An Proto-Teach Éireannach

[Scruff]

Welcome to the Irish Proto-House

Someone ought to tidy up in here.



I had to fire the maid. They kept filing my French and German coloured ferrules in the same component drawer...shucks...

We're running from utility power with some unsanctioned feedback.

Let's start at the Powerplant.

Home of the one and only Mk-V Best in it's Class Battery Hospital.



and a SB1700 transformer GTI in grey. Now 7 years old. I've had it a week.



I've a rather humble solar array...grid tied isn't my thing but I do use a lottov power...



another 400W here



I'll start that truck when I finish everything else.

I've 12kWh of lead earmarked for her and 90A of solar controllers....some of which may become mains chargers or hybrid...
I might give her 3 phase...I might give her a lottov things...we'll see, in time..

On the subject of vehicles; I'm also working on a propulsion system for my Hover Van.




Those thin film solar are all defective but working. If I unplug any of them I get less power so I'll just run them to the bitter end.





We have some horsepower at the end of the garden I'm wondering how to put into a cable.




This is Lead-Fi, I've been working on today.



She's under test and performing excellently.
1.3kVA, 1.2kWh (to the load), 575W Charger, 720W Solar Ready, External Battery Connector, TN-S Earth
110Ah 24V AGM lead, made of 2S6P assorted 7Ah and 24Ah Yuasa Batts.
76Ah plated capacity.

It's a phenomenal battery.

Today I gave her a second meter because the upper one's amp reading is impossible to calibrate.
The new meter the voltage cal is off but the current is correct. Huzzah 2 meters that complimentary half work right.





I've also spent the day improving the cooling.

Max duty is holding 45°C (100% Charge, 100% Load)
Max Charge 30°C
Max Load  tomorrow then tidy.

Lead-Fi has a sister.
Li-Fi.



Li-Fi is lighter, electronics heavy far more expensive to build & charges faster.
Lead-Fi has more capacity and is somewhere around double to 3 times the weight.
Efficiencies are similar (lead still under test).
Power delivery is similar. Lead has a lighter more efficient inverter with an extra 100VA.

Li-Fi is 1kWh (to the load), 1.2kVA, 475W Charger, 200W Solar Ready , 144Ah CALB LiFePO₄ TN-S Earth

They are identical case sizes.
There's a lot said about lithium and lead performance. Not so much of it is measured.

[Scruff]

Lead-Fi has graduated bench test.
She's well able to hold her own against Li-Fi, in a lottov ways she's better but we can attribute most of those bordline benefits to the associated hardware and system voltage. The +20% C20 discharge capacity bonus is not to be sniffed at though.

Case temps with inverter 100% duty stabilised @ ~37°C



She's 1kWh at C2. I've some more testing to do on battery and round trip efficiency. Charge times are the same as Li-Fi but C5.5 is hot enough for sealed lead. I could go C0.5 on LiFePO₄ (but not with any off the shelf charger...I have ways though..Mwahaha!)
I often charge flooded at C3 but they do get thirsty.

I bet you'll be interested in the efficiency results...I'll pull out my LiFePO₄ results to compare. As far as I have seen the batteries are very high 90s% it's the inverters and chargers are letting the side down and mine are not inefficient by standards, by a long short.

I've round trip on LiFePO₄ of ~60%, battery efficiency ~98%. Charge Envelope 15% > 85%
Preliminary AGM results looks like 60% too but it's not a clean result because I was tinkering.

[Bruce S]

I'm a little confused by the term Li-Fi , are these what we would call LiFE batteries or are they something a bit different.

Trying to find more info on these to have a look too.

Pretty cool looking setup. Except for the expensive resistor now link  .

Thanks
Bruce S

[SparWeb]

Thank you for the tour of the sunny Isle.
Your assortment of panels looks like my mishmash.

Welcome to Fieldlines!

[Scruff]

I'm a little confused by the term Li-Fi

Hi Bruce,

It's just a name. It's inspired by the term wi-fi... the fi is meaningless wireless?...internet?!

Li-Fi is the name of the genset who's prime mover is coincidentally a LiFePO₄ CALB Battery.
Lead-Fi is a sister set. Same second names see...

Quite often if I don't know the answer I just make one up...you'll get used to it...

Thank you for the tour of the sunny Isle.

Ah well tis a little bigger than my workshop now...but not much.

Your assortment of panels looks like my mishmash.

