Re: Headsail furler issues
Hi, almost certainly carbon brushes, either stuck or worn Not hard to fix Danny SM 299 Ocean Pearl
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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
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Paul Brown
Hi Joerg,
I have two large panels over the dingy davits and fixed to the Simpson Davis and are wired in parallel which works if one panel is shaded... I’m working with a stainless steel designer to manufacture a platform that will house 4 large panels providing max power 1320w/24v which realistically should produce around Max 32A continuous under normal operating solar conditions e.g. full direct sun and raise the panels to around mizzen boom height to reduce shading issues and allow ample head room when disembarking via the passerella
Also mounting all 4 panels above the davits allow simple wiring through the davits and the lazarette and simple to wire 2x2 in parallel to reduce assist the shading effects
I hope to a achieve an aesthetic structure and stable for high winds with the Simpson Davits not being over loaded while gaining more rigidity into the Davit structure, I saw similar structures recently on many catamarans at the Cannes boat show
I considered mounting the two additional panels above the wheel house but I figure so many issues with shading and increased wiring and additional holes, also it may restrict the use of the sliding roof
If there is a more practical and better way to gain this level of generation and maximise its production with reduced shading effect by positioning then any assistant or comments would be greatly appreciated
Kind regards Paul - Fortuna II 55/17
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On 28 Sep 2019, at 8:41 am, Joerg Esdorn via Groups.Io < jhe1313@...> wrote: 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
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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
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I have run through the search function on this site and located some very useful posts on solenoids. The rotation that is failing is the "in" direction. I have pushed the button on the bottom of the "in" solenoid and the furler works---sometimes. So it does seem to be the solenoid. The four solenoids for the windlass and headsail are all the same: Valeo 24 V K93's. I think they are original! So my next question is: what is the best up-to- date solenoid to replace these?? Adam Body "Flora" (previously Ammelie IV) SM 0030017SM 128 Annee 1994
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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
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Parts4Engines - Vendor Experience

Ian Townsend
The turbocharger on our Volvo TMD22 needed replacing in a hurry. After consulting with Bill Rouse and online searcing for a source in the USA, we found an OEM Perkins-Garrett replacement for $850 USD at "parts4engines.com". They are based in the UK. Volvo wanted $4,000 USD for the exact same part. Parts4engines.com delivered it in 48 hours from the UK to Maryland. Great service. Jeremy is the guy to deal with. Thought this might be helpful to some AMEL owners.
Ian Loca Lola II SM153 Herrington Harbour, MD
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Re: 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)

ngtnewington Newington
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On 27 Sep 2019, at 17:09, Paul Brown < feeder.brown@...> wrote: 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 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
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
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
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Re: 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 Brown
Hi Thomas
Thank you so much for sharing and it certainly helps me moving forward, you have a strong system and I’d expect it works well for you
I’m certainly expecting that more solar generation than less is a good thing
Bring on solar decks and sails.
Regards Paul - Fortuna II 55/17
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
On 27 Sep 2019, at 7:48 pm, Sv Garulfo < svgarulfo@...> wrote: Hi Paul,
3 Bisol panels: BMO-300 Rated power :300W, Rated current: 9.40A Rated voltage: 31.9V Short circuit current: 9.75A Open circuit voltage: 39.7V Weight: 18.5kg
Mounted in series
Cabling: ~25m of 10mm^2 between the panels and the regulator. A few feet of 25mm^2 between the regulator and the batteries. I worked some numbers and the theory says wiring in series causes ~5W loss in the cable, parallel would be ~40W.
Hope that helps
Best, Thomas
On 27 Sep 2019, at 05:24, Matt Salatino via Groups.Io < helmsmatt@...> wrote: You, sir, are correct! Amps is an instantaneous measurement of current. Amp hours are over time. ~~~⛵️~~~Matt 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
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
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
|
|
Re: 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)
Hi Paul,
3 Bisol panels: BMO-300 Rated power :300W, Rated current: 9.40A Rated voltage: 31.9V Short circuit current: 9.75A Open circuit voltage: 39.7V Weight: 18.5kg
Mounted in series
Cabling: ~25m of 10mm^2 between the panels and the regulator. A few feet of 25mm^2 between the regulator and the batteries. I worked some numbers and the theory says wiring in series causes ~5W loss in the cable, parallel would be ~40W.
Hope that helps
Best, Thomas
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
On 27 Sep 2019, at 05:24, Matt Salatino via Groups.Io < helmsmatt@...> wrote: You, sir, are correct! Amps is an instantaneous measurement of current. Amp hours are over time. ~~~⛵️~~~Matt 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
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
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
|
|
Re: 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 Brown
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
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
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 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
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
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
|
|
Re: 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)

