Friday 29 March 2024

Abuse and monitor

My last couple of posts have been about batteries  - the things on boats that are a another disposable item (recyclable for money) but are essential to make being or living on a boat a bit like being in a house... It's a good thing now more houses are getting like boat dwelling in that for some or all of the time they are also now being powered by batteries. 

In the boat situation cheap solar and now lithium  - for the wise, have opened up the options of living like connected to the grid. Lithium is so powerful and so flexible in charge and discharge properties compared to old lead acid tech. 

Home systems such as ours also save money  - my return on investment is calculated at 6 years with much of the tech well able to see past 10 or even 20 years.... it is also essential to allow the grid to load balance  - in winter when little sun for the solar we load up out batteries at 9p per kw and use that all during the day... most days not needing any 29p electricity. Our last electric bill for February into March was £42 and over £15 of that was standing charge. So less than a pound a day. 

Back to the boat and I checked I added two 160a/h AGM ( Absorbed glass matt ) in February 2019 at a cost of £220 each. They are dropping to 50% on the smartgauge quite quickly after a few hours of duty. I could make them last another year and may well do so  - abusing them into the 30% range knowing they are fubarr'd. As in my last post the Ecoflow will be my backup so for now I'll abuse and monitor 

https://nbpercy.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-victron-bmv-712-and-batteries-go-in.html

I'm still unsure how to replace them. On the 12v FB group there is much talk and support on a hybrid system of lead acid and Lithium.... the lead acid being the buffer for the instant BMS ( battery management system) shut of of charging that lithiums have. The benefit of lithium is they will take as much charge as they can as their charge limit is set by the BMS - that is adjusted for temp also. They charge to full then shut off instantly which can bugger up the alternator ( my understanding ) hence the buffer lead acid to take the alternator output when the BMS shuts off. Also there is the concern about alternator over heating as they work hard instantly and stay at max output unless charge rates are adjusted in the BMS  

I'll abuse the resident batteries and watch this space  - one issue is space literally as I'm limited on Percy so that is always a consideration. The other consideration is cost... they are an investment in fit and forget which if we intend to keep the boat for any length of time makes sense... if not it'll be another brace of AGM's. 

Final question I have  - some who read this who know may wish to comment  - not good to leave Lithiums at 100% and if on a solar panel thats what the leads get. I am presuming within the BMS you can set a charge limit so if leaving the boat for a period of time and not wanting to have the Lithiums at 100% you'd set the max charge to their recommended storage setting ? 

Anyhow here is the website of the recommended supplied for interest .



Monday 25 March 2024

About my Ecoflow Lithium battery

While I was waiting for the main house batteries to be sorted and to give some blackout cover at the cottage I purchased an Ecoflow Delta 2. 


They are sometimes what is incorrectly called a solar battery. Its so much more than a dumb battery. It is a 1024w 51v LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate)battery  which is married to a 60v 15 amp Mttp solar controller, a 1kw battery charger plus a 1800w inverter ( 230v out) it also has USB type c x 2 USB type A fast and slow ports. A 12v 10 amp cigarette style port. It can be fast charged up to 1100w down to 100w by the app  - yes its all app controlled. It can be charged at 80w from a car charger while driving. Its very versatile

At home it has a 1024w extra battery attached so its makes it a 2kw battery. It is charged overnight slow time to protect the battery on cheap rate electric. I have a 380w solar panel to go onto the gable end of the workshop (south facing ) so it'll be charged up for free for 3/4 of the year and maybe more. When at home its job is to run the fish pond pump and UV filter as well as the fridge freezer and wine fridge ( don't judge me ).

When it comes to the boat it has its own solar panel to charge it up  - see last post. If no sun it can be charged from 5% to 95% in an hour off the Honda 1kw genny. While being charged its running the boats electrics via the shore line hook up which includes the battery charger for the boats batteries  - which after I think four and a bit years are showing their age.

That one hour genny charge or free sun charge brings the Ecoflow onto the boat and it'll be plugged into the hook up and can run the tv and the battery charger if needed... last night it ran the microwave to start the baked spuds ! Then it gets plugged into the 12v circuit by a pig tail to the bus bar and is fed by the 10 amp cigarette socket - not idea but it works. On the more expensive units there is an Anderson port for more amps. It'll stay like that now all night running the fridge and the router ( 12v ) as I sit typing this just lights on the boat is using 25w 



Incidentally our cottage is running on batteries right now .... drawing 205w but the pond pump will go off shortly so that will drop overnight. We charge up in winter on cheap rate electric 9p a kw in summer we charge for free depending on how much sun we get !


It is all work in progress on the boat and the cottage  - still learning. The cottage gauges above are from a little Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant  - there are a ton of automations that I need to develop but for now it is a good monitoring base for me ( better than the app that comes with the inverter and batteries) 

I like that I capture the suns energy and save it and reuse it  - small things please simple minds as they say ! 

