Yes, the grey ones are the thermal sensor. The idea is to put it in the 24 Volt feed line of the switch that operates the furler so when it becomes too hot the furler will cease operation untill it has cooled down. The problem will be that the feed line of the switch is in the cockpit and does not go anywhere near the Boxtron controller. Only the two wires "behind" the switch are led to the Boxtron. The simplest way to way around this is is to assume that overheating will most likely take place during furling the sail (as opposed to unfurling). In that case you can put the sensor in series with the wire from the cockpit switch that makes the Boxtron activate the counter-clockwise (furling) motion.
Alternative you can run two additional cables between the switch and the Boxtron but that will be a pig to put in.
My solution when I was faced wit this problem was to include an interface box to handle the issue (see: https://amelyachtowners.groups.io/g/main/message/44275?p=,,,20,0,0,0::relevance,,bamar,20,2,0,29771214,d=5&d=5)
You could also ignore the cable and simply not connect it and make sure you do not overstress the furlers.

Regards,
Arno Luijten
SV Luna,
A54-121

On 28 Sep 2019, at 20:14, Alexander Ramseyer <alexramseyer@...> wrote:

I bought the best available Waelder chain 1,5 years ago. Up here at the U.S. east coast she stays nice but in the Caribbean it instantly showed surface rust. Didn't like to see that and was constantly cleaning. A friend on another boat in the Caribbean had his Waelder showing serious pitting after only 4 years. So it really depends where you are using your chain, but Waelder is definitely overselling the quality of their product in warm/salty  waters. I won't buy it again.
Alex 
NO STRESS 
Amel54#15

On 28 Sep 2019, at 19:02, Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...> wrote:

I have an A54, but I installed three 320W LG Neon2 panels in parallel on an arch that while it can probably stand on its own, is also attached to the top of the Simpson Davits. I called Simpson and they stated that they can't openly recommend doing what I did because it might deform the tubing on the Davits, making sliding in and out difficult, but off the record it'd probably be OK.

I would not suggest putting the weight of all the panels on the davits alone without additional connections to the stern.

If you'd like, I can take some photos of my setup. It's held in 70 knot winds, so the strength seems sufficient.

Separate controllers would help reduce the effects of shading, for sure. We just went parallel instead. FYI I went for the Victron 150v/35amp model because the literature suggested that the MPPT is good for 1000w systems and mine is rated for 960w. I can attest that my LG panels have hit the 35amp limit on sunny days, so if I'd do it again, I'd upsize the MPPT.

--
Scott 
2007 A54 #69
SV Tengah
http://www.svtengah.com

On 28 September 2019 at 17:00 Adam Body <adamgcbody@...> wrote:

Our headsail furler has developed a problem. Our boat is a 1994 Super Maramu, previously named Amelie IV and renamed Flora. Located in Greenwell Point, NSW, Australia. The solenoids are both working (ie clicking). The furler rotates one direction but not the other direction. Each solenoid clicks when activated by the switch in the cockpit.  There is no noise or action in the furler motor or mechanism whne we attempt to rotate the furler in the direction it does not work. Does anyone have suggestions as to the best palce to start to investiage the problem? 
Thanks and regards Adam
1994 Super Maramu "Flora"  SM No. 128 1994 

I’m thinking about where to add more solar to my boat and the wheel house of the A55 is an obvious place.  Problem is that the space is often shaded by the boom, particularly at anchor.  Would it help to use two panels - one on starboard and one on port - with separate controllers?  

Joerg Esdorn 
A55 Kincsem
Currently in Cascais 

Sure, I should say my solar is producing around 15A in direct sunlight, I would like around 30A production which would provide me with more than I would use in a day

Regards, Paul - Fortuna II 55/17

On 27 Sep 2019, at 5:24 pm, Matt Salatino via Groups.Io <helmsmatt@...> wrote:

You, sir, are correct!

Amps is an instantaneous measurement of current.

Amp hours are over time.

~~~⛵️~~~Matt

On Sep 27, 2019, at 11:19 AM, hanspeter baettig <hanspeter.baettig@...> wrote:

Hi Matt

only to be correct, mybe you also mix something

Amps are not power

Amps are current

Power (el) is Watt

Regards

Hanspeter

----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----
Von : helmsmatt@...
Datum : 27/09/2019 - 13:56 (MS)
An : main@amelyachtowners.groups.io
Betreff : Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Converting my Amel 54 to lithium batteries: what I did, what I like and what I don't like (after one year of full time live aboard use)

Paul, you may be mixing up amps and amp-hours (ah).

Amps is the real-time power.

Ah is over a time period.

~~~ ⛵️~~~ Matt

On Sep 27, 2019, at 3:20 AM, Paul Brown < feeder.brown@...> wrote:

Hello Thomas, as a matter of interest could you please let me know the specifications of solar panels and configuration? 200ah is excellent generation and I’m wanting to double my 600w/24 solar, it produces around 15ah in direct sun light.

