I am impressed. This was explained very well even though it was quite comprehensive. So comprehensive in fact that it even started to go beyond my level of comprehension. And I was trained / received schooling for electric and electricity in the USN. Although that was decades ago and even then I really did not apply or actually put into use much of that knowledge at the time. So I have forgotten some of it. Still I think it went beyond even what I received schooling for. Anyway well done mate.

@svfairisle

Жыл бұрын

Well thanks Kevin, I’ve forgotten a lot of earlier training to, it took quite a bit of research & head scratching before I was back up to speed for this.

I've lived off grid for 20 years here in Hawaii.. Have gone thru many battery's over the years and can tell you hands down Lithium iron battery's give the best bang for the buck.. You will never go back to AGM..

Steve - Well done! I studied electrical engineering in college and was a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine officer for many years, so I feel qualified to say you got the details right. We had a 128 cell HUGE old fashioned lead acid battery bank on my sub (each cell was 1 ft x 1 ft x 4 ft tall) and we had to do monthly equalizing charges. Lots of off-gassing to deal with when doing an equalizer and other temperature concerns as well. Lithium ion technology seems to be the future of DC energy storage.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Good grief! equalising lead acid batteries in a sub can't be fun!

What an absolutely amazing video. Thank you! I am about to change to lithium and this is really so useful.

@svfairisle

8 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

I hope you will enjoy your lithium batteries as much as we do! we are about to release a video just how much we enjoy it 😊 Very good, informative video. Thanks!

Hi again Steve. My family has just joined me in Athens and it turns out that my son knows your daughter - they both work for the same London based sports tech company... small world huh!

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Huh yes constantly reminded of what a small world it is apart from when you're trying to sail around it! Hope your son's enjoying the skiing it would have been a dream job for me in my 20's, hell it wouldn't be bad now! Good on the kids!

The lithium battery should be considered to have it's outputs on the load/charge side of the BBM. However the BBM generally switches the negative side and the positive side is effectively direct from the battery anyway... So your connection to the positive side of the battery bank is fine. The alternator already gets it's negative side from the engine frame which is of course on the charge side of the BBM already. Do check your BBM to make sure it is not the odd one out and to make sure some random internet comment is actually correct ;)

Learnt a lot post lithium install.. nice vid Steve!

Great vid. Lots to think about when designing the power system. wow!

Some great info here Steve. Fusing, wire gauge, sensor placement, etc. I always enjoy your tech vids and will no doubt be referencing this one soon enough. Cheers.

Steve that was great. I’m a real novice when it comes to electrical systems on my boat so this is very helpful. It’s not too techy and not too long so that you loose someone like me. The problem you said towards the end with a wire melting and catching fire actually happened to me so after I bought the boat. BUT the wire was chafing on the gear box housing and then was right above the drive shaft! Thanks again for a great episode. Looking forward to Part 2. All the best Richard. 👍🇬🇧

Excellent work! Very informative, aided by great presentation and delivery, and indeed coming from someone who is well versed with the subject matter. Thank you. Stay safe. Cheers, Arvind (Perth, Western Australia)

Very, very well explained in a great video.

Brilliant video Steve. So rare to get the right balance of technical detail to explain the necessary elements without going ‘nerd’ native. Great diagrams which help the explanation too. Interesting to hear what others think about the sense wire re the Batt Cut off switch.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

I think the consensus is to have the sensing wire as close to the battery as possible but on the other side of any fuse/isolation switch. That’s where mine is now.

Good to see you use the dc-dc to charge the starter battery and not the other way around

Hi Steve Just watched your video and I like the fact that you seem to have put a lot research and effort into your install - I have a lithium setup myself and I think they are leaps ahead of previous battery technology for liveaboards One thing I would like to add to your tech advice is that while all forms of lead acid battery tech needs the battery to be brought to 100%charge regularly for longest life span - Lithium do not like to be charge to 100% or drained to 0 for the longest life span - they like to be kept between 80% and 20% for the longest life span I see your boat is a monohull and I know the room is limited for your electrical equipment but I noticed the amount of electrical components in your engine bay inclusive of batteries. Please keep in mind protection from water spray from any of your hoses due to leaks from such. Covers for these things are a safety priority 👍

