A BATTERY SEA CHANGE

It was in 2008 when I converted BIANKA from having diesel auxilary power to electric propulsion. I had four heavy 8A4D AGM lead acid batteries totaling almost five hundred pounds to power the Thoosa 9000 electric propulsion system.

 

The batteries were located below the cockpit and though while accessible it wasn't really comfortable to work on them. This season they are being replaced by a single 48 volt lithium battery that weighs less than a single one of the old batteries.

Even better I will be able to access the terminals for maintenance from inside the cabin. No more squeezing down through the cockpit hatch is going to be a welcome change.

THE PAIN OF RECYCLING

Since my analysis has confirmed at least one bad battery in my 48 volt string I thought at least let's get that off the boat and recycled ASAP. Though the boat is on land I thought I'd be able to remove it.  Even though my Nova Lift hoist does not have enough line to place the battery on the ground there is part of a dock flotation pad close under the hoist area where I could drop the battery on it and then lift it to the ground where I could use my hand truck to take it to the car. Sounds like a plan!

I was able to easily remove the bad battery from out of the hold with the hoist and drop it down onto the flotation pad. The problem occurred when I tried to lift the 134 pound battery onto the ground. As I lifted it part of it grabbed onto a basket of fishing line also sitting on the flotation pad. As I moved about trying to get the battery to release from the basket I heard a pop in my thigh followed by a sharp pain.  Though in pain I was finally able to get the battery onto the ground and into the car. After consulting Dr. Google my painful symptoms pointed to a pulled Ham String muscle. Treatment includes rest and ice. Climbing the ladder to get onto the boat was rather painful so further battery removal and boat work will be put on hold for a few days while my leg recovers. It's been a two steps forward one step back kind of day.

TO BE CONTINUED

BATTERY ANOMALY: Part Three: Additional Testing

After another day of charging I did some more tests of the suspect battery using the Centech Meter. This time the battery resistance reading had dropped to 9 milliohms. A big improvement from the 194 reading but,  still three times what I had measured back in 2012. In addition the meter said I only had 335 Cold Cranking Amps available from the battery. Manufacturing spec says it should be 1100. So even though after several charging attempts the battery is really not up to snuff and will need to be replaced.

I then decided to some quick tests of the other batteries in the string using the CenTech meter. Starting with the first (most positive battery in the string:

As the above photo shows this battery had 1404 Cold Cranking Amps available. So at least with this test seems good. Next I checked Battery Two:

   

As the readings above show the results are not as good as the first battery. In fact it only shows 884 Cold Cranking Amps available. Not as bad as the suspect battery but, under the spec of 1100 CCA.
Battery three was tested next:

This tested better than battery two but, not as good as battery one. At 1150 Cold Cranking Amps it was just over the battery specifications but, not by much.

After doing these tests and thinking about the age of the batteries I came to the conclusion that it would be better to change out all of the batteries in the 48 volt string. In addition after doing these test in the confines of the under the cockpit space I decided I would position the batteries differently to make access for future testing easier. The next question is do I go for Lithium Ion batteries or stick with the AGM's?

TO BE CONTINUED

BATTERY ANOMALY: Part Three: Additional Testing

After another day of charging I did some more tests of the suspect battery using the Centech Meter. This time the battery resistance reading had dropped to 9 milliohms. A big improvement from the 194 reading but,  still three times what I had measured back in 2012. In addition the meter said I only had 335 Cold Cranking Amps available from the battery. Manufacturing spec says it should be 1100. So even though after several charging attempts the battery is really not up to snuff and will need to be replaced.

I then decided to some quick tests of the other batteries in the string using the CenTech meter. Starting with the first (most positive battery in the string:

As the above photo shows this battery had 1404 Cold Cranking Amps available. So at least with this test seems good. Next I checked Battery Two:

   

As the readings above show the results are not as good as the first battery. In fact it only shows 884 Cold Cranking Amps available. Not as bad as the suspect battery but, under the spec of 1100 CCA.
Battery three was tested next:

This tested better than battery two but, not as good as battery one. At 1150 Cold Cranking Amps it was just over the battery specifications but, not by much.

After doing these tests and thinking about the age of the batteries I came to the conclusion that it would be better to change out all of the batteries in the 48 volt string. In addition after doing these test in the confines of the under the cockpit space I decided I would position the batteries differently to make access for future testing easier. The next question is do I go for Lithium Ion batteries or stick with the AGM's?

