Showing posts with label with. Show all posts
Showing posts with label with. Show all posts
Friday, 31 March 2017
Battery Replacement with Balanced Interconnections
Solace has three battery banks. One bank is in the forward cabin and has a long run of wire. I added two batteries to that bank (#3) in 2007 because we were going cruising and needed the extra battery capacity. I had no other place to place the extra two batteries and hence the unequal array of batteries. But there was nothing I could do about that. You have to put the batteries where space dictates.
It is now time to change all the batteries (my oldest battery is 12 years old) and it doesn't pay to mix old batteries with new. In changing the batteries I intend to fix some of the (lack of) balance in the system.
One of the things I have done, is to have all three banks combined all the time. There are reasons for this; namely the bigger the bank and the smaller the discharge percentage before recharging, the more recharge cycles one will get out of the batteries.
Here is a diagram of my boats wiring diagram for the three battery banks I have. I have been long aware that the draw from the 3 banks, which are always combined together is not balanced and the charge to the batteries is also not balanced. I'll try to explain.
A common method used to connect batteries, and then feed the load, are all taken from one end, i.e. from the end battery like in the diagram to the left.
The interconnecting leads do have some resistance. It will be low, but it still exists, and at the level of charge and discharge currents we see in these combined batteries, the resistance will be significant. In fact, it will have a measurable effect.
Often the batteries are linked together with heavy cable around 35mm. 35mm copper cable has a resistance of around 0.0006 Ohms per metre so the 20cm length between each battery will have a resistance of 0.00012 Ohms. This, looks like it is nothing to worry about. But add to this the potential 0.0002 Ohms for each connection, such as cable to crimp, crimp to battery post, we find that the resistance between each battery post is around 0.0015 Ohms. Plus the batteries themselves have an internal resistance of about 0.02ohms
So armed with that data we can then look at each battery to determine the draw.What ever we draw from this battery bank (say100amps), most would think the draw is evenly divided (25amps) between the four batteries. Least that's what we may think. But that's not the case; when you take the internal resistance and add that to the cable resistance the batteries supply a different amount. Without going into the calculations it would look like this
First battery draws 39.5 amps
The next battery up draws 26.2 amps.
The next battery up draws 20.4 amps.
The top battery draws 17.8 amps.
What can we deduce from these numbers? Clearly, the first battery is working harder than the last, but because the first battery looses capacity quicker, the other three will start to take more of the load. Because of the unbalanced nature of this battery bank, the bank as a whole will age faster than if it was properly balanced. Also the charging input works to the same inbalance; the first battery will receive more charge than the last battery in the line.
So how do we change the battery set up to give a more balanced draw and charge. Look at the next picture
What has changed in this diagram is that the main feeds to the rest of the installation are now taken from diagonally opposite posts.
It is simple to achieve but the difference in the results are truly astounding for such a simple modification of moving one of the connecting leads; everything else in the installation remains identical.
The results of this modification, when compared to the original numbers are shown below. It was simply done with one single connection being moved.
The bottom battery provides 26.7 amps of this.
The next battery up provides 23.2 amps.
The next battery up provides 23.2 amps.
The top battery provides 26.7 amps.
Clearly these numbers are better than those shown in the first example. But we can improve on this too.
One final method I'll present here gives a complete balance to the bank
It is quite simple to achieve but requires two terminal posts, by which the short leads, all which must be of the same length and size, are connected to the terminal posts.
The difference in results between this and the prior example are much smaller than the differences between the 1st and 2nd (which are enormous) but with expensive batteries it might be worth the additional work.
And here's what I have changed to (picture below). Simply, I have changed the interconnections for the batteries on Bank 3. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about one bank (#3) being so far from the other two.
- When motoring the alternator can supply to Bank 1,2, and 3, individually or combined. Because mine are usually combined, Bank 3 will lag behind in charging compared to Bank 1 and 2 (because of the small resistance in the long run to Bank 3's batteries). Solar and wind will not charge because my set point for the alternator is set higher than the wind/solar and therefor the wind/solar see's the batteries as being charged and dumps their load.