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Yes all good points. There is a part 2 to this battery series where I talk about all that, glad you’re enjoying your lithium batteries

Lithium is the talk of the town and I get your reasoning. The benefits of lithium are compelling when measured against lead acid, although it is wildly optimistic for anyone to think you can just change over from lead acid or AGM to lithium. It is a complicated process as you have illustrated. Battery technology will change over the coming years. Although my belief is that VRLA will take a leap forward. A huge amount of resources are being poured into this technology. Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium ALABC has funded over $50 million into R&D and the study of performance of VRLA valve regulated lead acid. Lead battery science research in partnership with Argonne National Laborites are studying chemical change in real time charge and discharge. Drivers behind all of this are both economic, environmental and political. China has the world in a head lock on the LPF industry. From an environmental standpoint, Because lead has a low melting point it is cheap and easy to recover it from old batteries which makes it economically worthwhile. In western countries there is extensive recycling of lead-acid batteries with most of the lead going back into new batteries. This requires a well-developed recycling system which may not be present in less developed countries. Unfortunately, recycling of lithium-ion batteries is much more complicated and energy intensive and is not currently economical. If this issue is not addressed we will have piles of discarded li-ion batteries in the coming years.

@kevinfisher1345

Жыл бұрын

It is not that lithium ion batteries is not economical, or at least not currently. It is the fact that there are few recycling centers for lithium ion. This is due to volume. There simply was not as many by volume lithium ion batteries compared to lead acid. Most of the lithium ion batteries before were small and ran small portable devices. That is changing as they are now bigger lithium ion batteries being put into use more commonly for vehicles and as battery banks for power of homes, buildings, etc. Yes there were a ton of small lithium ion batteries in use before, but they were small and simply did not make up enough volume compared to bigger lead acid batteries that last shorter period of time / cycle life. Lithium ion can be economical if they ramp up the amount of recycling centers, which is starting to happen. Albeit it really should have been happening before. Once you start getting more competition and people experienced in recycling lithium ions, it will be economical. Once they start scaling up such processing centers. In short the only reason it is not now is simply due to the few that are actually doing it now. Research studies has been done which has shown that lithium ions can recycle 95% of the those batteries at an affordable and economical price. Such as the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) of AU govt which did two in depth studies. And there is no reason this should not have been being done before. It is very easy to remove and recycle 90% of the cobalt and nickle in lithium ion batteries. LiFePo4 which lithium iron phosphate is even easier, which is what we are talking about here and is the most common household and boating replacement for their battery banks. The iron part is just as easy as it is for lead acids, as is the copper coating. The phosphorus is not as easy as iron, nickel or cobalt but is not that hard and has been shown to be done at affordable costs. There are a few companies in China for example that already do this for lithium iron phosphate batteries. The only issues are that cobalt is toxic and lithium can be toxic, in particular lithium water as lithium is highly reactive. So the lithium needs to be handled differently, but again it can be and is done. The lithium electrolyte can be dissolved in organic solvents which are not that costly of a process. You just need people trained or knowledgeable to know how to do it properly. They need to know how to use insulated tools and know how to properly discharge them first (due to their high discharge rate), then they need to test them to see which ones can be reused vs which ones need to be recycled. This leaves the anode which is the hardest part to recycle from lithium ions, due to the graphite. Which is why most studies shows lithium ions can recycle up to 95% of those batteries. That apparently is not cost effective. You can look at several research studies for this, many were done in 2020 (like the two for CSIRO). Here is just another one done by ENEA (Italian R&D government dept) published in June 2020 "Lithium iron phosphate batteries recycling: An assessment of current status". But the biggest issue of your claims is what I briefly mentioned above. Do they really need to be recycled or can they just be reused? Most of these lithium ion batteries that we are talking about for use to provide power to where people are living or working (ie in houses, vehicles, boating, buildings, etc) the end of life is typically ~70% SoC. This means those batteries are not dead and can still be used. In other words they do not even need to be actually recycled at all, just repurposed for use elsewhere. For instance those being used in vehicles where they have gone past their given life time and so the range is shortened, might be at 65% SoC. Or they can only go 65% of its original range. Or for those in boating they only have 65% of their original power and that is not enough to provide for their living needs, so they get new ones. Those lithium ion batteries can still be used elsewhere and will just be sold at a lower price for those that can use them elsewhere. For example someone living off grid that has tons of space and will gladly buy a lot more at a reduced rate to power their home. You can keep using them easily for many many more years down to 20% SoC. So most of these which already have generally 15 year life cycle, and can then be used for another 15 years elsewhere, you are looking at 20 - 30 years down the road from now in which there will be more accessible recycling centers capable of dealing with these types of batteries to meet that new more common and popularly used demand.

