On 08 September 2019 at 07:23 CW Bill Rouse <brouse@...> wrote:

It looks to me that there is some sort of O ring at the top of the threaded portion. It is black. What is that?

I would guess the chance of having water inside the C-Drive 4 years beyond service date is very high.

Regarding the drain plug area, is the GRP also cracked? See below:

I am sure it must be an illusion, but the mark in the metal appears to be raised. I am going to assume that it is an indention. The shell of the C-Drive is made of GRP, and there are metal inserts that support bearing connection points, seal points, and this particular drain plug hole. I think you need some expert advice from someone knowledgeable of the manufacturing process of the C-Drive in order to find the best solution. I will offer a temporary recommendation, without any direct knowledge of the C-Drive manufacturing process: Since there is not any significant positive or negative pressure inside the C-Drive, I would be tempted to use Silicone RTV to fill the indentation of that scratch and also on the O Ring...at least until someone can offer an expert solution.

Best,

CW Bill Rouse

Amel Yacht Owners School (formerly Amel School) - Supporting Amel Owners

720 Winnie St

Galveston Island, TX 77550

+1(832) 380-4970

My Calendar 

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On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 9:41 PM Tim Melbourne < tim@...> wrote:

Here's a related problem- either a crack or deep scratch along the surface that seats the V-plug O-ring (see attached photo).  
Last haul out my oil also came out milky, but the propshaft seals were 4 years past changeout date, so I can't know whether seawater got in under the O-ring via this crack or through the mainshaft seals. 
Anybody have an idea for a fix?   Fill it with epoxy and sand it fine?  Somehow put in a new seating?  
Previous owner said "Ignore it, it's been there since 2003." which I find unsettling. 

Tim 
SM2K #306

 

 

Hi Dan,

I replaced the wiring from the lights, through the bow pulpit, all the way back to the port deck locker.  This let me get the length of the wire exactly correct.  I was having wiring issues anyways.

The routing of the wire inside the light housing took a little thought, but wasn't difficult.  I ended up bringing it in through the cut-out at the bottom of the housing.  The supplied connectors are very large, but designed to fit snugly inside the housing.  Sliding the two halves of the rubber boot together took a few tries before it was overlapped to my satisfaction.  I think it will be quite waterproof and I don't anticipate ever needing to take it apart for the life of the light -- that's the joy of LEDs.

One of the mounting screw holes that matched the existing light fixtures was covered by the electronics module inside the housing, so I had to carefully remove it, secure the nuts on the back with tape, mount the housing, reinstall the electronics, and then pull the tape out.  It sounds more complicated than it was.

I went with the white fixtures, primarily because I thought they'd look better on the boat and are more unique.  They may also stay cooler in the sun which should prolong the lifespan of the electronics inside.

Ryan and Kelly

SM 233 Iteration

Boston, MA, USA

On Fri, Sep 6, 2019 at 7:51 PM Dan Carlson <carlsdan61@...> wrote:

Thanks Ryan,  that's very helpful.  

No issues with the wiring?  One of buyer commented on the wiring connections that came with the package.

Also, did you go with the black or white fixtures? 

Thanks and regards, Dan and Lori Carlson on SM #387, sv BeBe

On Fri, Sep 6, 2019, 4:01 PM Ryan Meador <ryan.d.meador@... wrote:

I recently made the change to the series 44.  The mounting plate is not exactly the same -- you can't use the neat little slide on/off bracket.  Two of the screw holes do line up, though.  I drilled a third one for extra security, and I put cap nuts on the inside (the side facing the genoa furler) so nothing gets snagged on them.  It was a pretty quick and painless upgrade, once I had the right parts:

M4 screws, 16mm long, hex drive (3 per light)

washers for M4, 4.3mm ID, 9mm OD (I think 6 per light)

M4 cap nuts (3 per light)

All in 316 stainless, of course.  I sourced them from McMaster.

