FIRST SPRING PROJECT DONE: TBS Expert Pro Battery Monitor instal

With winter finally releasing is grip on the Isle of Long it felt good to finally start to make a dent in the spring outfitting ToDo list. I choose a fast and easy one. Last year I bought a new controller from Annapolis Hybrid Marine. Unfortunately, the new controller was not compatible with the old Xantrex XBM Battery Monitor installed ten years ago. So I bought a new TBS E-xpert Pro Battery Monitor that is compatble with the new controller. It was a quick replacement as both fit the same mounting hole and I just had to plug it into the new controller box. The old XBM Battery Monitor will still be used on board since my plan is to re purpose it's use as a battery monitor for my current house bank. But, that is a project for another day.

A POSSIBLE METER FAILURE

The brutal winter may have taken it's toll on one of the meters of my home built Helm instrumentation panel. I noticed also noticed a lot of condensation inside the plastic face of the panel even though I had a weep hole in the bottom of the case. I'll remove the panel and check on the wiring and replace the meter if it does not come back to life.

BLOG UPDATE:

I went back on board a few days later and discovered the meter that I thought had failed during the winter was now working. So it looks like I might be able to take it off the TODO list.

ANOTHER SOLAR PROJECT: Cockpit Ammeter Junction Box

Temporary cabin meter setup

With the purchase of the new Renogy 100 Watt Solar Panel. I finally got the gumption to get going on another long overdue project. namely moving the Solar Panel Ammeter from inside the cabin where it was temporarily mounted over ten years ago to a more useful cockpit location. Though like many projects my procrastination had the benefit of an improved idea over my original thoughts. For example I had purchased a Cable Connect Waterproof Enclosure Case Junction Box for another project. The measurements were metric and since I think through the dimensions I found the box was too big for my original plans.

 Original Kings LORAN mounted

But,  sipping a beer one day I looked at the space where the original Kings 8001 Loran unit used to reside and found that the waterproof junction box fit very nicely between the still installed Kings mounting bracket. AHA I thought the box would be perfect for the solar panel ammeter moving project. So it began.





 First I decided where on the waterproof box I would mount the ammeter and marked it out:

Then using a hole saw I cut out a hole for the back of the meter to fit through:

It was not quite the right size so out came the trusty Dremel Tool and using a cutting drill I was able to enlarge it slightly to the proper size. Once that was done I carefully removed the front panel of the meter to mark where the mounting holes would need to be drilled to secure the meter:

Once that was done I mounted the meter:

I used Anderson Powerpole connectors for most of the connections behind the panel in the junction box. This will allow for easy trouble shooting or changes in the future should I need to do so:

With the ammeter installed now I could easily see how many amps are heading into the 12 volt house bank and how I can improve on the amount of current by repositioning the movable Renogy 100 watt panel or repositioning the boom:

I also thought up another useful addition to this project that I will post about as soon as some parts arrive to implement it.

A LITTLE TOUCH UP

Work on land has kept BIANKA in port and only allowed me time on the weekends to be on board. Happily, that situation will soon end. In the meantime I keep myself busy on board taking care of small projects here and there of which there is no end. A recent item was securing some of the meters at the helm instrumentation panel.

I use it to monitor the battery voltages and current for the 48 volt propulsion bank. I cut the panel using a hand nibbler and dremel tool and some of the meters turned out to be have a little looser fit than I planned. One meter was starting to work its self out so it was time to secure it.

After removing the six screws that held the waterproof cover of the panel I had easy access to the meters. I also noticed a few scratches from the first install on the painted panel front

I used a little Marine GOOP to re secure it back into the panel. Since I had the cover open I retouched some of the scratches on the front panel using a black Sharpie Permanent Marker:

The Sharpie touch up worked well and I soon had the cover on the instrumentation panel ready to mount it back at it's helm position and could move on to the next project.

YOU DON'T NEED A WEATHERMAN

The unstayed mast of BIANKA whips around pretty good. So good that the wind anemometer on top seemed to fail every other year. So I got rid of it and sailed by the feel of the wind on my cheek for a few years. Which worked fine though there were times I would have liked to know what the wind speed really was doing with a little more accuracy.  So this year I bought a cheap  handheld Anemometer.