- Alternatively, when motoring, I can have Bank 3 turned off and have the alternator charge Bank 1 and 2; OR turn off 1 & 2 and charge #3.
- When at anchor with no motor going, wind/solar charges all three Banks.. I have the option of turning Bank 1 and 2 off to give Bank 3 a faster charge.
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
With Pancho and Lefty
I delay my start by 15 minutes talking with a goose hunter who is about to go out on the last day of the season. He knows the area well and understands the terrain. We have a good talk.
I head up the Neck River, the tide nearing high, with a good flood current aiding my progress and making the land swiftly pass by. The Sneak will be an easy passage if it is ice free. We had a recent snow of a foot or so that was followed by rain. The weight has finally crushed the spartina flat and the marsh takes on a tired and worn look. This is of course, just a pause in the life of the marsh before it grows green and lush and provides a place for the birds that will come with the spring migration.
The tune of "Pancho and Lefty" plays in silence in my head. It is a good tune for the canoe, even if I don't know the words. I read water as I paddle, tracking on bubbles and bits of plant material, watching it swirl or cross the channel, watching it shift direction to avoid some well submerged obstruction. My favorite read is the delicate thin line, so fine that it could very well be a loose fishing line, a strand of spider web that shows the discontinuity between two currents that differ by almost nothing. The lines can be 20 or 30 ft long and I try to steer clear of them in hope that they will go on forever.
There are a good number of geese in the center of Ox Meadow, the lower marsh now having a name...that I learned the name from one of the locals on one of those stream side chats. Some of the geese flush and some of them stay. I'm never closer than 200 yards.
I turn at Foote Bridge with a quick greeting to two women setting out for a hike in the forest. The tide is almost slack, hard to tell if it is ebbing or barely flooding...so it makes no difference.
I retrace my route back to the sea having experienced one of the most beautiful days of the winter.
Saturday, 3 September 2016
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Sunday, 17 January 2016
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Sunday, 18 October 2015
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Friday, 9 January 2015
Hangin with the locals in S Caicos
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| Our pet tire (an old mooring). Where, oh where is the tire today? |
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| Sunset over the town of Cockburn Harbour, S Caicos |
I sleep until almost 6:30 am. As the sun rises, the sky and the water appear as one. The wind has gone calm so we're hovering over our anchor and an old tire (an old mooring) appears off our stern. At 8:00, the locals head out in small boats to go fishing (we're in the lobster and conch preserve). We head in at 9:00 am for a walk and meet Patrick from the other anchored sailboat and help him carry his jerry cans over to the marina. He loves it here despite "there's nothing here." We hear that a lot but if there is a store, a bar and wifi, we're happy. Pavlidis makes it sound like a bustling little community, but we only find one store open--the grocery at the marina. The locals seem friendly, but everything seems locked up. Where is everyone? It's a surprisingly peaceful anchorage after Sapodilla. Kelly Nicole swings by to say they didn't find much happening in town either and depart when they see Patrick stopping by their boat. At 2:30, we head back in. We grab internet at the market then get directions to Ocean View Resort, in hopes of snagging a wifi password. We get lost on the "5-10 min walk", but they do have nice paved roads here. We should bring our bicycles in. We see people from the resort riding bicycles into town. We spot some (wild!) Flamingoes out in the salt flats and find the horse thats leaving treats on the road. No wifi at the resort, but we did snag a great lobster salad. When we get back, a local meets us at the dinghy dock and invites us to the new bar that just opened. "Tomorrow." The winds start to kick up to 20 kts out of the NE around 7:00 pm, but we're tucked in close to the island and are nicely sheltered. It's howling through the hatches but comfortable on the boat. At least it's cooled down.