Hi Steve - finished the installation today. Very pleasantly surprised by the Sterling DC-DC. We ran the engine for a hour and a half and it delivered almost it's full 120A (we were getting 110-114A) The temperature went to a max of 27.2C (it has 2 internal fans).. However we cut down the alternator output to 100A after about half an hour because it got too hot. The boat has a tiny engine compartment so we're going to install a blower and see if we can dial it up a bit. All good so far!

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds good, well done. Heat is going to be a problem, same for me.

Really very good , I nearly understood everything

Absolutely first rate... Very interesting. I have eight (six year old) "golf cart" (6v. & 30Kg each) batteries to make 2 x 24v banks! As the yacht is laid up for 7 months of the year they don't really get much use so all is well at the moment, however when it is change time I think I will go with Lithium, but I hadn't realized that the conversion was so complicated. I will probably run your videos a second time :-) Once again, thanks for a brilliant video. Looking forward to part 2. Incidentally we are looking at dumping gas for electric. Gas is a nightmare as you go from country to country, each with their own gas suppliers and fittings, not to mention the safety issues. Hence renewed interest in high capacity batteries and inverters. Our genset is elderly but reliable but as yet we don't have an inverter. That will follow shortly :-).

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Yes dumping gas for electric is tempting but big inverters need a very robust system to cope, I cover more of that in part 2.

The DC to Dc has one purpose, to save the alternator from over heating by limiting the charge going to the lithium battery, alternators have a fixed fan cooling blade. Great for lead acid which varies its charge rate (draw) with the rpm of the alternator (basic alternator) but Lithium accepts so much more, even at low rpm, and the fan will not cool the alternator at low rpm. Therefore the temperature goes up and up leading to damage, so the DC to Dc is in fact a charge limiter. These days they do have software profiles for various battery types, but it’s function is to save the alternator from damage.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

I think you're a bit confused! The purpose of having a DC - DC converter in my case is to change the charging profile, obviously in some applications it might be used to step up or down the voltage as well, but it is not an alternator protector. I have a temp sender, derating controls to protect the alternator as well as a Sterling alternator protector to cope with spikes in the event of a BMS disconnect. Using a DC -DC converter as a way of protecting an alternator would not be a good option.

@Sandhoeflyerhome

2 жыл бұрын

You need to look up you tube .. research by Victron in the lab. If think you have confused yourself. The only purpose of the DC to DC limiter is to save the alternator from over heating. This by limiting the draw .. It’s other benefit is a selectable charging profile. There is no need to fit a DC to DC on a lead acid system. The issue is the high charging rate of lithium. This is controlled by selecting the current when buying the unit, mine is a 30 amp unit, you can buy higher or lower.

@Sandhoeflyerhome

2 жыл бұрын

To save you searching please watch this from Victron ……. kzread.info/dash/bejne/nJujq9GcgMq1pco.html

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

No a DC-DC converter is not put in a system to limit current, that is not it's function. I have a whole section on the website that goes into details on these systems have a look at that, you've obviously found some bad information on YT.