TO BE CONTINUED

BATTERY ANOMALY PART TWO: Readings and observations

 I looked to the cause of why Battery 4 of my 48 volt Electric Propulsion bank was not charging properly. Since the terminals for this battery can best be accessed by the starboard  locker hatch I first had to empty out the locker and then squeeze my large frame down into it.

Taking off the protective caps on the negative terminal I had quite a bit of corrosion on it.

 This was because I had become somewhat  complacent in checking and cleaning the terminals. Mostly because up to now the battery charging had been operating normally.  The failure of battery four just happened a few days ago. After cleaning the terminals I used an battery tester to check it:

The readings above show a voltage of 10.87 volts and an internal battery resistance reading of 196.2 milli ohms. Which is a much higher resistance reading than when I last checked it on February 12, 2012.Which was 2.43 milli ohms. So obviously something had changed in this battery.  I will try a few more attempts at charging but, I don't think things will approve much. TO BE CONTINUED.

UH OH!: A BATTERY ANOMALY

Just when I thought I was ready to splash BIANKA for the season I made a disturbing discovery concerning one of the batteries in the 48 volt propulsion bank. The Dual Pro PS4 battery charger showed battery number four with a blinking green light where as all the others were steady after having been charged.  This was a new development as for the past several weeks all the batteries had been charging normally on my visits. For some reason the charger thinks battery four is not yet fully charged. I disconnected the power from the charger to let the batteries sit overnight and make sure it would not fire up when I plugged the extension cord  back on my return in the morning.

The next morning I went into the cockpit and threw the switch on the helm instrumentation panel that powers the individual battery meters. My suspicions were confirmed. Battery four is not being charged properly:

As you can see the bottom meter which is reading battery four is only 11.1 volts where the other three batteries are much closer to each other in voltage. So it looks like I will have to forget about launching the boat until I can investigate what it is going on with this battery. TO BE CONTINUED.

HARBOR TEST 2015

A few weeks ago I did another of the annual harbor tests I have been doing on BIANKA's electric propulsion system. Here is a graph of the results:

Results are similar to least years tests with no real significant differences. Here is a graph of this years data compared with the 2014 test:

Some of the other data comparisons of the tests:

 The % battery at the end of the test was 89.7% compared to 90.6% last year.

The Amp Hours used for the test was 16.5 compared to 15.2 for the 2014 test.

NOTE: Some of the increase may be due to the distance traveled for the the test. This year the distance traveled for the test was 2.2 nm while in 2014 it was 1.8 nm. The difference might be explained by the location of the buoys which are removed and replaced each year in the harbor.

The tests show that the Thoosa electric propulsion system is still preforming well. It has been eight years after I installed it.  Along with  the reduction in maintenance and cost savings it continues to reinforce the notion  that it was a good decision to convert to electric propulsion back in 2007.


PREVIOUS HARBOR TESTS
2013
2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALESSANDRO VOLTA

My electric propulsion system will be starting it's eigth year on board BIANKA in a few months. So I feel it's time to give a tip of the hat to Alessandro Volta's 270th birthday. One of the men who help make it possible.

"Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (February 18, 1745 – March 5, 1827) was an Italian physicist[2][3] credited with the invention of the first electrical battery, the Voltaic pile which he invented in 1799 and the results of which he reported in 1800 in a two part letter to the President of the Royal Society.[4][5] With this invention Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debased the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings. Volta's invention sparked a great amount of scientific excitement and led others to conduct similar experiments which eventually led to the development of the field of electrochemistry."- WIKIPEDIA

 

JAMIE HYNEMAN'S ELECTRIC OUTBOARD MOTOR

Speaking of converting electric outboards I came across this video of Jamie Hyneman of the Mythbusters TV show. He also converted an outboard to electric and also discussed some of the economics of doing so. It reminds me I still have my old gas Honda BP 2 outboard that got drowned during Hurricane Sandy sitting in the garage. If I get ambitious and get the time I might just consider converting it to electric at some point. Though my Electric Paddle outboard pretty much suits my all my needs in a much lighter package.

