A way To Save Charging Time

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I typed in Dcc4000 manual and found an English one right off the bat, but I'm not doing the work for you in support of the greatest boat of all Oyster

Can you please send me a link via a pm.

Thanks. My google search turned up just a bunch of other guys looking up the same thing on forums.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

HyGrometer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrometer



A Haar tension dial hygrometer with a nonlinear scale.


Humidity and hygrometry Specific concepts

• Absolute / Specific / Relative
• Dew point (depression)
• Psychrometrics

General concepts

• Air
• Concentration
• Density
• Dew
• Evaporation
• Humidity buffering (Atm.) Pressure
• Liquid water
• Avogadro's law
• Nucleation
• Thermodynamic equilibrium

Measures and Instruments

• Heat index
• Sat. vap. density
• Mixing ratio
• Water activity
• H. indicator
  • card
• Hygrometer
• Dry/Wet-bulb temperature

• v
• t
• e

A hygrometer /haɪˈɡrɒmᵻtər/ is an instrument used for measuring the moisture content in the atmosphere. Humidity measurement instruments usually rely on measurements of some other quantity such as temperature, pressure, mass or a mechanical or electrical change in a substance as moisture is absorbed. By calibration and calculation, these measured quantities can lead to a measurement of humidity. Modern electronic devices use temperature of condensation (the dew point), or changes in electrical capacitance or resistance to measure humidity differences. The first crude hygrometer was invented by Leonardo da Vinci in 1480 and a more modern version was created by polymath Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1755.


HyDrometer:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer
A hydrometer or areometer is an instrument that measures the specific gravity (relative density) of liquids—the ratio of the density of the liquid to the density of water.
A hydrometer is usually made of glass, and consists of a cylindrical stem and a bulb weighted with mercury or lead shot to make it float upright. The liquid to test is poured into a tall container, often a graduated cylinder, and the hydrometer is gently lowered into the liquid until it floats freely. The point at which the surface of the liquid touches the stem of the hydrometer correlates to specific gravity. Hydrometers usually contain a scale inside the stem, so that the person using it can read specific gravity. A variety of scales exist for different contexts.
Hydrometers are calibrated for different uses, such as a lactometer for measuring the density (creaminess) of milk, a saccharometer for measuring the density of sugar in a liquid, or an alcoholometer for measuring higher levels of alcohol in spirits.
Principle Operation of the hydrometer is based on Archimedes' principle that a solid suspended in a fluid is buoyed by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the submerged part of the suspended solid. Thus, the lower the density of the substance, the farther the hydrometer sinks. Thus, it is based on the principle of floatation.

Geez, I think I might have one of those things on the boat, I didn't know what it was for. I'll look for in tomorrow evening.

[Kenomac]

Good News!
The boss gave the OK to install 450W of solar.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I need something easy to use.

If memory serves the Smart Gauge has three wires, two go to the Pos pole of each bank ( it will tell voltage of two banks, but SOC of only one)

The third wire goes to the ground I believe, then just wait it will self calibrate, or if your on shore power and are absolutely certain your really fully charged you can tell it 100% SOC.
You can't really screw it up I don't think, even if you lie to it, it figures out what the SOC really is over a few days.
Supposedly you never mess with it, just leave it alone and it learns you bank by magic or something and gets very accurate over say a week of daily use.
It is as dummy proof a thing as exists, and is supposed to be the most accurate SOC indicator there is.
Many argue how it works, I have just decided it's magic and let it go at that.

I have read several times that it isn't really accurate when the bank is being charged, it takes a little time after the chargers are removed to determine SOC accurately, however mine seems to be accurate even under charge.

I think under set up you may have to tell it what chemistry your batteries are, I think, it's been a couple of years.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I know you're tryin', but...................

Not trying to be rude, but do you know what Amps are?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by StuM

Not trying to be rude, but do you know what Amps are?

Do you mean amperes?

A unit of electric current equal to a flow of one coulomb per second.

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Here's the problem.... It's in German and no longer published in English.

I need something easy to use.

Probably no different than the DCC6000. Manual in english here:
Magnetronic

The Smartgauge is the best way to tell your battery bank's state of charge. Setting up a conventional battery monitor is only the first step. They do not remain accurate without owner input. Here is a very good how-to for keeping your amp counting monitor accurate over time.
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/p...attery_monitor

[Kenomac]

Thanks

[poiu]

Ken

I'll send you now the manual for your model in English by pm. I have the same one. It's easy enough to program (set up and reset now and then is all you need to do really). Ask if you have any questions.