Hi Steve - very interesting especially as I'm in the middle of a lithium install on our boat. I'm going the 'other way': Balmar 170A alternator connected to the lead acid starter battery and then DC to DC charging the 3x150A lithium. I've bought Sterling Power's new 120 A DC to DC which hopefully will provide enough current. The main advantage as I see it is that if/when the BMS's disconnect the lithium then the alternator is still connected to the lead acid. And for belt and braces we are connecting Sterling's Alternator Protect device as well.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Yes that’s certainly a safe way to do it. I’d be interested to see what efficiency you get out of that DC-DC converter though and how hot it gets!

Susan & Tony here, OMG thats a bit of info

Another wonderfully informative Tech video, thank you Steve. I will be going down the same path next year on our boat, so Im curious to know the reason behind your choice of the Super B, also did you design the system yourself or did the Battery supplier assist?

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

The Super B batteries come well recommend and I was impressed when I talk to them about there meticulous choice of cells and construction and testing of the battery once together. Super B don’t design systems in fact they usually sell to installers not private individuals I think. I just contacted them to get technical information and found them very helpful so did it direct. They do have Christian their field engineer who I emailed questions to and who will link in remotely to the system once’s the BiB box and batteries are connected together and make sure all the BMS’s are playing nice. I’ve showed some of that in the episodes and there is more in part 2.

Are the individual batteries fused? How does the Sterling unit work? What role does the BIB play? Cable management to equalise charging and cable resistance to each battery? Ventilation? Temperature control and working range? Water ingress into the battery box-is it waterproof? If the BMS{s} shut down what procedure do you have in place for recovering them and what provision is there for loss of instruments etc, if any? Are the bow thruster and windless off of the same bank? Would resettable trips be better than fused links? Apologies, but I'm at the same stage that you were. Phew!! We have a 24v 6*100h house bank being converted to lithium. You cannot serial/parallel lithium so we had 24v batteries specially made (thank you China) so they could simply be run in parallel. I'm looking to connect, with equal length tails to busbars to equalise the charging, does your BIB do this? How do you monitor the individual state of each battery? The problem with bluetooth modules is that they drain, only a small amount, but over a protracted period it could be a problem so I'm debating this. I'm told our old Mastervolt inverter charger can be configured avoiding the need for, very hot running, DC-DC charger. It's all good fun! Great video as usual, well done.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

I think I got to most of those question in either the videos or the website, but here's a few clarification points... The Super B batteries arn't individually fused, they are bas-barred together at the poles so that wouldn't be possible or necessary. They do have individual BMS's to make sure they are individually balanced. They are rated to up to 55 C 131F while charging so in our engine room they shouldn't get that hot but i am monitoring and adding ventilation as shown in the video. Look at the section with the wiring dia to understand the procedure I have in place for a BMS cut off, I can manually switch to the starter battery.

Very good video Steve. Sail Safe mate. Ant & Cid

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Ant, appreciate that coming from you.

I like the way you explain things lot of good info. I don't know slot about a solar system but enough to charge my 3 sealed optima batteries. I'm waiting for the right time to add my 2 other solar panels 260 watts each but there second hand I thing they only showed 144 watts each panel with my controller and extra meter I bought. I'll get it figured out sometime not in a big hurry. I bought a epever 40 amp controller when I'm ready to connect the panels but need to buy right size wires for it. Thank you for sharing what you learned about it. God bless you be safe.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Calvin. Sounds like you know what you're doing but I have made a video on solar as well which might give you the odd tip... kzread.info/dash/bejne/X4Zn1LaTdN3Td7Q.html

@kennethkonoi9699

2 жыл бұрын

Remember that the panels will output their nominal wattage (or close to it) ONLY if the panel is perpendicular to the sun.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Yes very few output their full rated wattage no matter what. Lab conditions have the right perfect air temp as well as light intensity and angle. Usually in real life when the sun is strong enough to give full power it is also too hot for the panel to give thee best o/p. The closest by far that I've found to delivering what it promises is the Bi-Facial panel we have from LG. This isn't so particular about being perpendicular to the sun either.