Matt Salatino
You, sir, are correct! Amps is an instantaneous measurement of current. Amp hours are over time. ~~~⛵️~~~Matt
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
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
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
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
|
|
Re: 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)
Hi Matt only to be correct, mybe you also mix something Amps are not power Amps are current Power (el) is Watt
Regards Hanspeter
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
----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
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
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
|
|
Re: 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)

Matt Salatino
Paul, you may be mixing up amps and amp-hours (ah). Amps is the real-time power. Ah is over a time period. ~~~⛵️~~~Matt
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
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
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
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
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
|
|
Rob, You did not sign your post or the name of your boat , so don't know if you are an owner. There has been numerous posts in regards to dinner Friday at 6:30 at Mangia's. The reserved table for 16 is already more than full . There may be another owner , Aras getting another table nearby that you could join .
Pat
SM Shenanigans
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Hughes via Groups.Io <svluna01@...>
To: main <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io>
Sent: Wed, Sep 25, 2019 5:13 pm
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Annapolis Boat Show
So is there any official place and time we can all meet up?
|
|
Re: 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 Brown
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
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
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
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
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
|
|
Re: 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)
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
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
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
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
|
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Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Re: Main Sail Furling Motor Issue
Scott, I agree 100% that if possible, disassembling the part that you are rebuilding first and checking what is already installed before ordering replacement parts is the best course of action to take for all projects like this. That is exactly what I did in this case. I also verified that the parts that I ordered actually fit back together correctly before I made my post. I have found that you should NOT always assume that what is already installed in your boat is the correct part. Especially if you are NOT the original owner of the boat! I am the fourth owner of Cara and I have made that mistake on more than one occasion. And one last caution - don't assume that the information that you get from Amel is 100% correct. The amount of information that is available to us from Amel as far as assembly drawings, parts lists, etc. is incredible for a boat of this age. We are extremely lucky to have such great support from Maud, Thierry, and Amel. However, there is obviously some variation between models and even between hull numbers within the same model that has not been fully documented at Amel. In this case, the Assembly Drawing and Parts List that a fellow SM owner got from Amel for the Main Furler listed the upper lip seal as 45mm x 58mm x 7mm. That obviously would not have worked on Cara but would have on Tengah. Less than 18 month life for a bearing that sees such relatively minimal use is not good! Makes me wonder about the quality and/or installation of the old bearing. And makes me worried about the quality and installation of mine! I will put it on the schedule to pull the assembly down and open it up next year to have a look at the bearings. If you are interested, here is a link from Timken on bearing failure analysis: https://www.timken.com/pdf/5892_Bearing%20Damage%20Analysis%20Brochure.pdf -- Mark McGovern SM #440 Cara Deale, MD USA
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And Harmonie is on the docks at Jabins Yacht Yard and having an open boat for owners current and future on Saturday October 12 from 4-8 or so!
Please rsvp to Kls6917@... And do come! It’ll be fun to meet more Amelians!
Karen & Bill
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Elja Röllinghoff Balu SM 222
He Davi We are we are in Kalamata at 12.10 and have two on board When it helps
Best Elja SM 222 Balu
Von meinem iPhone gesendet
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Davi Rozgonyi
Hey there put me down for 2 sets also please.... shipping to greece. How do I give you the info and payment?
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