It works pretty well and is small enough to keep handy in the cockpit when my curiosity on the wind speed is heightened. Another reason I bought it was to try and calibrate the amp readings for the 48 volt Marine AirX wind turbine to the wind speed. It's Pretty accurate but, being a cruiser even ballpark is fine as far as I'm concerned. So during some recent windy days I used the Anemometer to come up with the following readings on the wind turbine amp reading. Then using a P Touch Labeler made labels for the readings. Just another tool to use that will give me a rough guide when it's time to reef or just gauge the wind speed:

  

WHAT THE HELM: Phase Two

When I got my AIS transponder last year it and the battery instrumentation panel I built they were initially mounted at the helm with cable ties:

Not exactly the most secure or organized installation. So I recently got to work on a platform at the helm that would secure both the AIS and the panel that would mirror the one on the starboard side of the binnacle where the GPS  and propulsion control was mounted. 

So that's what I did. I had to modify the new platform made of 1/2"' Starboard  a little  allowing for the mounting of the instrumentation panel:

I had to make sure I had  easy access in order to disconnect the numerous connectors and switches on the side of the panel if I needed to:

Once that was done I simply used a spare piece of aluminum angle to provide a mount to hang the instrumentation panel  below the platform. Then just mounted the AIS display on top:

Much better! Feels good to get another project off the list and make the helm a little more organized.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT REDUX

Finally got around to making repairs to the helm instrumentation panel built last year. One of the 12 volt battery digital panels meters became intermittent and just went south. While the failure of the whole battery pack voltage meter was my fault. The meter was able to read voltages up to 90 volts but,  two of it's leads needed to be connected to a separate 5 to 30 volt supply to read anything over 30 volts. When I tested it on the bench I used 12 volt power supply and everything tested ok:

But, when I hooked up the completed panel the meter measuring the total battery pack voltage went poof! So I bought another meter one that did not require a separate voltage supply but, one that could read 30 to 90 volts directly. With a new replacements for the 12 volt digital panel meter and a proper 90 volt digital panel meter for the 48 volt battery pack voltage I sat down for what I thought would be a simple quick rewiring job. But I was wrong. Even though the displays of the meters match the others on the instrumentation panel the outside dimension of the replacement meter cases were just slightly larger than the meters they were replacing:

Which required me to spend a lot more time in the 95 degree heat trimming the openings in the panel so the meters would fit. So the quick rewiring job took considerably longer and was a little more messier than expected. 

TIME TO GET MOVING

Well, Memorial day weekend has rolled around and despite my best efforts to have the boat in the water before now, BIANKA is still high and dry. Some freelance work gigs and and a two week vacation that included a week cruising the Florida Keys have once again conspired to delay the splashing of my boat. But, now it is time to hit the ground running. I already have the shaft zinc ready to put on and my copy of the ELDRIDGE TIDE AND PILOT on board.
But, I've still got a few projects I'd like to get done before the boat is put into the water. I've bought a Chain Stopper  which will help me raise and secure the anchor chain. I kind of need to install this this while I have access to the anchor locker and before the mast gets stepped. So it will be somewhat of a priority I also need to permanently mount the now completed helm instrumentation panel. Likewise the AIS electronics also needs to find a permanent home. The Lexan part of the solar bimini torn off by hurricane Sandy need to be reinstalled. I also need to look at why the wash down pump was not working during winter layup.  Then there is the usual bright work touch ups. The list will grow but, one thing that does not need much attention is the electric propulsion system. It's been charged up over the winter ready to go. No fluids, zincs, hoses need to be checked. No impellers replaced and no mysterious leaks to be traced and cleaned up. With a little luck I hope to have BIANKA in the water by next weekend. At least that's the plan.

INSTRUMENTATION PART 10: CURRENT METER INSTALLATION

With the battery voltage meter part of the instrumentation project finished. It was time to move on to the important current meter part of the project. BIANKA already had a Xantrex XBM battery monitor but, to see it required that I move away from the helm and lift a cockpit hatch and bend down to see it. It was awkward and inconvenient to look at while underway.

I went looking for another meter that could measure the current being drawn from or charging the battery bank. But, the catch was I did not want to have to put in another shunt for measuring  current in the battery circuit like the XBM battery monitor already used. I wanted to keep any extra connections to a minimum. To do that I needed to use a hall effect type of current meter.  It determines a current value by measuring the magnetic flux around a piece of wire with current flowing through it. I found exactly what I needed with a company called Devicecraft. They had a hall effect current meter with a transducer that would fit the 2 AWG wires that connect to  BIANKA's 48 volt electric propulsion battery bank.