@calvingarrett3245

2 жыл бұрын

@@svfairisle hello again the panel I'm using is a 50 w solar panel it doesn't really put out so much but it keeps my three batteries topped off but I'm going to connect everything up after another month or two here at the outdoors that's my choice don't want to pay no expensive rain and electric bills so I wanted to have my own electric I got a small little 200-watt inverter to use if I want to so I want to connect my electric shaver or charge my battery power shaver I can do it and I don't have to worry about looking for electric anywhere in the city oh and I connect my other two big panels up I'm not going to use the 50 watt panel on that in line I don't want to be changing things around I got an extra 12 volt battery that's for like a riding lawn mower and I'm going to connect the 50 what panel with 20 amp charge controller I'm using now on that battery just for emergencies keep it topped off while I'm using off the other system I was doing a little studying to figure out if two solar panels at 560 Watts would run good through my 40 amp charge controller it's 12 to 24 volts so I just I can hook it up like that and be on the safe side I had to order the meter separate for the charge controller another meter and they sent me a different kind of heat sensor but I've ordered that with a meter so I can connect the heat sensor with a wire that's on it and I don't know if it'll work through the Bluetooth system on my phone to read the meter it showed me a thing on there where I could scan the promo code or whatever you call it on the box and I can do it over the phone and change the settings and things I'm not going to spend extra money on a internet box to connect to this because I don't have a laptop to connect it to for all of that junk and I think I could do it the Bluetooth way otherwise it dead to me trying to use the meter the way it is now I'll get it soon enough anyways you all have a safe trip out there and God bless you this weekend watching from Roseville California USA that's about 40 miles east of Sacramento California

@calvingarrett3245

2 жыл бұрын

@@kennethkonoi9699 yes any panels that I've had they never put out the pool power 100 watt panel I had before did it was a monocrystalline panel I don't like the other panels monogrystalline seems to work in cloudy weather really good especially my 50 watt panel I have here it's a mono crystalline panel it works in cloudy weather rain I don't put out that much but it's stays up with my batteries really good

Excellent

If your sensing wire is actually providing the field voltage to energize the alternator then a bms disconnect will act as a field disconnect - not sure it will do it quick enough for the ensuing voltage spike that will occur at the same time because you hav disconnected the output wire but you do have the sterling to protect so it should be ok..(?)

With their high interrupt capacity, a class-T fuse would be a better choice for your lithium bank than a Mega given the massive current potential in the event of a dead short.

Excellent video! As always well done. I just finished the Nigel Calder / Jan Christoph Athenstadt Boathowto electrical course. Lots yet to fully understand and your video was really easy to follow after that course. I’m looking forward to the next. Question: I think you said you used a mega fuse. Why did you choose that over a T Class fuse. I thought T class had the higher interruption rate. Also I’m not sure if your series has completed filming, but I’ve noticed more people including myself trying to understand grounding better. Love an episode one day on that. Thank you!

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Mega fuses are just what were available to be honest, they are perfectly good for the job and T class fuses should be interchangeable in the holders so when I come across some I can swap them and have some spares but as I said either are good I think. There is a second part the this battery section, but grounding really belongs in video on anode protection and electrolysis problems which I've talked about in one of the early boat lift videos but really needs a video of it's own. I'll add it to the list!

@akathesquid5794

2 жыл бұрын

sailinglatis, you are correct. MEGA/AMG fuses cannot handle the Lithium battery's short-circuit current since their AIC rating is around 10% of a class-T fuse. This means under the LiFePO battery dead short is sends enough current fail a mega fuse in the closed position - thus no break, BAD. Every engineering paper I have read specify class-T on lithium banks.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

@@akathesquid5794 That’s not correct for Super B batteries. I specifically asked their technical expert Christian about fuses knowing Mega fuses are what were available and he said they recommend Mega fuse, it’s no problem at all with their batteries.

@akathesquid5794

2 жыл бұрын

@@svfairisle OK I guess the laws of physics are different in SuperB-land then 🙂 Your bank can easily exceed 6000A more likely higher short circuit current. mega fuse is rated at 2000 AIC, class T at 20,000 AIC thus the spec. I'll go away now, not here to argue just advise. The correct answer with LiFePO banks is class T.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

I think it's got more to do with the very sensitive none latching relay they have in the BiB box before the fuse, Super B batteries have internal BMS's and the external BiB box which controls the o/p of the batteries . i don't think it's possible for a short circuit current to get beyond the BiB box, but I will check.