NOTES OF AN ELECTRIC SAILOR: Late summer cruise 2013

I decided to head out on a late summer/early fall cruise yesterday. Before I did I topped up the 48 volt propulsion bank for the Thoosa 9000 system using the Honda 2000i generator at the mooring. In the morning I used the helm instrumentation panel to read the battery voltages here were the readings:

BATTERY 1   13.3 VOLTS

BATTERY 2   13.1 VOLTS

BATTERY 3   13.1 VOLTS

BATTERY 4   12.8 VOLTS 

PACK VOLTAGE 53.2 VOLTS

I left later than I had planned and so had to buck some current while heading out of the harbor. Once I got out to open water I found the winds were light to nonexistent for most of the day. So I motor sailed for most of the eight hours in the light breeze drawing currents from 5 amps to 25 amps. After a trip of 18 miles I picked up a mooring in a nearby harbor and took the following readings of the batteries on the instrumentation panel:

BATTERY 1   12.6 VOLTS

BATTERY 2   12.5 VOLTS

BATTERY 3   12.4 VOLTS

BATTERY 4   12.4 VOLTS

PACK VOLTAGE 50.7 VOLTS 

The percent charge as read on the Xantrex XBM battery monitor showed a reading of 83%. I fired up the Honda 2000i generator using the 900 watt ZIVAN NG-1 battery charger until it reached the second stage of charging. I then switched to the Dual Pro 4 charger which topped up each battery individually until fully charged. It took three and a half hours to fully recharge the propulsion bank. During which time I also charged the battery for the 12 volt house bank and the Electric Paddle outboard.


BLOG UPDATE:  I was relaxing in the cockpit enjoying a glass of wine when I suddenly realized that I never took the Amp Hour readings off of the XBM battery monitor after I finished the sail. After six years I guess I'm just too comfortable with the electric propulsion system to keep an eye on all the parameters. :)  Perhaps I'll remember next time.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART THREE: Plan B

Finding that the obsolete Kings 8001 Loran case would not fit in my plans for the electric propulsion battery bank instrumentation project was disappointing  The four digital meters where just too big for the case. But, deciding that I needed a bigger case to house the meters also opened up more possibilities for me.
The first plan was to simply have a digital voltage panel meter on each battery with a master on/off switch so I could check each battery's voltage when I wanted. I was also thinking of keeping the Paktrakr connected too but, perhaps with a switch to turn it on and off too instead of keeping it on all the time. When I found out I would need a bigger box to install the meters I thought why not add another meter that would measure the full pack voltage too.  This is what the original schematic looked like:

I also decided to add the all important battery current meter into the same enclosure and mount at the helm position so I would have all the important parameters of the battery bank available there. I would not have to open any cockpit hatches to observe the Xantrex XBM battery monitor for voltage and current readings. I'd also have room to add more instrumentation devices into the box at a future date if I wanted. Because I had already installed a PVCconduit tube in the cockpit for previous helm projects running the wires for the meters would be pretty easy to do:

So the plan looked pretty good. Now I just needed to decide on a enclosure to house all this instrumentation.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART TWO CLICK HERE

 INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART FOUR CLICK HERE

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART TWO: Rethinking the Paktrakr

I guess I should explain why I am doing this instrumentation project. When I first converted to electric propulsion I had a Xantrex XBM battery monitor. I ordered it with with the Asmo Marine Thoosa 9000 electric propulsion system. It worked well except for the fact that even though the specifications claimed it was "splash proof" it did not say anything about it being sun proof. So I had to move it to a location in the cockpit where I could still see it but, was not view able without opening one of the cockpit hatches.
In addition it could only read the battery pack voltage and current. It did not read the individual battery voltages.

 
In my researching for an electric propulsion system I came across postings for another battery monitor called a Paktrakr.  It had been used by a number of electric vehicle enthusiasts. Unlike the XBM it could read the individual voltages of the four batteries in BIANKA's 48 volt propulsion bank. Here it is showing the voltage of battery number one in the 48 volt string:

It  could also show the entire pack voltage in a digital display and as a fuel guage:

It would also even tell you the temperature of the battery compartment:

It provided a lot of information in a small package.  It could with an additional sensor also read current and also had the ability to download battery data (with an optional cable) into a computer for analysis. I thought it would be a good backup the XBM since monitoring your battery bank in a boat with electric propulsion is like having a fuel gauge on a boat with a diesel engine. So a year after I converted to electric propulsion I bought a Patrakr and installed it in the main cabin so I could keep an eye on the battery bank without having to go out into the cockpit to look at the XBM monitor. It had a nice small display and it fit very nicely on the door to BIANKA's  wind, depth and speed instraments:

