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Electrolux Travelpower.


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Hi....thought I'd be a helpful guy and give you details of what to do if your travelpower breaks.

Mine is attached to a Beta 43 and has a hard life with powering tools, battery charger, washing machine and vacuum.

After 14 years the alternator was cooked, maybe because the big thick cable had 'had it' and blown the alternator ( I took it apart...cooked !!)

I took it to : Cox automotive- electrics at 10 Abeles Way, Holly Lane Industrial Estate, Atherstone, Warks. CV9 2QZ

Telephone : (01827) 712097 / 718484

They were amazingly helpful and it was returned rewound, painted a nice gray , the control unit was like new and was rebuilt. They also provided a new improved thick connection cable ( made up to length as I asked)...and guaranteed it for a year.

Total cost was £521.58 a lot I know....but nowhere near the price of a new unit.

I hope this is of use as its hard to find people to work on these.

Cheers.

Bob

 

:lol: Hi Bob

 

Thanx for your post I will certainly keep details of the people who fixed your travelpower. I beleive your post also puts the gennie where it should be ( Not on a boat ) If You got 14 years of heavy use out of yours and only cost 600 quid to fix it that sells it hopefully to the non beleivers but somehow I doubt it.

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Yes, except that for many of us the Travelpower is not the best option.

My generator is much quieter than my engine, it doesn't vibrate the whole boat and I'm sure anyone who I moor up next to appreciates it too.

 

Anyway, if we're talking rolls royce we should be talking about a proper water-cooled, sound insulated inboard diesel generator like the Northern Lights 1500rpm 5kw job with remote control for about 5 grand. It requies some space to install but It shits all over your Travelpower and my generator!

 

:lol: Oh Dear

Lets put it a little easier, the reason for a travel power is not only its a good bit of kit but its great benefit is it save space as in not having to fit a stand alone even more expensive unit or indeed find space for gennie and can of petrol, its fitted straight on to the engine. I appreciate it doesnt fit everybodys boat engine but the starter of this thread wasnt asking that question was he ? :lol:

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:lol: Oh Dear

Lets put it a little easier, the reason for a travel power is not only its a good bit of kit but its great benefit is it save space as in not having to fit a stand alone even more expensive unit or indeed find space for gennie and can of petrol, its fitted straight on to the engine. I appreciate it doesnt fit everybodys boat engine but the starter of this thread wasnt asking that question was he ? :lol:

That's right but neither was he asking about the benefits of Travelpowers over generators which has been the subject of your posts on this thread. :lol:

 

It takes two to tango and nobody has a monopoly in going off topic.

 

If a Travelpower suits you that's great - I'm glad you're happy with it. But it definitely wouldn't suit me because I don't want to run my boat engine when I need power.

Edited by blackrose
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Hi....thought I'd be a helpful guy and give you details of what to do if your travelpower breaks.

Mine is attached to a Beta 43 and has a hard life with powering tools, battery charger, washing machine and vacuum.

After 14 years the alternator was cooked, maybe because the big thick cable had 'had it' and blown the alternator ( I took it apart...cooked !!)

I took it to : Cox automotive- electrics at 10 Abeles Way, Holly Lane Industrial Estate, Atherstone, Warks. CV9 2QZ

Telephone : (01827) 712097 / 718484

They were amazingly helpful and it was returned rewound, painted a nice gray , the control unit was like new and was rebuilt. They also provided a new improved thick connection cable ( made up to length as I asked)...and guaranteed it for a year.

Total cost was £521.58 a lot I know....but nowhere near the price of a new unit.

I hope this is of use as its hard to find people to work on these.

Cheers.

Bob

 

 

I second this above, I recently had my travel power completely overhauled at COx's. friendly fellas there sorted it all out. repaired the black box, re-wotsitted my big alternator and made up a new loom. (£750)

when its working, its good, but its a pain in the fanjeeta when its acting up.

see my blog detailing my travel power ups and downs.

travel power

 

my travel power is 12 years old, with moderate use.

Edited by honey ryder
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That's right but neither was he asking about the benefits of Travelpowers over generators which has been the subject of your posts on this thread. :lol:

 

It takes two to tango and nobody has a monopoly in going off topic.

 

If a Travelpower suits you that's great - I'm glad you're happy with it. But it definitely wouldn't suit me because I don't want to run my boat engine when I need power.

 

:lol: Yes u r right I am one of the worst for going off topic so I was a bit ( Big bit ) of a hypocrit, I just like the banter, hope to buy u a beer sometime :lol:

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Spotted a couple of boats at Crick that had Nanni engines with 4kw flywheel mounted AC generators (e.g. in-unit between engine and gearbox). I've not seen this before so maybe it's new. They seem pretty compact installations so a possible alternative to the Travelpower on a new build or engine swap maybe? The boatbuilders quoted the pretty obvious benefits of avoiding problems with belt-drive and mounting bracket durability on Travelpowers. No idea of cost I'm afraid - just offered as info.