Kind regards Paul

Fortuna II 55/17

On 27 Sep 2019, at 5:15 am, Sv Garulfo < svgarulfo@...> wrote:

Solar perf:

I measured 5.5kWh in 24h, so 229Ah @ 24V nominal, but really 200Ah at 27.5V which is more the battery voltage. Interestingly, a slight overcast seems to be beneficial to solar production. 

90%SOC management:

I dug a bit more in the BMS configuration and the MasterVolt BMS triggers events at various SOC; >20%, >40%, >60%, >80% and ‘battery full’ which is 95% by default but configurable to other level. Those events can be used to control other components on the MasterBus, like buzzing the EasyView5, switching the chargers to float phase, or stopping them altogether. 

I need to test that and, in particular, confirm what happens to the chargers when the level goes back below ‘battery full’, but it could be the solution to long term dock SOC management in the MasterVolt ecosystem. 

Best,

Thomas

GARULFO 

A54-122

Rangiroa, French Polynesia 

https://www.instagram.com/svgarulfo

On Wed, 25 Sep 2019 at 11:21, Sv Garulfo via Groups.Io <svgarulfo= gmail.com@groups.io> wrote:

ML disconnect relay: 

product number 7702B, rated 500A. I have one for each of the 2 batteries. The relays draw no current in ON or OFF state. There are wires to set the relay states depending on what the default state should be. In our setup, the wiring to the battery’s BMS ports is specified explicitly in the documentation so there is no head scratching to do. 

Solar:

We have produced about 100KWh a month historically (~140Ah@24V a day). We are having very good sun at the moment so I’ll measure a max production day today. The max Amps I saw going in was 36A in Curaçao last summer. Our production during the Pacific crossing, Gambier and southern Tuamotus in April-July was pretty poor with cloudy conditions and relatively low sun elevation.

Our wet locker doesn’t get wet. We are lucky to cruise in places were we don’t need foul weather clothes. We quickly vacuum packed and stowed those away. And the Amel cockpit helps with that. 

Yes, breakfast toasts, 2mins of microwave here and there to reheat food, boiling water in 60s or cooking smelly food outside on the portable induction stove. All good examples of how it changes life onboard. 

Long term storage or dock: 

I would say, if we are aboard at the dock, I would let the solar deal with the batteries and use shore power for the others appliances of required. If we are off the boat for a long time, we would just switch everything off and not keep the shore power on. We left the boat in Curaçao for 2months last year and with everything off, the batteries lost less than 5% SOC.

Best,

Thomas

GARULFO 

A54-122

Rangiroa, French Polynesia 

https://www.instagram.com/svgarulfo

On Wed, 25 Sep 2019 at 09:13, Scott SV Tengah < Scott.nguyen@...> wrote:

Thomas, 

Thanks for the reply!

Regarding your ML disconnect relay, which model are you using? For their disconnect relays, I only see 120amp max
https://www.bluesea.com/products/category/37/Non-Critical_Load_Disconnects

Or did you use this charge disconnect? If so, any idea how I could use it with my system? 500amps may just be enough! The VE.BUS BMS load disconnect sends out 27v (more or less) when all is good and goes to open circuit when there is a problem with the batteries and the load needs to be disconnected. The other option, as someone suggested, is to buy THREE Victron BP-220 and attach one to each 25.8v pair. I presume that would give me 660 amps total?

Regarding your solar setup, any idea how many AH per day you average? Curious how that compares to our setup. We have a bit more rated capacity and we're doing parallel as noted before.  Also, do you have any concerns with your MPPT getting wet? We definitely use that wet locker for...wet items. 

The Victron Quattro also allows you to limit the input on both the 230v inputs. I leave the genset at 50amps but adjust the shore power as appropriate. That was very useful in Greece when we were "plugged into" someone's house circuit. Limiting it to 8 amps prevented constantly tripping their circuit breaker. :)

Regarding your shop vac'ing the engine room, we all get our kicks from somewhere I guess! My joy is in using the electric kettle and the microwave when I'm too lazy to do a proper meal and not having to fire up the genset.

To figure out SOC and charging voltage, I just played around. For example, my Mastervolt Alpha Pro2 set at 27.5v absorption will stop charging at about 90-93% SOC as reported on the Victron BMV-712 monitor. As you probably know, lifepo4 has very stable voltage until you hit the "knees" at near 0% SOC and 100% SOC. So you just have to play with it. I bet at 26.8v absorption, it'd be just about right for long term storage/docking.

I probably sound like a Victron rep, too, but like you, I just continued with choices made prior. My ecosystem lock-in with Victron started with the BlueSolar MPPT, which ironically I don't love!

--
Scott 
2007 A54 #69
SV Tengah
http://www.svtengah.com