I'm highly suspicious they're underperforming...there's 3 different breeds...hard to tell with all this rain we're having.
Someone will be along to fix those any day month now.

Welcome to Fieldlines!

Thanks. Nice forum you have here. My BS-o-meter hasn't tripped once since I started reading...bittova hidden gem this one.

[Scruff]

Let me introduce Wendy Wu's Pot of Gold. Named after the lovely lady that sold me these genuine CALB LiFePO₄ raw cells and after a month of negotiation didn't drop her price but did give me 9 free bus links and the fancy plastic mounting armour. Apparently genuine sellers are hard to find, I shopped around she was the only one who had them. Pretty good deal.



Blimey that's a lottov switchgear! What am I compensating for?
MasterVolt....I'll explain later. Over-priced lemon is the jist.



That's only the middle layer. 

Next task whack her inna case!



Ta-Da!

Ahhh...wee problem...that's a waterproof case mate!



Not anymore!
Does that affect my warranty?



I bet you can guess where this is going...

It's a good way to make exhausts vents & intakes. Drill a bazillion holes. It's the lowest impact on case integrity I could think of. Guess how long that took...

[Scruff]

I'd like to shine a light on some myths that are getting passed as truths.

Lead can compete with lithium if weight and or space isn't worth money.
Lead has a non-linear efficiency. Operationally it can be >95% efficient to 95% SOC. Then it bottom dives which makes a 100% cycle ~80% efficient or 120% returned.
Most on the market chargers only charge to 90% or 95% (use one..then check your specific gravity)
You do not have to fully charge lead once a week unless you are using one of these chargers.
I charge lead to 120% once a month and I have 6-year-old batteries that are testing like new from a live-aboard with this regime because I don't use conventional chargers.

Let's have a closer look at a lead system. Lead-fi has been cycle tested.
A few notes first.
This is a piece of industrial hardware.
I'm rating it as 1kWh to the load.
I am not saying it's a 116Ah battery but only use half of it.
It's a 58Ah battery; use all of it (and the computer won't let you use more).
Cycle it to 95% in 3 hours & 20 mins and give it back to me when you are done or you'll be waiting until the cows come home for it to finish charging. I have a battery hospital for maintenance charging, that is not a user problem.

This is Lead-Fi's Mk-I battery



That was made of e-waste, it was underwhelming so I replaced it with mostly Yucells and relocated the fuses.

Plated capacity
8 x 7Ah Yuasa 12V +
4 x 24Ah Yuasa 12V
= 76Ah @ 24v

Actual capacity
116Ah!! @ 24V 

C20 Discharge test to 50% DOD, result x 2 = actual capacity.

116 / 20 = 5.8A Discharge Rate




Inverter Output



134.5W

139.5W in 134.5W out = 96% efficient inverter @ 10% Duty


Discharge time



10 hours 41 minutes.

End of Discharge @



58Ah removed



times two = 116Ah battery. Wow...I've ran several tests, every single battery in there is casually under-rated.

Inverter Output C20 (Elapsed Power)



1110W  Power to Load
~1400W extracted from the battery

79% System load efficiency @ 10% duty including temperature deratings and active proportional case cooling.

[Scruff]

Now let's look at the battery and charger.



Charger Max Load


PSU Power In:



PSU Power Out:



90% efficient PSU @ 100% duty
99% efficient Charge Controller

Not bad...but not linear

Efficiency (and power factor) drops with Duty Cycle

High Absorption
80% SOC



87.5% Efficient PSU
98.6% Efficient Charge Controller






95% SOC





83.6% Efficient PSU
98.6% Efficient Charge Controller

At 95% SOC Charger has used



and returned 57.9Ah including cooling
hence to 95% SOC this lead is 95% efficient including about 1.5Ah of cooling power.

71% round trip efficiency (to 95% SOC).
Li-Fi was 60% round trip at C1.5 but then again the cables were 60°C.

I'll post the 100% result tomorrow after it arrives hours and hours later.

[Scruff]

The charger was still absorbing at 130% SOC 24 hours later...I ended the test without checking the kWh counter. Sometimes MS controllers have difficulty delatching when you feed them power supplies, I may have a closer look at that.
It's not an issue for flooded, if you water them. I always wonder how mang bubbles an AGM has before expiry.

As a side-note for all you non-Irish speakers thinking it's a pretentious thread title. "Teach" means house as Gaelic, pronounced Tee-yach. I don't teach other than anecdotally.