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The other thing that worried me about the Travelpower system, is what happens when you are cruising along, doing a load of washing and you come up to a lock ? Obviously the engine will have to be knocked back to tickover and possibly even switched off if the lockkeeper requires, but even at tickover I wasn't convinced it would keep its output up to what might be demanded from the washing machine - so, would the voltage out drop..... would the washing machine be damaged etc ?

 

So I settled on having a reasonable domestic bank and a good charging capability and a decent inverter to power it... and run the washing machine when cruising i.e. essentially off the alternator - for instances when tickover is required, the inverter gets its input supplemented by the battery bank if the alternator cannot give what is being demanded of it, but the washing machine gets what it needs....

 

Nick

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The other thing that worried me about the Travelpower system, is what happens when you are cruising along, doing a load of washing and you come up to a lock ? Obviously the engine will have to be knocked back to tickover and possibly even switched off if the lockkeeper requires, but even at tickover I wasn't convinced it would keep its output up to what might be demanded from the washing machine - so, would the voltage out drop..... would the washing machine be damaged etc ?

 

So I settled on having a reasonable domestic bank and a good charging capability and a decent inverter to power it... and run the washing machine when cruising i.e. essentially off the alternator - for instances when tickover is required, the inverter gets its input supplemented by the battery bank if the alternator cannot give what is being demanded of it, but the washing machine gets what it needs....

 

Nick

 

You've read too many adverts :lol:

 

Pulley'd up properly the Travelpower produces full power at tickover.

 

Gibbo

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You've read too many adverts :lol:

 

Pulley'd up properly the Travelpower produces full power at tickover.

 

Gibbo

 

 

I didnt realise they were always pullied up properly, but even if not I guess a retro re-pulley would not be difficult.

 

However, it still doesn't feel as "useful" as power generated at 12 volts and a decent sine wave inverter and a mains charger was always going to be in the spec, i.e. a combi, and a bigger combi was not a lot more, certainly less than the Travelpower system....

 

Nick

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The other thing that worried me about the Travelpower system, is what happens when you are cruising along, doing a load of washing and you come up to a lock ? Obviously the engine will have to be knocked back to tickover and possibly even switched off if the lockkeeper requires, but even at tickover I wasn't convinced it would keep its output up to what might be demanded from the washing machine - so, would the voltage out drop..... would the washing machine be damaged etc ?

 

Nick

 

I've had a TP on a boat and used it for powering a Bosch washing machine with electronic timer. What happens is that if the TP alternator revs drop to the point that the unit cannot deliver the required power being demanded of it at that time it just hibernates (for want of a better word) until such time as the revs rise suitably. The washing machine sits and waits until the power is restored and the wash cycle carries on as normal afterwards.

Roger

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We have tp we also have no leccy hook up and have to charge our batterys. In winter we charge them for 2 hours per night which is the same time as it takes to wash and dry 1 load of washing. Think we would struggle without it :lol:

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I've had a TP on a boat and used it for powering a Bosch washing machine with electronic timer. What happens is that if the TP alternator revs drop to the point that the unit cannot deliver the required power being demanded of it at that time it just hibernates (for want of a better word) until such time as the revs rise suitably. The washing machine sits and waits until the power is restored and the wash cycle carries on as normal afterwards.

Roger

 

mines a bosch, it does exactly that. if its on a heat cycle, it needs a few extra revs from the engine to make it (travel power) work, so if i drop to tickover, the power drops out, the washer sits and waits, increase the revs later, washing machine kicks back in where it left off.

 

im hoping now my travel power has been serviced and fluffed up, it should work better than ever.

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mines a bosch, it does exactly that. if its on a heat cycle, it needs a few extra revs from the engine to make it (travel power) work, so if i drop to tickover, the power drops out, the washer sits and waits, increase the revs later, washing machine kicks back in where it left off.

 

im hoping now my travel power has been serviced and fluffed up, it should work better than ever.

Hi...yes...thats exactly what mine does.....but you have to watch out because if they develop faults they can carry on working...try and deliver power when there is not enough available.. and damage the unit.

Check from time to time that the remote light goes out if there is demand and the revs drop.

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mine carried on working for months, until it gradually delivered less and less power, tripping out no matter what revs i put through it.

a circuit board had blown, but the thing kept on working on reduced power, so not immediately apparent there was a problem.

 

I will be careful how I use it though, as having spent a total of £1000 on this unit via various repairs i dont want to have to spend any more on it for a while, id quite like to sell the boat first!

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  • 9 years later...

