How to PUKE a $2k bat bank, and the outback trap

[Lloyd]

Hi all there seems to be a lot of interest in bat banks.
So I thought I would give a little real life story, of the last week.

I am the marine electrician/designer of a rehab of a 1962 15 meter Baguetto .

My part of the job is a top down demo/rewire...of the electrical systems on board.

I installed a new house bat bank(3 interstate 8-d 12v/720amphr) in July of this year.

Now on to the puke. The owner was at the boat in  late December with the canvas guy, they changed the shore power cord from the port to the starboard entrance(what they didn't do is rotate the deck switch from port to starboard), then they managed to leave on, one of the distributed panel, dc power switches for the aft stateroom, along with the breakers for about 15 amps worth of lights. He didn't return to the boat till late January, and noticed that the house bank was dead. I showed back up 2 days ago when parts landed, and he said, by the way you did something wrong bc the batteries are all dead.

As the story goes 720 amp bank with a load of 15 amps will go dead after about 62.42 (Peukerts Law) hours(or 2.6 days) with no charge(don't forget to factor temp), well we exceed that by about 38 days with no charge. With labor and parts that's about $2k USD. Everyone knows if you leave a dead battery uncharged for any amount of time it's a goner....not to mention that there was  a 15 amp load(lights) that wouldn't let the bat recover....anything. So the bank is dead, $2k puked

Or is it?

Now for the Outback trap. I installed an FX2512 inverter /w bat charge the, inverter/charger drops out at 10.5 volts, and bc they programed it so it can't be grid tied without a dc side it won't come back online until it sees a dc buss voltage of greater than 11 volts for ten minutes. That means you better have an auxiliary charge source in some cases if you want to get the outback, back online(even to use as a battery charger).

So I brought in my portable shore charger, hit the bank with 10 amps for 24 hrs, then I hit again with 20 amps for 24 hrs. I energized the outback and up she came. After 24hr rest period I ran the spg on all the cells, they ranged between 1.10 and 1.225 at 12.8 volts, now that's a dead battery...no matter what the voltage says(it's called surface charge).

I then hit the bank with a 15.8 v equalize...now the spg after a 24hr rest on all cells is between  1.25 and 1.26....I recognize this as a surface charge. So I disconnect the string into individual 12 v bats, I set up a Peukert discharge  of 12 amps on bat 1, within in one hour the voltage drops to 12.3, Peukert says I have 20 hrs to hit a voltage of 10.5, that's not going to happen, so I recharge to full, and hit it with another eq this time 16 volts, after 24 hrs rest I have a bat voltage of 12.9, and an spg of near 1.3...maybe things are looking good, wrong. I set up a factory spec load of 12 amps, she pukes out at 141amps/10.5v drawn in about 8 hrs, well below any respectable bank/bat. So now, I have the bat on a 10 amp recharge, when she hits voltage...I'll hit her again with a 16 amp eq, and another load test. If one bat can't pass this, then the whole bank goes to recycle and a new group of bats will be installed.

I'll let you know

Lloyd


check out this mag switch, that I rebuilt, it runs the auto-start for the gen, when there is a demand for high voltage that the inverter can't supply.

These are the voltage regs, for the reinstalled dynamos

[rcavictim]

Nice job on the wiring!  Lots of time invested and it shows.

[Lloyd]

Her power, Professor you'll love this  twin supercharged 8v71 jimmys.

She cruises @35 knots, top speed 50 knots...just think all the 55 drums of diesel thrown overboard.

Lloyd


The next project is a 23 Meter big sister built 1962, for the Prince of Saude Arabia. She was sunk after a complete restore in 2000, she hit a reef(off Italy) at 35 knots ripped her quarter stern from just forward the shaft log. She had brand new v12 Manns from the 2000 restore(less then 1 month)...the new owner bought her in Italy had hers shipped to Seattle. They floated her with plywood scabs, she is on the ways nearing a rebuild of the under-waters at Jensens. New 12 cyl CRM's just landed in crates from Italy. The engine builder was the original OEM for the boat when she was new, they sent all of the original drawings/engineering. The crates came with all the v-drives oil/water reactors("heat exchangers as we know em") fuel/oil filters, and oil/waterpumps.

twins mind you

[lowspeedlife]

something tells me that it's going to turn faster than 650 rpm,  not sure i like that.  lol.

   Scott R.

[rbodell]

Hi all there seems to be a lot of interest in bat banks.
So I thought I would give a little real life story, of the last week.

I am the marine electrician/designer of a rehab of a 1962 15 meter Baguetto

Years ago a 3 month old aluminum hulled 56 footer was found on the bottom at the marina across the street from my house one morning. They tried to pump it out but all they got was big boiling cauldron and  the boat just sat there. The finally removed the roof of the covered slip and brought in a barge with a crane to raise it. It seems that an engine had fallen through the bottom of the boat.

At the slip across the dock from it the shore power cord was in the salt water bubbling merrily away. 5 other boats nearby had serious electrolyses problems. The worst part was that the owner of the aluminum boat had not had time to take the boat out for it's first cruise and because of that, he had stalled on getting his boat insured. Total loss.

[rcavictim]

Hi all there seems to be a lot of interest in bat banks.
So I thought I would give a little real life story, of the last week.

I am the marine electrician/designer of a rehab of a 1962 15 meter Baguetto

Years ago a 3 month old aluminum hulled 56 footer was found on the bottom at the marina across the street from my house one morning. They tried to pump it out but all they got was big boiling cauldron and  the boat just sat there. The finally removed the roof of the covered slip and brought in a barge with a crane to raise it. It seems that an engine had fallen through the bottom of the boat.