[Scruff]

I'm running a final round of tests on Lead-Fi to dial in the best curve LVD (voltage + time) in the absence of SOC based alarm assistance.
That Bep meter...junk...it reads too much noise to set a zero. It triggers low voltage alarms on batteries that aren't connected (0V) and the alarm is not a contact but a 2hz square wave...I'm amazed how many engineers don't use their own products. 

That cheapo meter is much better...it's no high-class instrument don't get me wrong but it's very good value for money, the calibration is reasonable and no faddling required. Turns out the voltage is accurate, it's not lying every time I've validated it since.

So I left yee on a cliff hanger. Lead-acid efficiency, what does tinternet say? 80% was it?....right....

I've told my meter Lead-Fi's battery is 58Ah (116Ah 50% usable).



I removed 52.2Ah at C10



The best charger algorithm in production replaced 54.5Ah



Hrmm that's a 96% efficient battery*.  This is not unusual.



*including active case cooling.

[Scruff]

Time I stoked up WuPoG!

Cwaor look at that....individually fused balance wires! Who else does that? Why don't they?



One has to draw a line somewhere...for me, it's gas struts (not happening) and cable tie facings (not bothered).



That's enough mounted to the lid to get started with. PE stud, genset trigger, a 12VDC LED connector to be done later.

She's got a smachy on switch that was reassuringly expensive so I'm filled with confidence in it's wholesomeness.



I gave the battery monitor a porthole...



Let the temp trials begin..



That's right! That is 2 units of 20 MR16 50W 12v lamps in series.
2kVA.



That's a pass...she ran outtov battery before breaking 40°C

[Scruff]

I've been seeing this a lot lately.



Has anyone got the correct torque spec for these? That meltiness occurred at 50% rated.
I'm phasing them out as a useful terminal in favour of screw terminal.

Hard to get away from the blighters.
I have them conforming to battery terminals, blade fuse holders, Neutrik PowerCon True & 12V receptacles.

I've taken to double squeezing every one I have no choice but use with a channel locks before mounting them to a connector.

I often wonder how more fires don't happen in this business...I think it's because users don't have the same imagination I do on how to push the limits of their equipment.
Note I said push the limits...not beyond rated.

Here's a gem I made a while back...



That was 80% rated.
200A ANL fuses are 15W heaters at rated load it turns out.

[SparWeb]

Ah the joys of batteries.  Even the "sealed" ones can reveal the lie in the claim.
I've tried a few things to protect terminals, but mostly I find that a bit of ventilation and a wipe-down/hose-down of the whole battery every once in a while is all that really works.

Let me check my understanding with the details...  do you mean the terminals were hot enough to soften the shrink-wrap at 50% of their rating?  What do you think the rating is?  5Amps, 50Amps, or what was printed on the box?  Don't take my question the wrong way - what I mean is that a terminal made by one manufacturer will be labeled with a rating at one number, and another terminal made by a different mfr will write another number on it.  Even if the terminals are physically identical, what makes you believe the rating printed on the box actually represents a "rating"?

Anyway, the insulated terminals such as Raychem that are used on airplanes are NOT covered in shrink-wrap.  It's some kind of hard plastic shell and you'd better have the right tool to crimp them because your average needle-nose pliers won't do it.  The types from Canon have a rating, and they have the nerve to print the military test standard on the box, and for all that paper you get to pay more.  Guys like you and me sitting in the nose-bleed section get can afford to buy the other stuff. 

[Mary B]

Anderson Powerpoles are a far better DC connector, you do not need to use them in pairs but singles I would use heat shrink over it to prevent it pulling apart if you need to work on the box and move wires to get at something. Get the crimper, you will have better results! http://www.westmountainradio.com/order-form.php scroll down to "Accessories: Power: Connectors and Crimp tools" and the top entry is the crimper. Below it the power poles.

[Scruff]

In my experience batteries get the blame for charger problems most of the time. 

It's not shrink wrap it's a PVC/Nylon insulated terminal. Known as "push on", "fast-on" & "Lucar" the heat is derived from the clearance being too great in the friction fit connector. Hence the squeezing them before install. That solves one problem, corrosion will make them loose with time. This is another problem.
The one in the photo was 1.5mm² cable on a 16A PowerCon True Connector making it a 16A connector with a designed load of 10A that shriveled at 8A continuous.
Anderson are good but the problem is the interfacing device/appliance is not often Anderson. Battery tabs and fuse holders for instance.
If presented with the option an alternative screw terminal eyelet interface is far more wholesome.

