (loss of capacity) and the fridge in your case.

[MtB]

 

My guess is the batts were already goosed when Naomi bought the boat, if I'm reading the handwritten note from the previous owner correctly.

 

"Below 10.5v (under load conditions)". Depending on the load, if something small like a fridge drawing just a few Amps, 105v is effectively fully discharged which batteries really, REALLY don't like and will kill them in a flash if this was his (or your) measure of when to start charging them.

 

Counter-intuitively, 50% discharge (12.00v) is about as low as it is safe to go with ordinary cheapo leisure batteries, and even then they will need recharging more or less immediately to avoid loss of capacity. 

 

 

[mickp]

Looks like the bvm is in setup mode ,thats not showing actual volts or amps or soc readings

[Murflynn]

33 minutes ago, nashworth said:

I'm going to look into getting a generator asap, I had a recommendation from a friend who uses a gas fuelled generator for their campervan, has anyone experienced one of these? 
 

campervans use gas powered generators because they don't have a huge tank of diesel available, and they don't have a long term requirement to charge a bank of large batteries - you do.

ideally you need a silent diesel generator, but installing one may not be straightforward because it has to comply with the Boat Safety requirements.

as stated previously, most folk use their main engine to charge the batteries, but you need someone to check that you have an adequate alternator fitted.

[Tony Brooks]

8 minutes ago, mickp said:

Looks like the bvm is in setup mode ,thats not showing actual volts or amps or soc readings

In that case Nashworth needs a member who really understands these things to get it properly set up because despite what I said I be she will use the percentage discharge etc. readings. Even the they will eventually tell lies

[philjw]

42 minutes ago, nashworth said:

P.s my fridge is a shoreline 12V, should this have run the batteries out so quickly? Or was it because I thought I needed the inverter on in order to power the fridge?

Thanks!

Naomi x

Just checking, you know now that you don't need the inverter on to run the 12V fridge and that the inverter is just there to change up the battery power to 230V AC for mains appliances?

[nashworth]

1 minute ago, philjw said:

Just checking, you know now that you don't need the inverter on to run the 12V fridge and that the inverter is just there to change up the battery power to 230V AC for mains appliances?

Yes, I understand now. Thanks for checking! 

 

 

[mickp]

3 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

In that case Nashworth needs a member who really understands these things to get it properly set up because despite what I said I be she will use the percentage discharge etc. readings. Even the they will eventually tell lies

Without looking in manual for bvm ,the voltage reading showing in pic is the upper and lower alarm settings,cant remember how you switch out of setup mode but when out of there you use the up down arrows to show volts amps state of charge time left to go etc .i only ever bother watching volts amps .

[Tony Brooks]

22 minutes ago, mickp said:

Without looking in manual for bvm ,the voltage reading showing in pic is the upper and lower alarm settings,cant remember how you switch out of setup mode but when out of there you use the up down arrows to show volts amps state of charge time left to go etc .i only ever bother watching volts amps .

Very wise!

[MtB]

3 hours ago, mickp said:

i only ever bother watching volts amps .

 

Me too, but for an additional reason. Learning how all the other functions work is a monumental PITA and even when I learn them, I don't use them because they are of no help. So I forget how to do it after three weeks and revert to just looking at current, while the Smartgauge tells me the voltage. 

 

 

[alan_fincher]

8 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

So I forget how to do it after three weeks and revert to just looking at current, while the Smartgauge tells me the voltage.

 

Maybe!

[Dr Bob]

On 02/06/2019 at 20:45, Bee said:

Electricity is difficult stuff to store. Your engine (or the alternator on it) will make a decent amount and then the batteries will store a proportion of it. Then every light, pump, radio, tv, eberspacher (with its fans or pumps) will use it up. The Fridge is a big user, the inverter is too. Batteries are only perfect when brand new, every time you run them down to about halfway and then charge them you might use half a % of their life, after two or three years they are no use except as scrap. So...... you must be very careful with the amount you use. We generally only use the fridge when the engine is running and we are moving, its always off at night. We ration the TV and use candles as extra lighting (careful with them)  Solar panels are good but its hard to get a good supply on a boat. If you want a project that will make you a billionaire work out a way to liquefy electricity and sell it by the gallon, you will also save the planet!

I fully agree with the theme of your post and especially in the context of the new boater. Batteries are a real PITA.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record.....there is a solution.

We put 480Ahrs of LiFePo4's on board in March and no longer are we rationing TV (we did last year), no longer are we careful with the amount of power we use (we did last year), no longer are we seeking out treeless stretches of the canal (we did last year). Just ignore power useage as they are easy to refill and never have to be full. Yesterday/today, we are under trees. It's gloomy as hell here with the solar putting in the square root of bugger all. The forecast for the rest of the week is no better. We'll probably stay here another day or two and then a 3 hr bote will get us back over 50% SoC and we can park under trees again to fend off the the viscious hot sun shine that is certain not going to appear next week.

 

[Murflynn]

and what was the price for this wonderful arrangement?   My research suggests about £7 per amp.hr capacity - say £3000 for a bank of 440 Ah nominal capacity. 

[Dr Bob]

28 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

and what was the price for this wonderful arrangement?   My research suggests about £7 per amp.hr capacity - say £3000 for a bank of 440 Ah nominal capacity. 

I paid £1000 for mine.

I posted a thread a few weeks ago saying how it could be done for £500. Pays for itself in 2-3 years by running the engine less.