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| The salt pond. There are flamingos out there-I swear! |
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| H blew out another flip flop. Stepped on a pop top |
The wind lightens and switches to east in the morning. A lazy day on the boat reading. I dig out our Spanish for Cruisers and start practicing. We are down to half on our main water tank (+2 jerry cans so 35/9=4 gal/day) after 10 days with 20- gal aux as back up. Back to town for internet (our biggest complaint is lack of internet at the boat and I regret not trying harder to buy a sim card while in Provo. When the cafe gets internet, at least we won't have to stand in the grocery store). Gucci, the local greeter, meets us at the dock, ties off our dinghy and invites us to the cafe. "The restaurant is open?!" We love a spot to people watch, mingle with the locals and GET OFF THE BOAT for awhile. A restaurant is perfect, but every inhabited island at least has a bar.
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| This rusty old fishing boat is my muse. The sunrise and color of the water are breathtaking, but despite numerous pictures with all three cameras, I can't capture my view from the cockpit. Sad. |
We see a weather window coming, so we head into town to have another "strategy meeting" with Kelly Nicole and end up having lunch with sv Briet (Halberg Rassey 34), an Australian single-handing and also pilot (originally from Holland who used to fly for KLM & just got his seaplane rating). He has a cracked cyclinder head, and has been waiting 2 weeks for a part from Europe. He's sailed around the world--over 40,000 miles over 14 years and he can tell some stories. We should have been taking notes!. He told us about almost being shot while fighting a 50-kt current in the Red Sea ("Don't go there.") and surviving the tsunami in Thailand while on an ARC Rally: "It seemed like low tide, and I was considering shortening my anchor scope. When I looked back, there was a 20 ft wall of water heading into the harbor. It knocked my boat on it's side but the anchor held. There were a couple more waves and most people drug." Yes, we asked. It was a Manson anchor! Got it! He is headed to Palm Beach, FL to ship his boat back home. "I'm done. I'm going home to fly seaplanes." (He bought a Sea Ray kit). We end up staying at the bar with Kelly Nicole until 6:30 pm--three waiters/waitresses later...
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| Internet "cafe". It ain't Starbucks--it's the marina market. |
The boys head in to clear out. Apparently, the locals take turns greeting us at the dock and after tying up, he flags down Immigration in the market parking lot. We head in to catch some internet and do some more downloads (charts, kindle books, FB). The boys head over to the other dock for Customs, who tells them to come back at 3. I was going to duck outside, but end up chatting with fellow cruisers then a local who explains the local fishing boats are American boats, stripped to a bar frame to save weight, then fiberglassed with big engines. We discuss the positive and negative of the new resort on the island, the students from the College of Field Studies and the future for their children, He also explains that our young waiters/waitresses seem bashful because they are reserved and many have an inferiority complex. Interesting insight.
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| Anchored off Admiral's Aquarium |
The forecast for today wasn't ideal, but we were hoping to knock out 24 miles (and cross the trench) to stage for Luperon. However, both boats decide to abort for calmer winds and less seas tomorrow (it would have been a rolly anchorage also). The winds switch to SE, sending waves right into mouth of harbour, so we move to over to the anchorage next to Admiral's Aquarium, where we are sheltered by Long Cay. We finally get in a snorkel and see sand dollars, a scrawled tilefish that changed from blue/green to white when he saw us, a sand tilefish disappearing into his burrow, sea urchins, heart urchins and a sea cucumber.
We wake up to 20 kt winds. We delay, hoping the winds will decrease in time for the "short hop" to Big Sand Cay. We could leave as late as 1:00 pm (or even later if we anchored after dark), but eventually decide to sit tight, and go straight through to Luperon tomorrow. If we don't leave first thing, we lose motivation, so we sink into a leisurely routine. Reading, naps. Laundry is vetoed until we get more water. My afternoon swim turns into a bottom scrub with 3 baby rays to keep me company. (I get a glimpse of Mama the next morning. Huge--3 ft across!)