Yes, ratings can vary a lot. I usually defer to IEE regardless of manufacturer spec.
35mm² cable IEE rating is 150A rated.
35mm² Thin Wall Automotive is 240A rated

[Scruff]

I did a barge recce today.

For the record I don't own or want a boat, I work on them and I like to play with them...they're like grandkids.
I'm a road boater and I have enough craic plugging leaks in Vans without wanting to worry about sinking.

What you're about to see despite what I'm about to point out is one of the best installs I've yet to come across. That's for perspective, the bar is not high in this field. This is a professional boat fitters work. I've seen far far worse.



Let's start in the Engine Bay and work forwards.

The powerplant is a Yanmar something or other




3 Alternators! Count 'em!



160A House battery....not operational

-50A Engine Battery....not operational




Unknown amp 230V Genverter


Genverter regulator



660Ah look like they're working very expensive AGMs and a flooded engine battery. No retention...meh! freshwater boat....20ton maybe...



Cable loading imbalanced, differential charge and draw issues.

Complete with janky isolators (not Switch-Disconnects)
Alternators are switched.   



Twin calorifiers, no accumulators or expansion vessels found.



1kW mains elements, hydronic diesel & engine coolant fed.



Right posh that hydronic yolk.

That Diode Splitter will be deleted first opportunity. Function unknown, charge limitation device suspected.

Hydronic coolant expansion vessel installed in the master electrical distribution closet.



Charming Bilge Pump installation with float switch



50' boat. one bilge pump, one float switch. No manual pump found.



I see more like that than good installs.
They're sacrificial aren't they? Like anodes. It's only a life-saving device.



Wrapped exhaust...take off that wrap and you'll understand why it's a terrible idea in Ireland on a boat.


Into the companionway

Engine cluster not visible from the tiller position.



Low voltage alarm disconnected...that's how we fix defective alternators dontcha know.




12V Circuit breaker panel



Labels not required.



Backlight disconnected...no point no labels.
Nobody bothered to cut the cable ties for 10 years.


Impossible to read from anywhere Habitation Gauge Cluster



Reassuringly Expensive


Mains Master Distro



One Defective RCD
Lighting and sockets on same MCB

Calorifier elements isolated from inverter.



DIY interlocking Shore/Genverter/Inverter (two of these are true) changeover system

& a Galvanic Isolator that despite being obsolete for the last 20 years are still being fitted.

No isolation transformer found.
DC ground to hull to earth impedance 30Ω



Genverter not neutralised. The not working RCD can't work underway.


Somebody involved was a Sterling Fan. I am not.



I can't say their devices fail to meet specification because they're very wishy-washy specifications.
I do know they're 120A input B2B units only output 90A.
I have opened their products and found cheap as we can build it manufacturing with badcaps heros inside.

These above-pictured units have stifled cooling. They live in a closed cabinet. The inverter heats the Battery to battery charger. The 210A not operational (because alternator not operational) battery to battery unit is mounted sideways making the lower heatsink semi-redundant and the fan is pushing against a closed cabinet door during normal operation.

I can exceed these battery to battery unit's performance with intelligent cable gauge and routing. For a quarter of the cost.

Sterling inverter has a 70A charger fed from Genverter. I bet those alternators get toasty hot, air-cooled in a sealed locker with no head-wind.


On to the kitchen.



Mains fixture in an extractor fan duct. Good or bad idea?




Under counter lighting. Horrible colour. Janky connector block.
You know I can wire entire installations and not use any of those? Just saying!

12v Fridge



5 times the normal fridge price.



Rebranded Danfoss compressor.

In a stifled cabinet, no external insulation, no active cooling. I can triple the efficiency in 4 hours.

On a janky chocy-block.




Mains sockets



on artic flex...all I can say is it's not wrong.

Mains lighting throughout...



Why?
12v installation.
Dya think that Sterling inverter lump is reliable?
Or efficient?
Or you might want to let it go to sleep ever?
...and they're filthy fluorescents.
...what happens if a socket trips? (answer above)

Mains dimmers



At least it's earthed, and thanks for the neutral. Now I can get 12V dimmers for 12v lights for €3...any takers?

Radio



Yurp...that's normal!

12v receptacle.



