This is in Rotterdam at 9.30pm.
Thursday 31 May 2018
Evening walks
As part of this health kick we're on we're doing more than 10,000 steps a day. Start off with 5,000 before breakfast and depending on the day we sometimes need to go for a walk after dinner to get over the 10,000.
This is in Rotterdam at 9.30pm.
This is in Rotterdam at 9.30pm.
Monday 28 May 2018
Alternator - Voltage Regulator
An update on those batteries.
We have disconnected the dodgy battery from the system and will pull it out of the boat later. That's going to be interesting because each battery is about 60kg. More on that when we get around to doing it.
We have now returned to the marina and have charged the batteries today. What I did notice on the way back here is that with the engine running we were only putting about 30 Amps back in to the batteries. When we got back here and turned off the motor and plugged in to mains it immediately went up to 58Amps and then over the next couple of hours it dropped off back down to almost nothing. This is exactly what you would expect if the voltage applied was higher with the battery charger than that which is applied with the alternator.
Cutting the story short a little bit, the voltage regulator on the back of the alternator was limiting the voltage output to 13.8 volts. Now that I have spent 26 Euro and bought a new voltage regulator that is set to 14.7 volts we get the full 50 Amps out of the alternator.
The end result of my 26 Euros is that every hour that we are motoring is going to see an extra 20 Amps go back in to the batteries and it's likely that when we arrive at marinas where we need to pay for power we will be charging the batteries for a much shorter time. Oh yeah, and now it works properly, just like it should.
We're now going to see how we go for a couple of days with just two batteries. If it works out ok we'll run with this until the end of this season and plan on new batteries for next year. If it doesn't work out, we'll then you'll get to hear about how we remove 3 x 60kg batteries and put in another 3 x 60kg batteries.
We have disconnected the dodgy battery from the system and will pull it out of the boat later. That's going to be interesting because each battery is about 60kg. More on that when we get around to doing it.
We have now returned to the marina and have charged the batteries today. What I did notice on the way back here is that with the engine running we were only putting about 30 Amps back in to the batteries. When we got back here and turned off the motor and plugged in to mains it immediately went up to 58Amps and then over the next couple of hours it dropped off back down to almost nothing. This is exactly what you would expect if the voltage applied was higher with the battery charger than that which is applied with the alternator.
Cutting the story short a little bit, the voltage regulator on the back of the alternator was limiting the voltage output to 13.8 volts. Now that I have spent 26 Euro and bought a new voltage regulator that is set to 14.7 volts we get the full 50 Amps out of the alternator.
The end result of my 26 Euros is that every hour that we are motoring is going to see an extra 20 Amps go back in to the batteries and it's likely that when we arrive at marinas where we need to pay for power we will be charging the batteries for a much shorter time. Oh yeah, and now it works properly, just like it should.
We're now going to see how we go for a couple of days with just two batteries. If it works out ok we'll run with this until the end of this season and plan on new batteries for next year. If it doesn't work out, we'll then you'll get to hear about how we remove 3 x 60kg batteries and put in another 3 x 60kg batteries.
Sunday 27 May 2018
Hindsight is a wonderful thing
Now that we've had a couple of days away from the dock we've worked out that one of the house batteries has a problem.
We have 3 x 220AH AGM batteries for the 'house' and 2 x 100AH batteries for the engine.
We have noticed over the last couple of days that the voltage is getting a bit low and when we tested each of the batteries in turn this morning they seemed fine. When we put them under load however one of the batteries immediately dropped down to 10 volts. Culprit found!
So, with the benefit of hindsight while we stayed at the dock for the last week doing a bunch of cleaning and reconfiguring of the boat we really should have had the shore power plugged in for a couple of days and then run on batteries for a couple of days. That way we would have found this earlier. Anyway, not a big issue but we'll go back tomorrow and get it sorted before we go any further.
We have 3 x 220AH AGM batteries for the 'house' and 2 x 100AH batteries for the engine.
We have noticed over the last couple of days that the voltage is getting a bit low and when we tested each of the batteries in turn this morning they seemed fine. When we put them under load however one of the batteries immediately dropped down to 10 volts. Culprit found!
So, with the benefit of hindsight while we stayed at the dock for the last week doing a bunch of cleaning and reconfiguring of the boat we really should have had the shore power plugged in for a couple of days and then run on batteries for a couple of days. That way we would have found this earlier. Anyway, not a big issue but we'll go back tomorrow and get it sorted before we go any further.
Thursday 24 May 2018
2018 plan
This years plan.
We'll leave here and head through the canals on our way south down to Maastricht before turning around and coming back on the Maas river. We'll follow that north and then around Nijmegen and Arnhem we cross over the Waal (Rhine) and in to the IJssel and up through Zwolle.
We'll get there by about mid July and then we are off to London for a weekend to catch up with Stephen and Jodie and Vincent. Stephen and Jodie get to go to a show in west end while we babysit Vincent :)
Belinda and I will also get to go to see The Lion King on the Sunday and then we head back to NL on the Monday.
From there we'll catch up with Justin and Trudy and the kids for a week or so before starting a slow trip back down to Rotterdam. When we get back to Rotterdam I want to do some testing to obtain my ICC and CEVNI endorsement for boating on the French canals. Next year, Belgium and possible France depending on how we go.
We'll leave here and head through the canals on our way south down to Maastricht before turning around and coming back on the Maas river. We'll follow that north and then around Nijmegen and Arnhem we cross over the Waal (Rhine) and in to the IJssel and up through Zwolle.
We'll get there by about mid July and then we are off to London for a weekend to catch up with Stephen and Jodie and Vincent. Stephen and Jodie get to go to a show in west end while we babysit Vincent :)
Belinda and I will also get to go to see The Lion King on the Sunday and then we head back to NL on the Monday.
From there we'll catch up with Justin and Trudy and the kids for a week or so before starting a slow trip back down to Rotterdam. When we get back to Rotterdam I want to do some testing to obtain my ICC and CEVNI endorsement for boating on the French canals. Next year, Belgium and possible France depending on how we go.
Friday 18 May 2018
Rotterdam
Rotterdam Centraal railway station
The trees and greenery you can see at the top is one big TV screen.
And on a Sunday morning it's almost deserted
Wednesday 16 May 2018
Thailand
Now this really does need to get cleaned up a bit. We've spent the last week in Thailand on our way back over to Europe. Ardella has spent the winter in Rotterdam and we'll be there tomorrow night. We're staying in the middle of Rotterdam on Thursday night and then hiring a car and getting out to the marina on Friday. We'll see the boat before it goes back in to the water in the afternoon and then we think we'll spend the next week or two own that way.
Pictures of Thailand to come ;-)
Pictures of Thailand to come ;-)
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