The only thing is it is quite compulsive watching and measuring. But I'd remind you of the adage I worked to at the University  - If you are not measuring it you are not managing it  !!

More to come no doubt and what fun it would be to have an electrically powered canal boat.... more are having them and I have pondered what it would take to replace Percy's engine with a generator and a load of batteries ....!! Now that would be a project 


Sunday 24 March 2024

Harvesting the sun

Yesterday was a bit of a long day. My youngest son Callum came over to the cottage for 7.30am and by 8am we were removing the two solar panels I'd put up on the North East facing workshop roof.  The two panels were a trial to see what I could get before the main panels on the south west facing roof. It was an encouraging trial with the two 375w panels giving a good start to the solar harvest each day. So much so i upped them to 5 x 425w panels. One of the two panels coming off the roof may go onto Percy to replace the 15 year old 175w panel... my Victon 15/75 controller will take that nicely.

It was bitter cold and a bit rainy but we got them all up and the sun came out just before they were energised into the Dc coupled inverter I have in the workshop - so now a 4.1kw system. Today we harvested 12.4 kw of 'free' power. it bodes well for covering the demand from the house meaning less need for charging the batteries up overnight certainly for 3/4 of the year. All good. 

We then manhandled two 1.2 x 2.4 metre sheets of 9mm plasterboard onto the vaulted ceiling timbers I'd constructed.... glad he was there to help and id not have been able to do it myself easily. We then hotfooted to his nearly completed house in Chinley to do some stuff there  - only we noticed a person slumped at the side of the road so turned the car and offered assistance. Turned out to be a local lady very worst for wear on the drink. But it was 5c and raining and a bitter wind and she was wet and in the gutter.... my lad phoned the ambulance service and they sad TEN hours for an ambulance. We phoned the police and they said not our problem  - yes they did say that. So I phoned the ambulance service and said she was starting to suffer hypothermia as were we and we got an ambulance in the hour.... the loaded her up and we went off to do what we were supposed to be doing 2 hours ago. I got back 8pm but pleased with the progress at both places.

Skip forward to today and we got to the boat after I'd tidied the wiring up under the panels and the solar was working well. Very pleased with my part DIY system but still got G98 approval  - look it up ! On the boat I plugged in the Ecoflow Delta 2 to the 38-w panel I put up last year made from floorboards from my lads house in said Chinley. it was instantly taking nearly 300w and the boat about 80w so charging up and running our other home  - excellent when a plan comes together. 

We pottered and then went for a lovely short walk as Rachel is still recovering from a nasty virus. Back at the boat I made a banana loaf and Cauliflower cheese and bakes spuds - gas ovens still make the best baked potatoes. We enjoyed a brief glimpse of spring but are ready for rain tomorrow with the stove set for lighting as we may just hunker down eat cake and drink tea  tomorrow. The engine will wait for another warmer drier day when it will be a pleasure to open up the crank door and oil all the bearings prior to its 2024 startup !! 

Some pictures.... 









Nice day after a busy but productive day yesterday 

Friday 22 March 2024

She survived the winter very well

It's always a bit of a concern to be visiting the boat after so many months being left all alone. This made more concerning after dreaming Percy had sank in a lock !! In fact on checking we were last with Percy on the 9th October 2023.... See here 

I'm so ashamed I/we  left the boat all winter  - thats 165 days or over 23 weeks  - more than 5 months. Wind rain snow ice. The storage box had twisted in the wind other than that externally she looked very well. Inside the same  - we stripped the bed and turned and vacuumed the mattress. I cleaned the bathroom after filling and testing the water heater - always a weak point. I blow any water out of it via the shower hose and wrap it in my dressing gown thankfully it survived, some orange flames  on startup but other than that worked a treat. I also gave the kitchen a good clean while Rachel vacuumed the boat and the curtains. 

Outside I added a bit of oil to the genny and it went on first pull and ran the vacuum perfectly. The delta 2 portable battery was plugged into the afternoon sun and was getting 250w off the panel so that bodes well for summer on board. The batteries were at 100% confirmed by the Smartgauge and also the Victron shunt that showed just 2.3 amps going in from the Delta 2 running the shore line into the boat. 

We didn't stay aboard as I've DIY here and at my youngest house tomorrow but we would like to be back on Sunday for a few days . I want to strip the engine to get into the crank case. I'm uneasy starting the engine after leaving it so long and I'm sure the 'book' says open the crankcase door and oil the main bearings after a long lay off. It'll mean removing the water pump started motor and alternator but I've done that before Hopefully I can get the door off not trashing the gasket as they are only available in kits of full gasket sets which are expensive.... 

So well done Percy, you have done us proud - lets hope the donk after a little TLC  - I'll check and adjust the tappets starts and behaves! More to come hopefully