I don't think you need the smart meter, sorry for saying so after I read you ordered one. It works on the basis of an amp calculator, like the one you have, except it adjusts with voltage readings to recalibrate automatically. You can easily reset your existing ones manually with the same effect. I now have lithiums and do this in the same way as I did for lead,though because of the shape of the curve is not as accurate a method as it is for lead.

I will repeat transmitterdan's and others' advice and add a bit. You don't really need the DCC4000 even. All you really need for monitoring your batteries is a table or chart, which you can easily make to show the low or no load voltage against capacity. Check daily say at 7:00 am, then forget it until the next day. Volts = state of charge. The battery manual should give this info, or you can make/adapt one from a similar battery and your experience.

Monitor volts at the battery or compensate for errors in your table based on panel readings. The meter might suffer a voltage drop. Mine does.

Reset regularly as small errors build up.

Any meter that says you have 100% is misleading you. You will only get a true 100% charge after 48 hrs or so of trickle charging. Get used to living at a fair bit less than max on the hook. Your DCC4000 will show the truth if you recalibrate it.

Just for what it is worth. I have no solar. I use about 110Ah @26v per day with a lot of electric kettle/toaster/microwave use and a lot of amp guzzling hifi. I run the genset for two hours twice a week unless the engine isn't used, then I will need it for water heating, so will run every two days or have tepid showers.

The lithiums make it easier to go without charging for long periods. I have gone as long as a week.

[Stu Jackson]

For everyone installing a battery monitor: The "Gotcha Algorithm" thread, a "MUST READ"

Link-series Charging Algorithms -- The "Gotcha" Factor!

DEFAULTS are factory settings that are made to be modified to suit your setup.

Also read this one:

Programming a Battery Monitor (by Maine Sail)

Keeping Your Battery Monitor More Accurate Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Like I wrote earlier.... I asked Oyster, their guy didn't understand the boat. Was then referred to Fox's Marina which was zero help.

Both delivery captains hired five years ago in the UK couldn't figure it out.

Then hired an electrical engineer in Mallorca who turned out to be a complete boob. Then asked several other electrical engineers who basically saw that the system was 110v, then watched their eyes spin. I finally gave up after about the sixth or seventh guy.

Believe me I tried.

I've never thought of myself as a genius, but maybe I should![emoji41]

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

I've never thought of myself as a genius, but maybe I should![emoji41]

The lightbulb above my head illuminated right as you were still writing your recommendation to flip the switch. It was your persistent questions regarding my panel which caused me to look at it from a new angle.

I'd turned off the internal shore power breaker, and then flipped the switch to sh/gen but then all the 110v sockets and 220v side went dark on the panel like always except for the inverter diodes, then it dawned on me to try starting the generator. Started it up and behold... the entire panel lit up.

Thanks again for all your help. Without your questions and insight, I'd still be in the dark.

[Kenomac]

Looking ahead over the next two weeks, following the installation of the 450w Solbian solar array to the bimini top by the Solbian factory near Turin, we should be down to running the genset for no more than 1/2 hour in the morning and 1/2 hour at night for cooking and hot water production, maybe less. If the genset happens to let us down for a couple of weeks like last season, the solar will keep us going at anchorages. The batteries should now have a much longer and easier life, and redundancy has been added to the overall systems onboard.

Wins all around! And.... this is all being paid for by money saved by not needing to be hauled out and bottom painted this year. The boat was moored in brackish, mostly fresh water over the winter, so really no growth. What was there died and fell off, and the small amount that is there now will die and fall off when we leave.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The lightbulb above my head illuminated right as you were still writing your recommendation to flip the switch. It was your persistent questions regarding my panel which caused me to look at it from a new angle.

I'd turned off the internal shore power breaker, and then flipped the switch to sh/gen but then all the 110v sockets and 220v side went dark on the panel like always except for the inverter diodes, then it dawned on me to try starting the generator. Started it up and behold... the entire panel lit up.

Thanks again for all your help. Without your questions and insight, I'd still be in the dark.

Who would thought the generator had to be running in order to supply power?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Who would thought the generator had to be running in order to supply power?

A little more complicated than that.

When the panel switch was the opposite way, I always had 110v and 220v power with the genset running, the only difference now is that the genset is supplying power directly to the 110v panel and the charger rather than just to the charger and the 220v panel.

Sailorboy and Stu,

Let me put this another way, gently of course with a smiley face... make that two smiley faces.

I'd be completely at ease tuning a Steinway concert grand piano for the Boston Symphony Orchestra for an evening concert or setting up an IV Heparin drip in a hospital for a sick patient. Not so much so with electricity involving much more than a simple circuit. But this deficit hasn't held me back over the past six years of cruising.

Wanna change roles and see how it works out for you?

I think you get my point. Nobody out there is good at everything, and I do sincerely appreciate all the help you guys have offered up on this issue.