ON BIANKA'S BOOKSHELF: Books of an electric sailor

I've seen a number of posts recently  on various sailing sites of people wanting to find books on gaining knowledge about all things electrical on board their boats. I have two books on board BIANKA that I consider worth having on board. One is Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual: How to Maintain, Repair, and Improve Your Boat's Essential Systems by Nigel Calder.

My dog eared and oil stained copy has been on board since I first purchased BIANKA back in 1995. Since I converted to electric propulsion there are now whole chapters concerning diesel engines and alternators I can now ignore. But, others especially those concerning electrical wiring and extensive coverage of batteries have come in very handy. For example I purchased a heavy duty crimper to make the crimps on the 2 AWG wire interconnects for the electric propulsion battery bank. Unfortunately, my crimper had markings only for metric sized wires. I opened Calders book and found a conversion chart that allowed me to set the crimper to the proper setting. It's information like that which can save the day when you are in some far away anchorage trying to make repairs.The Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual : How to Maintain, Repair, and Improve Your Boat's Essential Systems is also available for the Kindle.

The other book which I find useful is  Boatowner's Illustrated Electrical Handbook by Charlie Wing. It contains a lot of information about the various electrical systems one would find on board and the theory of how they work. There's DC and AC theory covered as well as things like bonding and corrosion issues. Wiring color codes and a number of charts and formulas as well. The Boatowner's Illustrated Electrical Handbook is also available as a Kindle e-book download. 

Both books are worthy of the space they take up on board. Both are very useful if you just want to understand about electrical systems and devices on board your boat, need to do some repairs or even rewire your boat. After converting to electric propulsion I find them even more valuable to have on board.

BATTERY INVESTIGATION PART FIVE: Some Good News!

It's been about two weeks since I last looked at the battery issue concerning the most negative battery in the 48 volt propulsion string on BIANKA. The battery passed the Centech Battery Analyzer and load tests but, would not fully charge using the on board and an external battery charger. I suspected that the parasitic loads on the battery by the Paktrakr battery monitor (which draws it's operating power from that battery) might be the cause of the problem. So two weeks ago before I left the boat I disconnected the Paktrakr from the battery and just left the solar panels and ProStar PS-15M-48V Morningstar Charge Controller
 to keep charging the battery in the mean time. I went back on board recently and fired up the Dual Pro Professional Series PS4 4 Bank 15 Amp Battery Charger and got some good news:



So after about two weeks without the parasitic drain from the Paktrakr the suspect battery's charging has improved. Three minutes later after plugging in the Dual Pro charger I got even better news:



The flashing green lights mean that the Dual Pro considers the battery to be somewhere between 90 and 99% charged. This was a big improvement since the last time I tried to charge the suspect battery. So it seems that over time the Paktrakr's parasitic load was affecting the charging ability of the fourth battery in the 48 volt string. I continued to let the bank charge with the Dual Pro charger and an hour later I got even better news as shown below:



The suspect battery now accepts a full charge according to the Dual Pro charger. Which was a big improvement over the previous times I tried to charge it. So I kept the Paktrakr disconnected from the battery and let the solar panels and Morningstar controller keep things charged up in the meantime. Voltage readings on the suspect battery are still lower than the other three batteries in the bank as shown in the following table  :
                                        VOLTS
BATTERY 1                      15.1
BATTERY 2                      14.7
BATTERY 3                      14.9
BATTERY 4 (SUSPECT)  13.2
(Note: Readings were taken shortly after batteries got to a full charge on the Dual Pro charger)

I'm hoping that will change as I continue the investigation further. The fact that the battery has improved in it's ability to get to a fully charged condition gives me hope that things will continue to move in a positive direction.

TO BE CONTINUED

FOR THE PREVIOUS BATTERY INVESTIGATION POST CLICK HERE

TOOLS OF AN ELECTRIC SAILOR: CONNECTOR CLEANING BRUSHES

A few weeks ago I was attempting to use my digital voltmeter to get the current draw reading of one of the boats battery monitors. Somehow I managed to blow the meter's internal fuse. When I opened the meter case up I notice some corrosion on the battery contacts. Looks like it's time to do a little electronic maintenance. For cleaning small electrical contacts on board BIANKA and at home I like to use  nylon bristled  a Connector Cleaning Brush 3-6 mm x 20 mm


 


The nylon bristle  cleaning brushes are durable and reusable. In a pinch I will also use a cotton Q tip. But, I prefer these brushes for their durability, re usability and the fact that they can get into spaces that a Q-tip can't because of it's size.  The brushes are tapered and they do not shed fibers like a cotton Q-Tip can:

The scrubbing action of the nylon brushes also allow for better cleaning in tighter spaces:

You can see the difference in the first pass with the brush on the contact on the left in the photo below:

The tapered design also allows you to give other connectors and contacts a good scrubbing and cleaning. Like the meter's test cable input jacks:

The Connector Cleaning Brush can also clean hard to reach computer cable connector pins that would be difficult to clean with Q-tips:

In short it's the right tool for the right job. With boats having more devices on board with more and more connectors it's always a good idea to have a few of these Connector Cleaning Brushes on board along with some denatured alcohol to use as a solvent to clean contacts and connectors.