At the slip across the dock from it the shore power cord was in the salt water bubbling merrily away. 5 other boats nearby had serious electrolyses problems. The worst part was that the owner of the aluminum boat had not had time to take the boat out for it's first cruise and because of that, he had stalled on getting his boat insured. Total loss.

That is hardly news to those that realize a boat is just a euphemism for a depression in the water into which one pours lots of money.

[Lloyd]

Nice job on the wiring!  Lots of time invested and it shows.

Thanks

You should have seen the owner when I started the job. The first thing I did was to grab my big wire cutters and proceed to cut every wire in the boat out. He was like how are you going to know where to put everything back? He said, he thought that we should replace one wire at a time.

I approach these jobs as a kinda of art form. On a boat you don't have much real estate to work with, so each wire way has to be well though out. On this boat all of those "silver(alum)wire clamps, are all hand made to fit the wire way, by me. When the boat was originally built the factory pre-designed/made all the clamps so the installer could look at the plans, and order this many or that many of each clamp he needed.

With so many new systems on board the original wire ways didn't work...so it was a complete new layout.

The whole regulator assembly didn't exist, it had been converted to modern alts. When he was at the factory buying the sistership, he found new old stock, so we went back with the original Bosch 12 v 80 amp dynamos, and regs(which are paralleling) for the 12 volt house bank. Then we changed the start back to 24v, and added some rebuilt dynamos and regs.

Lloyd

[mobile_bob]

i can relate to your wiring job as to how the owner reacted

years ago, at the ripe old age of 19 my boss assigned me to repair the wiring in a trade in truck
it was hopeless, and i figured it easier to strip it to the bone and start over from scratch.

you should have seen the look on my bosses face when he saw the pile or wire on the floor, and the dash stripped to the firewall.



i can still hear his voice in my head

"I hope the hell you know how to put that all back together again"

and my answer

"it didn't work when i started!"

(somehow that was not a comforting comment to him)

bob g

[Lloyd]

something tells me that it's going to turn faster than 650 rpm,  not sure i like that.   lol.

  Scott R.

Scott,

maybe you'll like my friends boat engine better


He's got a pair of really nice Gardners, they turn slow.


I was hoping that he had the new pics of his engine room online.
http://www.mvdeerleap.com/engine.htm

Here is a big side shot http://lh3.ggpht.com/_NMqUqexRT-w/SOQo7smMy_I/AAAAAAAAAeM/bnbzZXg5wpA/IMG_3496.JPG

Lloyd

[rcavictim]

So what would a person do with a boat like this besides pay through the nose for insurance, docking fees, maintenance, etc., plus not be able to take it out anywhere for fear of pirates and being killed?  Just wondering aloud.

This coming from someone who firmly believes that one should not go out in public wearing a watch that is worth more than your hand.

[AdeV]

"I hope the hell you know how to put that all back together again"

and my answer

"it didn't work when i started!"

LOL - brilliant response...

[rbodell]

So what would a person do with a boat like this besides pay through the nose for insurance, docking fees, maintenance, etc., plus not be able to take it out anywhere for fear of pirates and being killed?  Just wondering aloud.

well, I don't know where that boat is, but in American waters, piracy is pretty much a thing of the past. In the middle east and Africa, large ships and tankers are the prize. Drug smugglers want fast boats and boats that are inconspicuous and carry heavy cargos like fishing boats. This boat would probably be recognized all over the world.

Of course that isn't guaranteed, but I think that would be one of the last ones to be taken by pirates. All that aside, weather, fire, and miscalculations in navigation would be way up on the danger scale above pirates.  

[Henry W]

So what would a person do with a boat like this besides pay through the nose for insurance, docking fees, maintenance, etc., plus not be able to take it out anywhere for fear of pirates and being killed?  Just wondering aloud.

This coming from someone who firmly believes that one should not go out in public wearing a watch that is worth more than your hand.

Fear of pirates ? Or being killed? This sounds like somthing my 78 year mother in law would come up with.

Anyways, This is not a merchant ship. It can be armed.
And what to do with the boat? Have fun going out looking for pirates and take care of them. Just Kidding

Very nice boat. I love seeing old boats getting a second life.


Henry

[Lloyd]

Yea not much fear of Pirates in the NW.

Slim, does most of the work near 80% himself, he also restores little chris crafts as business.

They live on the boat from about April - October, usually sometime by early May, they head north to Alaska. They gather fish and sea food along the way. He's got a big smoker on board, and a couple of large freezers. They put away enough to last them the year. He owns a boat house that it lives in during the off season, his annual mooring is likely cheaper than mine.

Him and his wife are the most down to earth people, you'd think them just ordinary joes.

He's one of those guys that can find a deal anywhere he looks...and about as frugal as any off grider I know. Hell the boat only burns less 12 gals an hour at a cruise speed of 11 knots, I think the engines only spin at 600-700 rpm, with some monster wheels.

What's even more amazing is he and his wife have run the boat by themselves, but usually the have changing crews of friends and family all along the way...who dbl as deck hands. They like us spen about 1 out 30 days tied to a dock the rest the time it's on the hook...no mooring fees.

Lloyd

[Henry W]

In the engine picture it looks like the person that did the pipe fitting and sweating the copper tubing had a few hours of experiance. He did a very nice job. Everything was kept neat.

Henry