Putting it All Together - Excederin Headache

[Ex-Calif]

Late today I put the A/C to the test.

First of all it's on like a 90 meter spool of extension cord - not good but all the wires stayed cool.

I wanted to mount it on it's back but because of the compressor that's a no go. While I knew the height I didn't quite expect it to stand so high. But that's OK I'll get an inch when I take the wheels off and I am going to drop down into the bench so I think I'll get 4-5 inches there.

I fired it up and it immediately started blowing cold air - good sign. There is a drain plug on the bottom - I didn't RTFM and thought - Hmm... That will need to be plumbed. So I should see how much water comes out and pulled the plug.

A couple minutes later the air gets warm - like fan warm - and the discharge pipe is cooler. Oh, crap. I bodged something. Read the book - "Don't open the plug! Our advanced cooling technology sprays the water on the evaporator and most of the water goes out the exhaust as "steam."

Put the plug back in and in 1 minute it gets cold again and the exhaust gets hot - Lesson learned.

You can see the hatch is open like 3 inches so the boat isn't sealed. I put the doors in but I also have a 12 inch hole where the saildrive should go.

Bottom - Line is it is noticeably cool at 5:30PM. I didn't have a thermometer but it was definitely doing it's job. When the boat is sealed and I have ducted it properly I think this is gonna work.

Well worth $300 US - so far...

[Greenhand]

I am just getting into the battery side of this, myself.

We find ourselves questioning everything done by the previous owners, finding the directions incomplete, and just plain being frustrated and keeping our fingers crossed.

Speaking of which, I should really log off and go see if I can run the AC wires myself so that we can hook it all up in the morning.

[barnakiel]

You can get an inexpensive and excellent battery monitor from Bogart for some 150 bucks, and an MPPT for another 150 from Victron (15A, I think).

And so on. Simple and independent systems. No combos. No gadgets.

There are only two ways to solve the budget and one is to produce more the other being to consume less.

We went both ways. (hooopaaaa ! ;-)

Get all high use lights onto the LED technology. This is such a waste of money yet will save you even more money further down the road as you will need fewer batteries and smaller charging devices (less solar, less wind, less engine hours).

Get oversize APs, they use LESS energy. yes no typo here

Get tablets and netbooks in place of laptops and desktops.

Etc. etc.

I found it pretty simple. I keep it simple. No energy issues onboard. We produce plenty and consume very little. That simple.

Hope this helps.

b.

[mitiempo]

Looks like the A/C is a winner.

Get rid of the inefficient Coleman cooler and get the most efficient portable refrigerator/freezer available - Engel. I wouldn't have any other - have had my 40 quart for 3 years and it is the biggest power saving move you can make.

Yes they are not inexpensive but the alternative of more batteries and charging capability (solar etc) is more expensive.

It was noted earlier in this thread to fuse the negative, but fuses belong in the positive line, near the battery or source.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

Looks like the A/C is a winner.

Get rid of the inefficient Coleman cooler and get the most efficient portable refrigerator/freezer available - Engel. I wouldn't have any other - have had my 40 quart for 3 years and it is the biggest power saving move you can make.

Yes they are not inexpensive but the alternative of more batteries and charging capability (solar etc) is more expensive.

It was noted earlier in this thread to fuse the negative, but fuses belong in the positive line, near the battery or source.

10% agree on the Coleman but this "starter boat" has already received lots of boat buck lovin' lately.

Someone earlier on said, slow down and do things one at a time. Well with a ripped out interior at the moment I gotta do a lotta things just to get back on the water - refit from hell - LOL...

Thanks for the input!

[goboatingnow]

Im a great fan of allowing the budget to set the engineering. Which is what happens in feral life engineering anyway. Often there are a myriad of solutions , each more precise and efficient then the previous. Cost rising according.

Hence questions like " integrated charger inverter" " All LEDs" , busses, fusing etc, really need to be brought back to budget and what you really need. The plain fact is that electrical system can range from very simple to advanced. What they provide the user, is not so linear.

For logging I use a small hall effect current probe, several on flea bay and amazon etc for a few bob. I have a logging DMM, or have a version that connects to a lap top, very handy to get current over time.

But in practice you can use a few simple rules of thumb

1. Charging capacity should be around 20-25% of battery size. less means longer times, but can be cheaper.

2. Inverters should be sized for the 80% task, don't have a 2K watt inverter mainly running the odd 80w load.

2.5 switching to all LEDs needs to be cost justified, On my boat we boat in the summer time, days are long and very few cabin lights get used. It never made sense to convert 40 fittings to LEDs. YMMV.

3. Integrated system are great, but if you have already got acceptable part solutions, don't trash them merely to have an integrated solution. Fancy inverter chargers are all very well, but rarely are these advanced features needed, especially on a smaller boat. ( this is especially true of various power sharing/power support features) . Just switch off some mains devices

4. any monitoring is better then no monitoring, if you can't measure it , you can't control it

5. Look beyond marine land and into general electronics distribution ( mouse newark, divi etc), very few things are specifically marine, this is especially true for cable, buss bars etc.

best of luck


dave

[Ex-Calif]

Probably Overkill But I am Committed Now...

So I finally got around to ordering the equipment.

I sourced wire, anchor lugs and butt connectors, Fuse blocks and DC+ & Negative busses in Singapore. Yay! Saved a bomb on shipping but probably still paid too much.

But I was turned on to a kick ass Marine Electrical shop. They are Mastervolt focused but have everything one would need from an electrical standpoint if one were in need...

Equipment List -

So here is the list of stuff on order. Remember this is a bit of a learning exercise for me and I have probably put way to much investment in this boat. Some of this equipment might come off when I sell on.

Promariner 1240P charger - I was headed for the 1230P but I think the 1240 must be coming to the end of run or something and the price dropped dramatically. Plenty of amps for when I am parked up at the docks

Balmar Smartgauge - I think this is the right call for SOC today. I will end up pumping up the house to 300ah so I can get 3-5 nights on the hook if I want

BMV702 - Not having found anything that will count amps any cheaper anywhere I went with this. I think the 602 is reaching end of run and there are a couple of reviews that say the 702 has some newer features including a readout in watts

Sunsaver DuoRM - I went with a PWM controller and will be upgrading from about 40w to about 100W. This will be 2 X 50 on the Bimini arch an each side of the backstay. the only other option and maybe for future expansion is fold down brackets on the pushpit sides. I would probably get another 100w there. I could have gotten MPPT for the same money but I would not have had the remote monitoring and I like the remote monitoring. Hey after spending $1500 bucks I "demand" copious blinking lights. LOL

Blue Seas 7611 ACR - This will take care of the start battery.

I have ordered a pile of LED cabin lights and replacement elements for nav lights.

The only other piece to put together is how to hook up shore power.

For those following the plot - The only AC is going to be the charger input and the air conditioner. I really don't need AC outlets but if I am bringing AC on-board I may as well have at least one outlet.

Anyone have any ideas for a butt simple basic AC circuit?