BATTERY TO DO LIST OF AN ELECTRIC SAILOR

Because of the charging issue with one of my propulsion batteries it is the first time in four years that I have had to actually squeeze my six foot two inch frame down below the cockpit to work there. I've had an  item on my to do list concerning the batteries for those four years. That was to replace the electric tape covered terminals with something more robust and protective. When I first I looked around I could not find exactly what I was looking for to protect these terminals. But, eventually I found something I could modify to work. It is the  Rotating Cable Cap from Blue Sea Systems:

They can help insulate the battery terminals better than just wrapping them up with electrical tape.

 
In order to use the Blue Sea Caps I had to modify the base part using a box cutter or razor blade to notch out an opening to accommodate the battery terminals as shown below:

Below  is the end result. It does not have to be perfect but, just big enough to allow the battery tab fit.

The photo below shows the base part of the Blue Seas cap installed over the battery terminal. The upper cap attaches to the base part to help protect the terminal and rotates in the direction of how the wire is run to the terminal. But, both can be removed easily too for cleaning and servicing.

Since I'm down below connecting and disconnecting the battery cables it seems like a good time to finish up the last item concerning the battery bank.

GOOD TO KNOW: KINDLE AND GOPRO CAMERA CHARGING TIP

I was out on a charter in the Leeward Islands recently and bought along my new GoPro Hero camera. I also bought along a 12 volt USB adapter and the GoPro charger cable to charge it. But, when I got on board I found that the boat did not have any 12 volt cigarette sockets on board that were wired.  But I did have a 120 volt outlet in my cabin hooked up to the  boats inverter. So I did what any good sailor would do and looked around for something that I could adapt to charge the GoPro camera. I found just what I needed with my Kindle e-reader charging cable:

The Kindle comes with a small 120 volt to USB adapter plug with a removable cable. So I was able to plug the GoPro Hero camera cable into the Kindle adapter and charge via the boats 120 volt inverter. It's a good thing to know if you need to charge the GoPro camera and just have a 120 volt Kindle charger. It will serve a dual purpose charging both your Kindle and GoPro camera.
Speaking of the GoPro cameras nothing gets me looking forward to summer and the up coming sailing season than a video like this:

TOOLS FOR THE SAILOR: BROTHER P-TOUCH LABEL MAKER

One of my on going projects is labeling various things on board to make it easier for me and others to find them or understand what they do. I find that a Brother PT 1290 label maker is a very useful item to carry on board for such projects.

It does not take up much room and can make labels in various sizes and colors for ones needs. For example sometimes when I am up on the foredeck about to drop the anchor and I have forgotten to turn on the windlass circuit breaker. If I have crew on board I may have to shout back to them to turn on the breaker. If they are new crew they may not find it to easily. So I have labeled it so it will visibly stand out:

Likewise various bottles and containers in the tool locker or galley are worth a label to be able to identify them easily:

Since I have electric propulsion I also try an make some of the tools I use around the high amperage batteries a little less prone to shorting things out. I use electrical tape for this. Unfortunately, this often obscures the size markings for the tools. But, some labeling with the P Touch labeler soon remedies the problem:

I also use it to label wiring, panel circuit breakers, plumbing lines and a myriad of other things on board that I might want to label. In short it just comes in very handy and useful on board to label anything..