Total: 8 loonnnnngggg days
Monday, 8 September 2014
Out With the Elf
My friend, Mike, joins me today. We paddled together last during May, a 150 mile trip down the Yakima River. We do the Harrison portage, setting out on the very calm big lake with bright sun behind us. I point out ducks as we move north when an otter pops up. It is busy opening a small clam and works the shell while watching us. As I get to my camera, it dives and reappears a few moments later some 60 or 70 yards away.
The canoe moves quick and steady with the two of us padding. Mike is using a paddle that I made for him and he likes it much better than the wide blade Sawyer that he used previously. It is also good to see that the paddling technique that he developed during our spring trip is still with him.
It is calm as we get to the bay with what are probably the south nest eagles on perches near the east marsh. We don't see them hunt and they fly off to the far side of the point that makes the east shore of the bay. From a mile away, I spot the swans and I count six today. Ducks are scattered about the bay in what are best described as loose flocks. We break through a thin layer of ice to get into the NE lagoon and walk the new trail out to the road, just to know where it comes in from. I need to get a photo and thank mike for dressing like one of Santa's elves.
There is thick ice in the west island channels, so we follow the outer cattail edge on the alert for a snipe. We flush two at once. Then we head into the s lagoon as far as the ice and back out. Mike hasn't had enough yet, so we paddle the crossing under place and then head west and down the dead lake direct into a brilliant winter sun.
Tuesday, 19 August 2014
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Saturday, 16 August 2014
Installing the Simrad SGO5 steer by wire autopilot and playing with the Sea Station
Most of my autopilot installs I just grind out. Do the plumbing and contain the oily mess. Punch holes in the dash for control displays. Add NMEA network pieces, hang black boxes, and connect a bunch of wires. At the end of the job I smell like I've showered in hydraulic fluid, and dried off with a sweat soaked rag. It's very close to the truth. This autopilot system install is different, and different is good. No plumbing, no greasy fluids, few parts and it was easy-ish. This boat also has some very new Sea Star tech I had the opportunity to play with and really liked.
This is a new center console boat with a nice factory installed Simrad system. Twin 16" NSS displays, CHIRP sonar and Halo radar. The boat is also equipped with a SeaStar Optimus 360 joystick steering system, and hence why we need a steer by wire autopilot.
To do this install we only need two major pieces. The first is the Simrad SG05 you see above. There are several flavors of this unit seen above with the primary difference being cabling and interfacing for other steer by wire systems like Volvo's EVC/IPS and others.
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The other important part is we need a compass, and in this case it's the new Simrad Precision 9. It's simple to mount, and even easier to adjust. There is just one cable that connects it to the NMEA 2000 network.
Before we get started take a look at the diagram. The SG05 is a gateway that translates NMEA 2000 into CANbus that the Optimus system understands. NMEA in, CANbus out and vice versa. So one cable (SimNet) goes to the NMEA 2000 network, and the other (the permanently installed one) goes to the CANbus network. Don't mix these two up.
We are also using the NSS display in place of an autopilot head. This saves another hole in the dash and the cost of the autopilot stand alone control head.
We are also using the NSS display in place of an autopilot head. This saves another hole in the dash and the cost of the autopilot stand alone control head.
It's not in the installation instructions, but is covered in a Navico service bulletin. We have to isolate the power to the Optimus system. In other words we can't let the N2K network power connect to the Optimus CANbus system. A small inline isolator takes care of this. I made sure you can read the Simrad part number for the little thingy.
The connections are very simple. The SG05 connects to the NMEA 2000 network with a SimNet to device net (regular N2K tee) cable. The permanently installed cable connects to the Optimus CANbus network. In my case I pulled a termination resistor and moved it to what will be the end of the network. The photo shows the result. Add tie wraps and the physical installation is done. My elapsed time is about four hours and it's time to set it up on the briny.