Great video. Any concerns about drawing bilge air for cooling the engine compartment since that is where any gas leak will accumulate? Of course you will have alarms.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Not really, I may get another alarm though. The one I have is a bit old

Hi Great video! I have read that insurance companies here in the US are not differentiating between lithium chemistries and are canceling policies or not covering claims if you install Lithium- did you have any issues with this.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

No our insurance company (GJW) has no issues with lithium, I have heard some do. My feeling is they might panic a bit now but this will go away when they realise LiFePO4 is no more dangerous than lead-acid.

What is that little box sensor on top of the starting battery? 18:45

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Temperature sender to the shore power charger. Doesn't really need it now it it just receiving a trickle charge from there.

@goodq

2 жыл бұрын

@@svfairisle cool. Just curious shouldn’t those be on the side of the battery or on the negative terminal to avoid the air pocket on top of the battery.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

@@goodq Yes ideally always near the top though as this gets hottest first. The ones that screw on are best though, I say it in the film, although it might be in part two, can’t remember.

Hi Steve, and thanks for a great video. I could not find the info on your website. Also a question I have is when changing I am not sure whether to go 12V or 24V so I would like your opinions. Yes I will be installing a system the same size as yours. I have fridges, chart plotter and maybe some other electronics can run on 24V and was thinking I could have a 24V to 12V converter. Id there an advantage with smaller wires in this idea? André in Sydney

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Hi André, yes sorry I still can't update the website at the moment. Never use Site5 as a web provider they are utterly useless! Shame because there was a section on 24v12 volt on there. Obviously all things being equal 24v would be a much better system, however because manufactures never really moved on from 12v we are lumbered with most things in 12v. I would say if you have a boat over about 45feet, if you have high draw items like winches / bow thruster etc that can run 24v then it's a no brainer. If not then it's more tricky to decide. Having two systems just adds complexity, more things to break. Transformers are usually reliable but ate lossy heat up, sit there buzzing at you and annoying things like that! If all you have is a fridge then it might be wasted?

@SoundzAlive1

2 жыл бұрын

@@svfairisle thanks Steve. I have a FP Mahe cat as shown on my KZread icon. So I get what you say and I will stick with 12V but put in the Belmar alternators and same system as yours as it seems well thought out. Maybe I can screen grab the system connection diagram unless you have it posted somewhere. Just retired so looking forward to some passages. André

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

I'll put the wiring diagram on the website (there's a page called Power in Tech Corner that has all the battery info.) Obviously yours will be a bit different, not least because you will have dual alternators, Balmar make a combiner.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Just put it on there now, link at the bottom of this page... www.sailingfairisle.com/power.html

@SoundzAlive1

2 жыл бұрын

@@svfairisle Thanks very much Steve. André

my head hurts. now im worried about my own boat thats just had a full rewire.

💯

You’re in grave peril of almost demystifying the dark arts of electrics on boats there Steve. Unbelievable that I think I almost understand it.

Hi Steve, you mentioned shunt. What’s that?

@svfairisle

8 ай бұрын

It's the way of measuring the current draw in and out of the house bank. It's a low value resistor which will tell you the current flowing by the voltage drop across it. You will find it usually in the positive feed from the battery (we have one on both though) this will feed information to a meter to tell you real time amps in and out as well as where you are in terms of total charge in the battery... to varying degrees of accuracy, some are not good & it usually down to sub standard wiring elsewhere producing voltage drops not the device itself.

@warrenthorp

8 ай бұрын

@@svfairisle thank you. I am very grateful for your help.

Steve, if you don't mind, what does the Lithium system cost?

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

My cost wouldn’t be correct buying off the shelf. I got a better rate going directly to Super B which is something they don’t usually do I think ( you could ask) I see GS power is advertising the Nomads for 1700 euros. You need to also add up the costs for any DC-DC converters needed, wiring, changes to chargers / alternator if needed. I can work out expensive but with 3000 cycles rather than 300 you are looking at ten times the life and a much better performance over that time.