It worked well for several years. At first I just used it for voltage measurements of the battery bank. But, soon I ordered the current sensor so I could see how the battery bank was charging too. A few years later I ordered the data cable. So I could see how the battery bank was charging over the winter layup with the solar panels.
Then early last spring I went on board and found out one of the 8A4D AGM batteries in my 48 volt string was not completing it's charge cycle. I could not see a reason why this battery would suddenly time out when charging. The only thing different between this battery and the other three is the Paktrakr takes it's power from this battery. Even though it's only drawing 25 milli amps of current for the basic unit I had recently added the data recorder and so it might have been drawing more. How much I don't know but, I decided to disconnect from the battery bank full time. I was able to eventually get the troublesome battery to accept a full charge. But, I decided that I needed an alternative battery voltage and current monitoring system to the Paktrakr. One that does not take power from one individual battery like the Patrakkr did. That's the reason I embarked on this instrumentation project.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART ONE CLICK HERE

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART THREE CLICK HERE

MID WINTER CHECKUP

It's sure been a cold cold winter

- Rolling Stones

Yeah, this winter is certainly not as warm or snow free as last year. So last week when things warmed up into the mid fifties last year I took advantage of the heat wave to go check on the boat. Things were looking good. The bilge was completely dry except for the splash of   antifreeze    I left in it.  I also did a quick check  of the propulsion battery bank which has being topped up over the winter by solar and wind charging systems. I fired up the Dual Pro Charger just to make sure things were fully topped up. While I waited for it to go through it's cycle I finished the last chapter of The Coast of Summer: sailing New England Waters from Shelter Island to Cape Cod by Anthony Bailey. A book I had been reading on board. I took a little nap too and by the time I woke up the charger had finished.
:

Things were looking good there too!

Elsewhere in the boatyard there were signs of recovery from the effects of Super storm Sandy last October. New replacement docks being assembled in the yard:

.and others like this new Dingy dock are already floating in the water:

So even though a snow storm is threatening to hit the area in a few days there are signs that the boating season is on the way. 

ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK 2012

Before Hurricane Sandy distracted me and ended the sailing season I was going to chronicle a recent cruise I made with BIANKA.  Originally I had planned to do this cruise to New York back in September. But, a little repair snafu with the Honda Generator in September curtailed that plan. I just about gave up on doing the cruise this year but, a nice weather window opened up in late October and I thought why not head out for a fall cruise. So I did.

I headed early out to take advantage of the flooding current into Long Island Sound winds were light for much of the trip so I electro-sailed BIANKA for forty nautical miles. It was after sundown as I sailed into Port Washington and picked up a free town mooring. Before I did  I had a gam with a fellow sailor already on another mooring. He was a 38 year old fellow who quit his job in September bought a 24 foot boat and was heading south for the winter. He wanted to do it now since he was single and the flexibility to do it.  Certainly sounds like a plan. We had a nice discussion about life, getting through Hell Gate and other things sailors might talk about. I wished him fair winds and then  motored off in the dark to find a mooring. One nice thing about fall cruising the mooring fields are pretty empty so it was pretty easy to pick one up. The next day had some nasty weather coming through. It was windy and wet so it was a lay day for me.  Sometime during the following night the other fellow headed off to travel down the East River through Hell Gate in the middle of the night. He wanted to make it to the Sandy Hook area during the day and meet up with friends. I can only wonder if the fellow made it through Hurricane Sandy which would hit the area a little over a week later.

After the weather cleared I headed toward New York.  Upon crossing under the Throgs Neck Bridge BIANKA left Long Island Sound behind and entered the East River which is actually a tidal strait. I made a video of the trip from Port Washington to the Battery via the East River:

I rounded the Battery a little after sunset and headed over to an anchorage a little north of Ellis Island. I had never anchored there before. It was getting dark and the winds were blowing 10 to 20 knots out of the west. I got as close to western shore and dropped anchor for the night. There was a little roll from the harbor traffic at first but, it calmed down later except for a 4 am roll that woke me up for a bit. But, the holding was good plus I had a real nice view of the lights of lower Manhattan:

Though in a little over a week all these lights would be plunged into darkness after Hurricane Sandy hits the area and knocked out power to all of lower Manhattan. Though  this night it was a very pretty scene from on board.