Set up is generally straight forward. You start by calibrating the compass. Look to the left at the vertical sliding menu. Click on Network, then Device list, and then Precision 9 compass. Now click Calibrate.
Like any compass set up you want low wind and fairly calm water conditions. Press Calibrate and start a turn in either direction with the goal being a full 360 rotation in about 1.5 to 2 minutes. It's not rocket science and the system will grumble at you if you're too slow or fast. Keep turning until it says it's done. My calibration only needed two turns. The Precision 9 compass was on the money when it was first installed, and retained it's correct heading after calibration. It's within a degree of a steady COG and that's as good as it gets.
The autopilot setup is a bit more nuanced. Locate on the vertical sliding menu and click on the Autopilot followed by Commissioning.
This is not the page I actually used. I lifted this screen grab from a Simrad demo boat at the NMEA conference. The software display is somewhat generic and this page is tweaked depending on the gear attached to it. In my case Sailboat was grayed out and the only two available boat types were displacement and outboard. Follow the screen instructions and fill in any blanks. Transition speed for a power boat is the lowest speed needed to maintain a comfortable plane.
Point the boat in a direction that gives you about a mile forward of maneuverability. Set the throttle to the recommended speed, press Autotune and let go of the helm. The best speed for a planing vessel is the highest speed you can go with no notable bow rise. This is around 7 or 8kts up to around 10 to 12kts tops. Bow rise will affect the tuning and make sure your seat back table is secure and trim tabs are in their fully upright position.
This is the part I like the best. In days of yore it would a tedious hour or two manually tuning the autopilot while plowing back and forth in the bay. Tweak the counter rudder and do it again, add some gain, oops not good reduce the gain. What happens now during an autotune at a very macro level is the pilot commands a turn of say 5 degrees. It uses its sensors to measure what actually happened and makes some algorithm changes to optimize. Repeat and with large and small turns and you can tell you're near the end when the boat straightens out and steers straight and it's done.
The autopilot works perfectly. Minimal cross track error and a clean dead straight wake. In fact the Optimus is doing the steering and is being told what to do by the Simrad pilot. Total time to do the install was six hours, and I could easily slash two hours off the next time I do it now that I have read all of the docs and lived the installation dream.
So is it suitable for DIY install. I think the answer is yes if you have some familiarity with NMEA and CANbus networks. The tricky part you might need some help with is identifying the CANbus network and where to do the interface. If you're not sure then get professional help. I have seen what happens if you wire it incorrectly and it is not pretty or predictable.
So is it suitable for DIY install. I think the answer is yes if you have some familiarity with NMEA and CANbus networks. The tricky part you might need some help with is identifying the CANbus network and where to do the interface. If you're not sure then get professional help. I have seen what happens if you wire it incorrectly and it is not pretty or predictable.
This boat as you now know has a SeaStar Optimus 360 joystick steering system. It also has the new "Sea Station" option which I believe was formally introduced at the IBEX show this week while I was there. Not to step on others terminology who in turn stole it from many others this is a sky hook system. Translated, the boat has the ability to hold a stopped position with a further option to hold the position with a specific heading.
To pull this off they have dual GPS's in a housing and uses them to calculate both position and the heading without the need for a compass. The Sea Station also has a small display for set up and advising what mode the system is currently using.
It works really well but what impressed me even more is how well and gracefully the joystick steering works. I have been on many boats with joystick steering and in general they all worked well and did their job. But to be honest the shifting of the engines on most of these boats have all seemed to have a sense of violence about it. The clanking and banging and jumping of the engines makes me wince and at the same time wondering it they are using shaped charge explosives to shift the engines. Well it's not that bad, but it makes me think the transmission life will likely be shortened. The Telefex Optimus 360 is devoid of most of this. They have some secret sauce software and interfaces that hugely reduces the number of times it needs to shift the engines in the first place, and when it shifts it does it smoothly. It's the best Joystick system I have used to date and the Sea Station option functions smoothly and quietly even in fairly strong winds.
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