Nothing melty....yet.


Moving forward Prow aka front locker if this boat had a windlass which it doesn't.



Bow thruster and an alternator starved starting battery resting 8V with another janky isolator.

Shurflo fresh water pump.
500L freshwater tank.

Zero cable retention or stress relief hard mounting points found.

First agenda, fix nothing!
1.5kWp of solar!   

[tanner0441]

Hi

If that boat has shore power i hope it has a Galvanic Isolator or the Sacrificial anodes won't last long, longer than sea water but they will go, also the screw in anodes in the engine.

The last ten years before I retired I worked as a marine electrician on Off Shore Power Boats, and I seen a few prop shafts and props that spent the winter unused and plugged into shore power.

Brian.

[Scruff]

Hi Brian,

I'm happy to be corrected on this but I believe galvanic isolators [clicky] are placebo devices.
It has one but it's either not working or bypassed. The entire system needs an overhaul...I'd be springboarding it by selling off the big diode devices and Sterling lumps. They fetch a good price and I can get better with change leftover I reckon.

The best solution is recommended to be isolation transformers. Then if you look up a lottov wiring schematics on tinternet you'll find they're made redundant by earthing input to output.

I have another tactic which is to use the charger and isolation transformer budget to acquire a very large galvanically isolated charger then run all AC loads all the time from a stand-alone low-frequency inverter.
As much as possible all loads of a 12v installation would be 12v where practical to enable the inverter to hibernate and be a reserve for large loads. This improves device longevity and system efficiency.

In effect the only shore powered load is the charger(s) and everything is indirectly run from them. The efficiency is the same as an iso traffo. There is an improvement in functionality, weight & space savings. Parallel chargers will improve redundancy and output capability.

Where do we find big galvanically isolated chargers? Well, we'll be fitting big charge controllers for a modest solar array....how about hybridise those..

Anodes are 6 months old, I have not checked if they're connected to the earth bus.

[tanner0441]

Hi

there are two types of isolators I have encountered one is large value capacitors the other is capacitors and diodes. Its basic function is to remove and DC path between system ground and shore power ground. Out of curiosity I hammered a length of copper pipe into the marina bed at low tide and using a Transistor Volt Metermeasured the PD between the pipe and the boat ground. I had a reading that varied between 400mV and 700mV that was over a week, didn't get chance to measure the current I was instruced to remove the copper pipe and don't do it again.  ooops.

I will try to sort out a couple of photos at the back of the distribution panels. American boats, rats nest of aluminium wiring. The Italian boats were copper.

Brian

[Scruff]

Two head melting topics, earthing and galvanic isolation. Hey let's tackle both in the same installation. 

I TN-S earth because I understand it and avoid most of the rest. It's for the same reason I like transformers for isolation.

I think the capacitors in galvanic isolators have to be sized according to the ac injection which is variable with load so not possible dial it in when clients could be using any number of RFI emitters at once. It's like pf correcting a building with a one size fits all device.

They can't hurt, like I wouldn't remove one without having a more suitable replacement. I must figure out how to galvan-o-scope.

Welding cable is the most prevalent here. Nothing wrong with it if it's terminated correctly; glue lined heat-shrink and closed end lugs. Most lugs have bloomin' inspection holes these days...still a decent crimper will sort that side out.

I never assume a cable is the right colour for it's application. A lottov diyers run outtov red first then use the black instead. Or any mains cable that were lying around.

Ever seen an electric shower on a plugboard with a 12v pump isolator? 

[tanner0441]

Solve galvanic isolation problems in one sweep,, Cover the roof in solar panels.

As for capacitors keeping DC out of the earth rail it worries me how many capacitors I have come across with the terminals corroded off. If I have a chance of being up to my ankles in water I want an earth that works.

There is a small A4 booklet you can get done by one of the anode companies called Corosion explaned. I think it is a download from the internet.

An interesting one is corosion giving a nice feather edge to the prop that is suffering from cavitation pitting..

Brian.

[Scruff]

I'm a big fan of permanent earths. I don't do this boaty switched earth thing. I switch the neutral.
I'm gonna tackle it from an; if I can measure it I can improve it point of view, but I'm totally agreed, solar roof on the way. Shore power is almost as expensive as diesel in some moorings. The perhaps soon to be boat owners of that vessel are keen for life without a trailing lead...that is my vocation.