WATTS GOING DOWN ON LAND AND SEA

I have mentioned that those of accustomed to living on boats may have an easier time than those who are only living on land after storms like Hurricane Sandy. That's because cruising on a boat like BIANKA involves getting away from land as much as possible. My boat is usually on a mooring or anchored off in some picturesque spot that pleases me. Very rarely will I tie up to a marina's dock. So one is well aware of how much power one can use and where it comes from. We sailors know it is not seemingly unlimited and always available at the flick of a switch. Millions of people who reside on land including the residents of lower Manhattan had a "reality bites" experience after Hurricane Sandy blew through the area. They might learn a thing or two from sailors like myself who have taken some of the technology that worked so well on board our boats and have transferred it sucessfully to land based structures. You can save quite a bit of power (watts), money  and have an automatic emergency back up system to illuminate the rooms in your house at the same time.  Like my whole house LED lighting system:

I have converted many of the lights on board BIANKA to energy efficient LED's from the masthead anchor light to the ones over the galley and cabin.   They worked so well in the boat I wondered how they would do in the house. So I went about building a simple system that would meet my needs. It's easy to do with off the shelf components the heart of which is a Morningstar SL-10L-12V SunLight 10 Amp Charge Controller LVD .

This unit does a number of things. 

1) It turns on up to 10 amps of 12 volt LED lights at dusk and off at dawn. It also has timed switched presets if you don't won't to have the lights on all night.  

2) It controls the charge to battery from the solar panel(s). It also has a jumper to select charge profiles for Flooded or Sealed batteries. 

3) It uses the output of the solar panels to sense when dusk begins and turns on the lights and also when dawn begins and turns them off. 

4) It has a low voltage disconnect it will disconnect the lights from the battery bank once the battery voltage drops below 11.8 volts to protect the battery bank until the solar panels once again are able to start charging the battery again.

Connections are simple:

Two terminals are for the solar panel connections.

The next two terminals are for the 12 volt battery

The last connections are for the wiring to the LED lights.

I use In-line AGC Fuse Holders on the output to LED lights and the battery to protect against a short circuit. It's for safety and I recommend it.

Two Siemens 12 volt 75 watt solar panels that were left over from a boat project that changed direction provide the charging for the batteries. I've mounted them on the south side of the house.

As you can see one has not yet tilted one of the panels for optimum sun exposure but, it's on the to do list though the system works fine as is anyway.  

 The batteries are two Sealed Lead Acid Battery (12V; 35 AH; UB12350) batteries connected in parallel. 

The only reason I am using two is because one arrived with the lug damaged and the other one was the replacement. So rather than just have one sitting around sulfating I put both of them to work on the LED house system.

I use two types of LED's in the system. One is a   Disc Type G4 Base Side Pin 6 SMD LED 10 - 30 Volt DC  unit. I like to use the warm white version.

It also has a buck regulator that keeps current regulated so that the LED junctions do not overheat and fail due to voltage or current fluctuations in the wiring. It's something you should look for in any LED's you use on board the boat or at the house as a slight variation in current or voltage can blow the LED electrical junctions destroying the LED.

The other LED light I use is the BEKA Light from BEBI Electronics. ( BLOG UPDATE: Bebi Electronics is no longer selling LED Lights )It was designed to be used on a boat as a cockpit anchor light. But, I use them in the house when I want to illuminate bigger rooms like the living room or dining area. I ordered mine with warm colored LED's facing downward and the bright white LED's for the outside  perimeter facing ones.  

 The downward facing LED's  provide a warm incandescent like look directed downward. While the bright white LED's bounce off the walls and illuminate the room with a bright indirect light.

Just about every room in my house is lit up by one of these two LED lights. They provide enough illumination so you can walk from room to room without ever having to turn on a light. Since they are charged by solar energy once the system is in place there are no additional costs and the rooms are lit from dusk to dawn. During Hurricane Sandy my neighbors wondered why I was the only one who seemed to have power when they saw my LED lights on. On the boat it's all about saving as much energy as possible by being as energy efficient as possible. On land this also has the added benefit of saving you money and also providing light when the electrical grid goes down as it did after Hurricane Sandy.