Electrical Issues

[Alan de Enfield]

8 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

If anyone thinks their Smartgauge might be inarticulate then back to Merlin it should go and if they do not play fair then the forum should be told - plus the boating press.

 

Would that not be the vast majority of them (if not all) ?

[Tony Brooks]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

Would that not be the vast majority of them (if not all) ?

We don't know, do we. I think we have an idea of the time period faulty units were known to have been sold but its only Merlin's word for it and its in their interest to minimise the perceived problem.

 

If i had a Merlin supplied Smartguage I would be on to Merlin about getting it checked but  think they really out to contract a number of local marine electrical people to come to the boat and check the gauge at Merlins expense. It would be cheaper than getting sued for P&P because I bet Merlin will not reimburse.

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

We don't know, do we

I think we do - how many SG's are ARTICULATE ?

(I think your auto correct is making assumptions)

 

articulate

adjective

adjective: articulate

ɑːˈtɪkjʊlət/

1. 1.

   having or showing the ability to speak fluently and coherently.

    

    

    

   Maybe the auto correct is correct after all :

    

    

   inarticulate

   ˌɪnɑːˈtɪkjʊlət/

   adjective

   adjective: inarticulate

   1. 1.

      unable to express one's ideas or feelings clearly or easily.

    

    

    

    

Edited August 6, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[MtB]

18 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

We don't know, do we. I think we have an idea of the time period faulty units were known to have been sold but its only Merlin's word for it and its in their interest to minimise the perceived problem.

 

If i had a Merlin supplied Smartguage I would be on to Merlin about getting it checked but  think they really out to contract a number of local marine electrical people to come to the boat and check the gauge at Merlins expense. It would be cheaper than getting sued for P&P because I bet Merlin will not reimburse.

 

 

In addition, they should drop the misleading "Fuel gauge for batteries" marketing claim (if they haven't already).

 

Repeating myself here, I think. Apologies!

[WotEver]

I think ‘inarticulate’ is a very nice autocorrect for ‘inaccurate’

[nicknorman]

1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

In addition, they should drop the misleading "Fuel gauge for batteries" marketing claim (if they haven't already).

 

Repeating myself here, I think. Apologies!

We’ve had this debate endless before, but never mind...

 

your car (or van) has a fuel gauge. Whilst you are driving, the fuel gauge goes down slowly, and eventually you decide you need to refuel. You pull onto the garage, attach the hose and squeeze the trigger. How you you decide when to stop refuelling? Do you leave the ignition on, watch the gauge slowly increasing and stop as soon as the gauge reads “full”? Or do you refuel until fuel stops going in (the nozzle safety valve clicks off)?

 

I would say that for most or nearly all people, it is the former. And therefore the Smartgauge is (should be) used in exactly the same way as you car fuel gauge is.

 

A fuel gauge can be useful during refuelling for letting you know you are approaching full, but it is not an accurate way to determine when 100% “full” is reached. Sound familiar?

Edited August 6, 2018 by nicknorman

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

We’ve had this debate endless before, but never mind...

 

your car (or van) has a fuel gauge. Whilst you are driving, the fuel gauge goes down slowly, and eventually you decide you need to refuel. You pull onto the garage, attach the hose and squeeze the trigger. How you you decide when to stop refuelling? Do you leave the ignition on, watch the gauge slowly increasing and stop as soon as the gauge reads “full”? Or do you refuel until fuel stops going in (the nozzle safety valve clicks off)?

 

I would say that for most or nearly all people, it is the former. And therefore the Smartgauge is (should be) used in exactly the same way as you car fuel gauge is.

 

A fuel gauge can be useful during refuelling for letting you know you are approaching full, but it is not an accurate way to determine when 100% “full” is reached. Sound familiar?

 

 

This is rubbish and you know it.

 

What actually happens is users watch the smartgauge display climb towards 100%, then stop charging when it gets there.

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

How you you decide when to stop refuelling? Do you leave the ignition on, watch the gauge slowly increasing and stop as soon as the gauge reads “full”? Or do you refuel until fuel stops going in (the nozzle safety valve clicks off)?

 

I would say that for most or nearly all people, it is the former

How on earth can you see the fuel gauge when the filler is on the opposite side of the car at the rear.

I fill until it clicks and then put a bit more in to round it off to even £s. It is now getting towards £100 per fill

 

I would suggest than many (most ?) put in a value £20, £50 or whatever.