[Scruff]

The charger was still absorbing at 130% SOC 24 hours later...I ended the test without checking the kWh counter. Sometimes MS controllers have difficulty delatching when you feed them power supplies, I may have a closer look at that.

Maybe I ought to backtrack a little...

So Lead-Fi's Mk-I battery was made of orphans I picked up off a floor and resuscitated. 2 of the 24Ahs and 4 of the 7Ahs were beyond saving.

I was testing the remaining two 24Ahs and the ProStar did that perma-absorp thing I mentioned...

Low and behold 500% charge later I had two more Dodos.



I initially thought they were weak cells went bad...alas no I killed them.
  You get used to it, I kill a lottov gear...Proto-House! Eggs and omelettes sortov deal...I'm far less complacent with other peoples' equipment and I have this new stop blowing up stuff policy....it's working not bad...

Anywhoo....I was in touch with MorningStar (love them), 6 hours later I had the answer.

That dead battery is on me.
I ticked the I'm a grown-up box and I assume my own accountability.



It's this bit here



Disable Float cancel if feeding MPPTs power supplies.

What it does is cancel the float stage for an entire day/night cycle if the threshold is passed.
A PSU day is not like a solar array day. It's voltage sensed.

All this time I thought that parameter was a return to absorption if load compensated voltage sags below threshold...shucks.

Still my golf cart battery loves it's trips to 120% SOC. I never EQ it.
I guess that's what's been in my secret sauce...

I might run that round trip efficiency test again so....there's also a PSU driven relay coil and an LVD relay coil embedded load.

[Scruff]

WuPoG is nearly done...whoop!
I started her almost two years ago now if scratchings on a cigarette packet are considered starting blocks. She sat on the "I'll get to you later shelf" for a year of that.



Front Panel finished bar labels.

Functional Pulp Fiction Light installed on lid latch.



Lid loom ran, cable support track mounted, case restraint come cable track formed and fitted.

The lid is waiting on panel mount banana sockets for genstart then it's just software adjustment so I'll have plentya time to witter on about ApprenticeVolt's design engineering shortcomings.



PE Stud installed. External 12Vdc socket for LEDs and what-have-yous mounted.

Blimey! Those LEDs are so bright even a photo stings my eyes!

[Scruff]

What you're about to see despite what I'm about to point out is one of the best installs I've yet to come across. That's for perspective, the bar is not high in this field. This is a professional boat fitters work. I've seen far far worse.

This landed in my inbox thuther week. Can I fix it for €200?..

Another barge...closer to average.



Forklift engine, diesel.




Krusty "Leisure" battery




Hairy scary engine battery.




Anaemic panel on feeble inappropriate cable




A you'd-be-better-off-without-it solar regulator




Stuff of Nightmares




Am I the only installer that uses positive cable retention for mechanical stress relief?




Inspiring




No comment


I quoted €10k...I haven't heard back..

[Scruff]

I've a few more updates;

Your assortment of panels looks like my mishmash.

I'm highly suspicious they're underperforming...there's 3 different breeds...hard to tell with all this rain we're having.
Someone will be along to fix those any day month now.

I doubled the array output with some branch connectors. The thin-film panels were acting as a current limit. I split them 160W and 240W...because I ran outtov branches. I reckon I can do better if I parallel 4 and lose one.

An ideal array has equal Imp current on every series input.

I've a loada proper job panels en-route. If yer GTI isn't pegged yer array is too small!


Battery Hospital:

I added a relay to drive the slave SS MPPT aux 12v battery. While you can put the battery on the load terminals....if you are careful (if you don't know what that means then don't) you shouldn't and MorningStar say you shouldn't...I have often and never had an issue but...it's a 15A controller...



The Battery Hospital is now full compliment.



I've a truck engine starting battery.

A 200Ah 24v Gel Hire Stock battery.

A car battery (car jacked up for overhaul service)

A client's Bow Thruster battery (recovered already)

A police EV

And Lead-Fi is hanging out; done and ready for the field.



That external connector for an external extension battery doubles as an external charger input. Her electronics are offline.

Speaking of...

That Studer load sense sleep function...in practical application never works. It either stops working when your phone is half-charged, doesn't sleep when you want it to or the latest discovery is none of my makita angle grinders will fire up because they're all soft starting and can't find a zero-cross!
They're my go to tools!



I pulled these outtov her. The Omron was acting up. Err..yes it is a 48V coil on a 24v system..what about it? It was arcing, latching, not delatching...I bent the switch a few times and got it reasonably reliable then said eff' it. I don't want to be getting phone calls about my hire stock.