BATTERY INVESTIGATION PART FOUR: USING THE CENTECH BATTERY ANALYZER

So another unseasonably warm winters day has me back on board looking at the fourth battery in the electric propulsion system. I bought with me again the Centech Battery Analyzer.  It's really easy to use but, in the previous test I did not have the cold cranking amp spec for the 8A4D battery entered into the Centech tester. So I decide to redo the test since it's pretty easy to do. Here is the video:



As you can seen the results are pretty much the same that I experienced earlier which I noted in a previous post. The battery tested OK. I also bought along a load tester and hooked it up to the battery. It also confirmed that they battery had over 1100 cold cranking amps available.  I then hooked up an external 15 amp charger to the suspect battery and it too like the Dual Pro charger said the battery was bad and failed to charge it completely.  So it's a dilemma to me how bad the battery really is and what to believe as far as testing vs chargers. I am suspecting that having the Paktrakr battery monitor connected over the winter has sulfated the battery a bit. Then adding the optional data collecting cable added an additional load which sulfated it more. Enough so that it has a problem charging. In attempting to measure the additional current load with my digital volt meter I accidentally blew the internal fuse on it. So I'm not exactly sure how much the data cable additional draw is. So for now I have disconnected the Paktrakr from the battery and have the solar panels charging the the bank. I will see how things look the next time. I have an idea on how I may remove the sulfated material off the battery grids but, I will need to rearrange some of the battery cables and need to order some 2 AWG crimp connectors to make some jumper cables first.

TO BE CONTINUED

PREVIOUS BATTERY INVESTIGATION POST

MOORING IN AMERICA

There was good news and bad news this week about BIANKA's upcoming sailing season. In the mail from the town came the approved 2012 mooring permit. So BIANKA has a home port to come back to when not out cruising.  It's a sure sign that start of the season is in sight. There was more good signs as I pulled into the boatyard yesterday:

The good sign was that the moorings were starting to be lined up and the boatyard was getting ready to be put them out in the harbor. Some had new chain. Some had new pennant lines.  Some just needed a new coat out anti fouling paint.

Then came the bad news. My town requires that the moorings be inspected every season before they are dropped out of sight onto the harbor bottom. I think it is good idea and also makes sure that only secure and reliable moorings are dotting the harbor. Which may have been why there was so few boats lost or damaged in the harbor when Hurricane Irene came to visit showing us her bad side.  As I was getting out the car one of the guys working the boatyard came up to me and said I need to show something on your mooring. This is what he showed me:

Yeah, it's looking a little worn at the bottom shackle attachment point on one side where the chain connects to the mooring. BIANKA having survived Hurricane Irene might not be so lucky next time with the mooring  looking like this. Some of this damage might have been a result of riding the Hurricane too. So it looks like a new 300 plus pound mooring is in BIANKA's future along with some unexpected expense for Capt. Mike. Though it's still cheap insurance if another storm like Irene should head this way.

BATTERY INVESTIGATION PART THREE: Overnight Charge & Battery Analyzer Test

So a few days later I came back on board to see what was going on with the problem battery in the 48 volt string. Here is a video of what happens when I plug in the Dual Pro Quad charger. It first goes through a quick self test then measures the battery voltage and checks the charge and then displays the results on an LED bar on front of the charger for each battery in the string:




I decided to leave the charger on overnight and see if that last battery bank would come up to a full charge. Below is a video of what I saw when I came back on board the next day:




Battery 1 (most negative battery in the string) definitely still has a problem. At the suggestion a fellow named Arby over on the electric boats group I bought a Centech battery-analyzer. It seemed like a good idea to buy one. This device measures the voltage, internal resistance of the battery and the capacity including the Cold Cranking Amps. I tested the suspect battery and the next one up in the string and also the highest (most positive) battery in the 48 volt string. Here are the results:

                                                VOLTS  mOHMS  CC AMPS

BATTERY 1 (SUSPECT)       13.03     2.34         1273

BATTERY 2                           13.62    2.42          1437

BATTERY 4*                         14.45    2.43          1724

* Reading taken soon after shutting down charger which may explain the higher numbers in volt & CCA readings. Also note I did not take any readings off of battery 3 for this test. 

The voltage of the suspect battery 1 is a little low but, not overly so. The internal resistance seems OK compared to the other two batteries in the string tested. The Cold Cranking Amps available is certainly lower but, it's not a completely dead battery. I've once again disconnected the Paktrakr as this problem did not show up until I added the optional data recording cable to it. I'm sure it added an additional load to the battery beyond the Paktrakr's 25 milliamps but, I doubt it was that great. Still I'm trying to eliminate what might have caused the sudden change in this battery. Next warm day I'll be doing a load test on the suspect battery.

                                        

TO BE CONTINUED

SAFETY AT SEA AND ON THE DECK

I was on someone elses boat recently and came upon this scene on the deck:

Now the batteries may have been dead as far as the boat owner may be concerned but, maybe not totally. Still there is no excuse for a situation like this. A little movement and that chain  would make a nice buss bar with all the current remaining in the batteries flowing through it. Pretty soon you would have the makings of a pretty good boat fire. All I'm saying is be careful where you stow things even if only temporarily.