Ryan and Kelly

SM 233 Iteration

Boston, MA, USA

On Fri, Sep 6, 2019 at 2:07 PM Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...> wrote:

[Edited Message Follows]

Dan,

 

I recently replaced the bulbs on my AS 40 with a colored LEDs. Didn't want to deal with retrofitting the mount.

https://store.marinebeam.com/aqua-signal-bi-color-led-replacement-bulb/

The housing leaked probably due to some submarining when we were sailing upwind in 45 knots, so I replaced the bulb, sealed it up and pray daily that it stays sealed. :)

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

From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io> On Behalf Of Dan Carlson
Sent: Friday, September 6, 2019 7:51 PM
To: main@amelyachtowners.groups.io
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Aqua Signal Series 44 LED port/starboard bow nav lights

Thanks again, Scott, for all your thoughts and help on this topic.  I wanted to share with the group a quite technical article I downloaded quite some time ago based upon advice from the Delos guys.  They apparently relied on the guy who wrote the article quite a bit in putting together their system.  

There are several articles in the link but the first one is a good start - although quite technical.  My key takeaways include: 

 

*Charge current should not exceed 30% of the battery capacity - ie 30A for a 100 Ah battery

*batteries should not be charged to 100%, only 90% 

 

Another article linked here says that you have to have a system that takes up charge currents generated by any charging source in case the battery management system shuts down the batteries.  If you don’t, the charging sources (alternator, charger, combi) will blow up.  The guys at Delos, if I recall correctly, rigged up the starter battery to take up the charging current in this case.

One more thing:  according to the article, Lithium batteries are totally intolerant to overcharging whereas Lead Acid batteries give you some wiggle room.  This gave me particular thought because I had an episode of overcharging this summer because of a loose connection of the sensing wire of the alternator regulator.  Charging voltage was up over 31V for at least 10 minutes until I shut down the engine.  My gel batteries survived the episode without missing a beat.  Would Lithiums have been destroyed?  There's obviously a lot to learn about Lithium.  

 

Hope this helps!  

Joerg Esdorn
A55 #53 Kincsem
Currently in Cadiz

 

 

 

 

http://nordkyndesign.com/practical-characteristics-of-lithium-iron-phosphate-battery-cells/

Joerg,

Thanks for the link. 

I think your charging takeaways are for extreme longevity. I'm curious what the data is with respect to how longevity is affected by high charge currents. I do know that cell imbalances are more likely to occur at very high charge rates. I think Delos has over 220amps of 230v chargers and only 400ah of battery capacity, so they're doing over .5C!

The 90% max charge makes sense for the "normal" charge. I do know that Victron requires 100% every once in a while to (1) reset the battery monitor and (2) allow for intra-battery cell balancing. My procedure is keep it below 80% except for the once a month or two 100% charge for reasons (1) and (2). Then once a year do the battery-by-battery rebalance with my little 1.5amp charger. Seems to work well so far, but then again I haven't done a full capacity test.

I don't think the requirement to have a buffer battery applies to Victron. On an over voltage condition, the VE.BUS BMS simply turns off chargers - it does not disconnect individual batteries. There are downsides to Victron's way of doing it, but it does remove the need for a buffer battery. 

Yes, lifepo4 is very intolerant of overcharging (over voltage) and taking the batteries too low (under voltage). One uncorrected fault and the battery could be dead. The BMS is supposed to monitor and trigger a response via the charge disconnect and load disconnect to stop that from happening. Of course, that means the disconnects need to work perfectly. I think an additional safety measure would be to rig up a cheap piezo alarm that goes off when the BMS detects a fault. That would require human intervention, but at least if you're around, you have a chance to fix the problem if your automatic fault correction systems fail. 

I thought for the Mastervolt 24/110 the reg-on wire WAS the voltage sense wire? So if it's disconnected, the alternator would stop charging. But perhaps your loose connection showed (true voltage - 5v) or something, making the alternator think the battery bank wasn't fully charged?

Again, all these complexities lead me to choosing a single brand, to the extent possible, with a good warranty. I would rather not invoke the warranty, but I installed the system per their engineer's recommendations and if something went wrong, hopefully they will take responsibility. Try that with a Chinese battery combined with Brand X charger!
--
Scott 
2007 A54 #69
SV Tengah
http://www.svtengah.com