The hook up is farely simple.


The display required a supply voltage and three wires that go to the hall effect transducer.  I needed to run the transducer wires about eight feet and used some   Twisted Servo Hookup Wire,   normally used in things like model cars and planes:

Like I did for some of the wires for the battery voltage meters part of this project I enclosed the transducer wires in a  Techflex General Purpose 1/4-inch Braided Cable Sleeve.  This was to keep the wires together and also protect them from chafing.

The 100 amp Hall effect sensor will fit over the 2 AWG cable that is used in the my electric propulsion system but, would not fit over the existing lug. So I needed cut the existing battery cable. I used a ratcheting wire cutter like a Klein ratcheting cable cutter which cuts heavy duty battery cable easily:

and makes a nice flush cut:

I took the opportunity to trim some other 2 AWG  battery interconnections that were a little too long from my initial electric propulsion installation five years ago too.  The Hall Effect transducer has a polarity in terms of it's display. That is if you a drawing current from the battery the display should show a negative sign in the display. Likewise when charging the battery it is useful to see the current flow as positive (no minus sign) on the digital display.  In order to make sure I got the polarity right I used some of the trimmed battery cables and a jumper to check the polarity of the meter.

Once I had established the proper orientation for the sensor I put it on the battery cable and crimped a new lug on the end and reconnected it to the battery. I then ran the sensor wires up through the cockpit wire conduit I made and into the helm area using one of the  Fiberglass Wire Pull Rods    I carry on board:

It was then just a matter of hooking up the sensor and power wires to the current display and the instrumentation project was finished:

I mounted it the box temporarily at the helm and used it on my fall cruise up the Hudson River and back. I still need to make a permanent platform for the box at the helm location but, that is a project for another day.

HELM INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART NINE CLICK HERE

HELM INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART ONE CLICK HERE

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART 9: CONNECTIONS

The battery end of the project has been wired up with fuses and Anderson connectors. The helm meter panel like wise has been wired and tested. So the only thing that remains is to connect the two with wires. There are four meters each monitoring one of the four 12 volt batteries in the 48 volt electric propulsion string. I thought about individual wires in a harness, duplex wire and various other cable types. Happily I found what I needed in a trash bin that fit my needs perfectly.
    I was doing some freelance work in a building that was undergoing some renovation and found about fifty feet of E90298 cable made by National Wire about to be thrown out. It had ten 20 AWG wires inside a durable UV resistant cover.  It even had a shield around the bundled wires. The wires were also tinned making it perfect for the marine environment on board as it would be more resistant to corrosion than bare copper. Best of all I could not beat the price FREE! I love to recycle where I can and this cable instead ending up in a landfill  is perfect for the instrumentation project interconnection.

I love it when a plan comes together like this. Because I only needed eight wires to measure the four individual battery voltages it meant I had two spare wires that I might use down the road for something. The only issue I thought might be a problem is each of the 10 wires in the harness were different colors. Which could be confusing down the road in trying to figure out which wire was positive or negative when connecting or trouble shooting. But this was easily solved after I first assigned the color coded wires to each battery:

Because of the various colors used to connect the batteries I decided to cover each wire with two different colored heat shrink at the battery end. Red for the wires that went to the positive battery terminals and black for wires that went to the negative battery terminals. These would help avoid confusion and mis-connections even though the Anderson Powerpole connectors where color coded. It just adds helps eliminate confusion. It would also add another layer of protection for the wires:

.I also put on some  General Purpose 1/4-inch Braided Cable Sleeve over the heat shrinked wires. This not only kept the wires together making for neater wire runs but, also added another layer of protection to the wiring harness:

All I needed to do now was crimp on the Anderson Powerpole pins and insert them into the proper color coded powerpole housing and the battery end of the instrumentation project was done:

 For the helm end of wire I chose to enclose each pair of wires in white heat shrink:

and connect them to the helm panel meters box:

After an operations check out the project was just about complete. All that I needed to do was to add a little sealant to the back of the Anderson Powerpole connectors to water proof the wires and also inside and outside of the meter enclosure box where they connect up. I used Marine Goop. Once that was done it was time to move on to wiring the battery current meter.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART 8 CLICK HERE


INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART 10 CLICK HERE