@billygrahamyachtsinc753

2 жыл бұрын

@@svfairisle thanks Steve.

A view from the UK. STEVIE, STEVIE who the Sam Hill do you think you are talking to, electrical engineering students? I know very few sailors that want to go down to this level of knowledge. They just get the supplier to install and give the owner a "run through". A far too detailed video to be of any interest to most of us sailors. What we want to know is how to identify if it goes wrong and are there any diagnostics. Mind you, as a lecturer in electrical engineering, i find this constantly when i listen to untrained people trying to "teach", they get bogged down in the weeds. Overview Stevie, overview will suffice. Try thinking of a flow chart when explaining the technical side of things. Good effort though 8/10, B+.

@svfairisle

11 ай бұрын

I try to keep things simple, but in the next few years there will be a flood of people converting lead acid house banks to lithium, I think it’s worrying that some manufacturers are trying to make out they have ‘drop in’ lithium batteries. Of course there is no such thing so cruisers are going to have to tackle this stuff, not everyone will have the cash to get it installed and actually I firmly believe if you’re really out there as a full time cruiser you need to know how the system works yourself, there’s not really any way around that.

@robertstancer4469

11 ай бұрын

@@svfairisle So Stevie, if you are setting yourself up to be a "tutor" for the installation of Lithium Batteries - or anything - then do so, but you need to be really more in depth than you have been. Secondly, do you think all sailors are skilled enough to tackle this, or any other retrofit job? With all due respect, your video was no way a tutorial on how to install. It was a crossover between both overview and technical. Sorry to inform you but it is a difficult path to tread when trying to "inform" or "educate". I still enjoy your journey though.

@svfairisle

11 ай бұрын

@@robertstancer4469 Seems like you want it both ways Robert. First it's too complicated, now it's not in depth enough! I'm not qualified to set myself up as a tutor for electrical installations & I wouldn't try to do that in a video anyway because it would have to be a 10 parter not 2 and as you rightly say not many sailors want that sort of in depth information. The videos we make are primarily aimed at live aboard cruisers like us or people who at least want to sail to remote places. For me that me having more than a passing knowledge of what switch to hit if something goes wrong so that's the level I set the tech videos to.

@robertstancer4469

11 ай бұрын

@@svfairisle No Stevie, i don't, i think you do. Can i ask, how you see this video, an overview, or an in depth description of an installation?

@svfairisle

11 ай бұрын

@@robertstancer4469 I don’t think it’s either. It’s a way to try and get people to take a step or two beyond their comfort zone. So some people will struggle with Ohms law because maybe they don’t think they understand equations, but actually it’s extremely simple. Some people are stuck in the past (old sea dog types are often Luddite’s in this way) so may think ‘lead acid batteries are what we’ve always had so we shouldn’t change and Lithium will just burst into flames’ But mostly I want to reach the guys that know enough to do most wiring and instillation but may make silly and potentially dangerous mistakes like not understanding wire or fuse sizing properly. I used to train broadcast journalists in remote parts of the world and it was always a massive mixture of knowledge and experience, all you can do is hope everyone takes at least something away, so I’m not aiming any higher than that.

I know 2 people massively disappointed with their Plug-in car choice range ... One is an MG which didn't reach from Tyneside to Keswick before grinding to a halt. The other is an AUDI E-tron which limped home with Zero range on the display after a run to Edinburgh and back from Ponteland.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Electric cars will get better. It will be a while until electric drive is usable on a boat though except a purpose build cat.

@daved7994

2 жыл бұрын

@@svfairisle except Sailing Uma?

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

They are basically sailing without an engine, same as Rigging Doctor. The motor will give you enough to do a bit of manoeuvring but its really not much more than that. Fine if that's what you're into but don't mistake having a little electric motor as actually having an engine, it isn't!

To many have already done this.

@svfairisle

2 жыл бұрын

Many have done it, very few with technical details which is why I did it.

@earlashton1342

2 жыл бұрын

@@svfairisle I like your content.

informative video...a lot of fast camera movements and sometimes poor sound, but that has to do with the cramped space I presume. Thanks!

CHEERS