Thuther relay was for SOC disconnect...it didn't work out because the BEP monitor is a lemon.

She's sporting a Crydom SSR Motor starting 12A jobber now....oooh smachy!


 

[Scruff]

WuPoG got wheels. And Genstart.
...don't buy cheap wheels...I hate them already...I fall on my sword for you good folk!
She's mechanically complete, some testing, software adjustment and ranting to follow.




Battery Hospital 12v/24v extension module on the drawing board.




Li-Fi is loaded and going into the field. She's my workhorse solar enabled shore power, iso traffo for upcoming boat fixering.




I had a look at that Sterling lump on the boat. Ya get what you pay for. The sine of a good inverter is very telling at the peaks. That's the worst I've seen comparing, Victron, MasterVolt, Studer & MorningStar. They're bottom of the big league them Sterlings.

I'm onna 160A alternator resurrection mission tomorrow amongst other targets of opportunity. I'm gonna delete that Sterling aternator to battery charger and supercede it with a cable...sell it to pay for the cable, a used TriStar PWM and all the switchgear for solar hot water diversion...Mwahaha!

[Mary B]

Those boat wiring jobs are scary! My dad was a state electrical inspector s I had it drilled into me to do it right! That last boat starting battery with ZERO fuses is a fire waiting to happen!

[Scruff]

tehehe no fuses?..that's normal...welcome to the wild west.

I try to do it right so it works right. Don't you worry Mary B I have some right posh fuses inbound you'll be right impressed!
I don't fuse starter motors or alternators though. If you blow an alternator B+ fuse the alternator sets fire. I have done this. 
...except the fuse was conceptual...the cable fell off the terminal.

So Froya is the present name of the pretty boat. The previous owner said it only ever did 60A charge.



That's one of three alternators having removed the Sterling Alternator to battery charger. and put a cable from the alternator onto the battery 1' away....not 7meters to a boost regulator and back sharing a feeder with an inverter...
The lump is not working and the 160A alternator was redundant maybe since forever.

I'm gonna autopsy the Sterling, if I can't diagnose the problem in 2 hours I'm not going to bother.

[Scruff]

There's nothing wrong with that sterling lump. In fact, it's never been used. The original professional installer never flagged that it doesn't work with PMG alternators. They fitted a £500 box to a £400 alternator and signed off without testing it...despite having fitted a £400 battery meter that you can't read a meter away.



I lost a SmartBank in the prototype. Death by reverse polarity flyback diode on the contactor. Smatbank doesn't indicate coil polarity...well in a way it does, smoke signals...bit old school.



I made a block diagram of the 250A charge system upspec...the +60A genverter to combi inverter charger is not mentioned but chargers don't often stack they share load and confuse each other into premature float. One usually tells thuther to back off, net gain nil unless the battery is pancaked. Not really an issue with diesel electric, most people turn them off before the battery is charged because they either got where they are going or their head's wrecked with the noise and smell.



I noticed that when li-fi feeds a sterling inverter-charger she's using 140A and the Sterling lump is charging with 70A. I bet they used a cheap traffo. Li-Fi's inverter is a measured 85% > 90% efficient. I'll bring my own charger next time I'm doing a shore to ship electron upload.

[Artful Bodger]

If the Sterling wasn't being used, what's the scope shot from. It doesn't even look like mains as the zero on the scope isn't half way.
Are all these boats Irish, or just parked up on holiday waiting to set fire to themselves.
No internal fusing on the not so smartbank. A real shame that.

[Scruff]

There's two sterling lumps. Ones an inverter charger thuther is an over-rated glorified boost regulator.

Thats the ProCombi S shot. I had the scope focus on the peak.

The boats are Irish owned in Irish waterways. British built or further afield usually. If it's not a potato we don't make it.

Well in defence of the smartbank which is the best vaguely intelligent automatic split charge controller in production that I've found. I get them for peanuts from broken NHS vehicles, it's not usually coupled with 400A relays with onboard flyback diodes. It has an internal flyback...I reckon that's the part that let the most smoke out...at least as much as the one on the contactor.

[Scruff]

This is Li-Fi just for comparison




ooh g'wan have a really bad example...this is Durshyte...Mod. Square




I'm not a fan of blue boxes either




Honourable Mention MS SureSine.