My travel power failed this weekend.  No matter how long I left it to power up at increased revs etc. it would not activate so I thought on my way through Atherstone I thought I would drop in to Cox Automotive.  Before setting off I thought "why not check the brushes myself?"  It's as simple as removing two cross head screws.

 

Once the plastic carrier was removed I discovered the brushes were still 10-12mm long but there was heavy black dust deposits and fluff.  Once removed with cotton buds and solvent and reassembled it initialised within 2 minutes (much quicker than anytime in the last two years).

 

Well worth a try and I will keep Cox's in mind if the failure is ever more serious.

  • Greenie 1
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1 hour ago, GRLMK38 said:

My travel power failed this weekend.  No matter how long I left it to power up at increased revs etc. it would not activate so I thought on my way through Atherstone I thought I would drop in to Cox Automotive.  Before setting off I thought "why not check the brushes myself?"  It's as simple as removing two cross head screws.

 

Once the plastic carrier was removed I discovered the brushes were still 10-12mm long but there was heavy black dust deposits and fluff.  Once removed with cotton buds and solvent and reassembled it initialised within 2 minutes (much quicker than anytime in the last two years).

 

Well worth a try and I will keep Cox's in mind if the failure is ever more serious.

Within two minutes sounds a bit dodgy? Mine fires up in a second or so. Ed Shiers is yer man if you need it fixing ?

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2 hours ago, GRLMK38 said:

My travel power failed this weekend.  No matter how long I left it to power up at increased revs etc. it would not activate so I thought on my way through Atherstone I thought I would drop in to Cox Automotive.  Before setting off I thought "why not check the brushes myself?"  It's as simple as removing two cross head screws.

 

Once the plastic carrier was removed I discovered the brushes were still 10-12mm long but there was heavy black dust deposits and fluff.  Once removed with cotton buds and solvent and reassembled it initialised within 2 minutes (much quicker than anytime in the last two years).

 

Well worth a try and I will keep Cox's in mind if the failure is ever more serious.

Yes, the Travelpower needs some maintenance. The generator and electronics box needs cleaning out once a year, especially if you have a dog. The brushes need replacing once in a while, and have a good luck at the slip rings at the same time, replacing those is a bigger job. The bearings should be replaced every two or three thousand hours. A bearing failure is expensive to fix. My old black box TP fires up in a second or so, 2 minutes is a long time.

 

...............Dave

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Cox's have just serviced my travel Power per their recommendation after 2 years use. Cost 132 quid inc vat dropped it off in the morning and collected the following afternoon. Moored close by and took the alternator and silver box to them . If you  strain them with insufficient revs the various diodes and boards in the box burn out which then becomes expensive. Another tip I learnt is if charging phones etc through mains chargers is to plug them into an overload extension lead as they can cause current spikes which the boxes circuits do not like.

We only use ours for the washing machine whilst cruising and need at least 1100 revs for it to work so plan our washing around where we are cruising. Our regular wash only takes about an hour anyway. The only period of the cycle where you need all the power is the heat cycle.

Don't forget that whether you are using it or not it is always spinning.

 

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Apologies, been offline heading for Stoke.  Thanks @WhiteSuit I don't doubt it needs a service but for the purposes of this trip we now have a working hairdryer for the "captain" (and a coffee machine for me).  It fired up in a matter of seconds this morning when cruising so pulley revs at idle are presumably a tad low.  When I have some time I will work out the generator rpm at idle/cruising revs to get a baseline and get it looked at.  

 

@mrsmelly is Ed Shiers aka Four Counties Marine?

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On 27/05/2009 at 17:16, Bobbybass said:

Hi....thought I'd be a helpful guy and give you details of what to do if your travelpower breaks.

Mine is attached to a Beta 43 and has a hard life with powering tools, battery charger, washing machine and vacuum.

After 14 years the alternator was cooked, maybe because the big thick cable had 'had it' and blown the alternator ( I took it apart...cooked !!)

I took it to : Cox automotive- electrics at 10 Abeles Way, Holly Lane Industrial Estate, Atherstone, Warks. CV9 2QZ

Telephone : (01827) 712097 / 718484

They were amazingly helpful and it was returned rewound, painted a nice gray , the control unit was like new and was rebuilt. They also provided a new improved thick connection cable ( made up to length as I asked)...and guaranteed it for a year.

Total cost was £521.58 a lot I know....but nowhere near the price of a new unit.

I hope this is of use as its hard to find people to work on these.

Cheers.

Bob

Yes, that's exactly what Cox's do. They can completely rewind and rebuild the generator (and electronics). They suggest an overhaul every few years which includes new bearings, slip rings and brushes, and the grey paint whether or not you ask for it ?. They also suggest a periodic revarnishing of the windings. I wonder if yours cooked due to varnish breakdown rather than over-work?

 

................Dave

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