Edited August 6, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[Iain_S]

44 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

This is rubbish and you know it.

 

What actually happens is users watch the smartgauge display climb towards 100%, then stop charging when it gets there.

 

 

Nick did say " Smartgauge is (should be) used ..."

I'd have dropped the "is" and the brackets, but the analogy is sound. 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

15 minutes ago, Iain_S said:

but the analogy is sound.

Do you watch your car fuel gauge when filling the tank ?

[Iain_S]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Do you watch your car fuel gauge when filling the tank ?

No, and if I did, I would not be filling my tank, as my fuel gauge over reads at anything over half a tank.  (Bit like a Smartgauge, really

 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Iain_S said:

No, and if I did, I would not be filling my tank, as my fuel gauge over reads at anything over half a tank.  (Bit like a Smartgauge, really

 

Nick suggested that "for most, or nearly all people" they, fill their tank by leaving the ignition on and watching their fuel gauge, when it shows full, they stop,

 

I'd suggest this is far from the normal way.

[Iain_S]

Ah, I see I mentally autocorrected his "former" for "latter" ! 

[badgerbag]

3 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

This is rubbish and you know it.

 

What actually happens is users watch the smartgauge display climb towards 100%, then stop charging when it gets there.

 

 

Mea culpa!

 

To return to "prolonging battery life" What is best practice following winterizing?

Running the pump to empty the water tank will deplete the batteries. In the past I've left it to the solar recharge them, but listening to what has been said here maybe that's not such a good idea.

Can I run the engine with no water in the calorifier? or would it be better to: Charge the batteries from the shore line, and rely on the solar to keep them charged over the winter? or even: Take them home and charge them once a week/month? over the winter?

[TheBiscuits]

3 minutes ago, badgerbag said:

Mea culpa!

 

To return to "prolonging battery life" What is best practice following winterizing?

Running the pump to empty the water tank will deplete the batteries. In the past I've left it to the solar recharge them, but listening to what has been said here maybe that's not such a good idea.

Can I run the engine with no water in the calorifier? or would it be better to: Charge the batteries from the shore line, and rely on the solar to keep them charged over the winter? or even: Take them home and charge them once a week/month? over the winter?

Empty the water tank and/or calorifier *before* winterising the engine, with the engine running?

 

By the way, yes you can run the engine with the calorifier empty.

[Tony Brooks]

1. That's how I do t but it will not empty the calorifer but will probably put an air bubble in the top and so allow a little for ice expansion.

 

2. I leave my solar running throughout the winter and after six years the batteries still seem usable.

 

3. My plumbing colleagues at college said that without water in the calorifer running the engine MIGHT cause a tube to split because there is no water to help support the coils and there is nothing to damp the vibrations but I have had no problems with vertical calorifiers. Experience make me less sure about horizontal ones unless i know it had actual coils and how they are supported.

[nicknorman]

6 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

How on earth can you see the fuel gauge when the filler is on the opposite side of the car at the rear.

I fill until it clicks and then put a bit more in to round it off to even £s. It is now getting towards £100 per fill

 

I would suggest than many (most ?) put in a value £20, £50 or whatever.

Sorry typo, I meant “the latter”. Which has rather spoilt my point!

6 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

This is rubbish and you know it.

 

What actually happens is users watch the smartgauge display climb towards 100%, then stop charging when it gets there.

 

 

Yes it was rubbish because I said former instead of latter.

5 hours ago, Iain_S said:

Ah, I see I mentally autocorrected his "former" for "latter" ! 

Yup! Sorry!

[smileypete]

On 06/08/2018 at 14:09, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

This is rubbish and you know it.

 

What actually happens is users watch the smartgauge display climb towards 100%, then stop charging when it gets there.

 

 

Would be nice if while charging above 80-90% it alternates between the estimated SoC and 'tail' and '????' which would actually work OK enough on a 4 digit 7 segment display.

 

Sure they'd be a lot of WTF is tail?!?! questions, but at least they users would get enlightened before they wrecked their batts. There could then be a setting to disable the tail reminders, in the manual this would be handily located next to relevant warnings and a clear explanation in a BIG block letters.

 

In short, Gibbo understood electronics well, but human nature and the art of writing user manuals, not so much.

Edited August 9, 2018 by smileypete