My kid brother Steve lives aboard on the GU most of the time. He's just
outed his inverter in favour of, and I quote:

"I have thought about going down the lithium battery route, but we don't
use a lot of leccy and we now have no 240v inverter connected (other
than a small car one if we need to run a small 240v device like my
keyboard or coffee grinder). It made it much easier to get through the
boat safety exam!

"I've bought a small 20 litre car fridge which only consumes about 16ah
per day off 12v. The logic being that it's cold in the winter so should
stay cool in the engine room with it switched off. In the summer, plenty
of solar to charge the battery up!"

(I take it he's no longer bothered about his on board radio hamming or
band practices then. He went through a phase of talking to folks in
other parts of the world, conversation being about signal strength and
weather every time!)

Thought you might be interested in his thinking.

Tone

On 06/07/2023 14:10, Tone wrote:
> My kid brother Steve lives aboard on the GU most of the time. He's just
> outed his inverter in favour of, and I quote:
>
> "I have thought about going down the lithium battery route, but we don't
> use a lot of leccy and we now have no 240v inverter connected (other
> than a small car one if we need to run a small 240v device like my
> keyboard or coffee grinder). It made it much easier to get through the
> boat safety exam!
>
> "I've bought a small 20 litre car fridge which only consumes about 16ah
> per day off 12v. The logic being that it's cold in the winter so should
> stay cool in the engine room with it switched off. In the summer, plenty
> of solar to charge the battery up!"
>
> (I take it he's no longer bothered about his on board radio hamming or
> band practices then. He went through a phase of talking to folks in
> other parts of the world, conversation being about signal strength and
> weather every time!)
>
> Thought you might be interested in his thinking.

Nice to see someone going back to the old ways of thinking :-)

Chris

On 06/07/2023 14:10, Tone wrote:
> My kid brother Steve lives aboard on the GU most of the time. He's just
> outed his inverter in favour of, and I quote:
>
> "I have thought about going down the lithium battery route, but we don't
> use a lot of leccy and we now have no 240v inverter connected (other
> than a small car one if we need to run a small 240v device like my
> keyboard or coffee grinder). It made it much easier to get through the
> boat safety exam!
>
I had no problem getting through the boat safety check with 240 volts
installed all over the place, and I have both shore and ship based 240
volt supplies. My main problem was the gas, as they seem to change the
rules every time. As I spend almost all my time on a residential
mooring, a 240 volt fridge works well for me, is much cheaper and
probably more efficient than a 12 volt one, and the batteries can keep
it running overnight even in hot weather.

However, if you are off grid, then a hybrid lead acid/ lithium system is
a simple, though not cheap way to get the best out of your solar panels,
as unlike lithium, the charging rate doesn't drop off as the battery
gets closer to full charge, and the cycle efficiency means you don't
waste as much energy in the battery. Then lead acid component is there
to provide a "soft" shutdown when the lithium battery, which provides
the power, goes flat. It's what I will be installing when the current
set of lead acid leisure batteries die of old age in a year or two.

> "I've bought a small 20 litre car fridge which only consumes about 16ah
> per day off 12v. The logic being that it's cold in the winter so should
> stay cool in the engine room with it switched off. In the summer, plenty
> of solar to charge the battery up!"
>
As I need a controlled temperature for the injectable stuff I use for my
diabetes, just leaving a coolbox turned off in the engine 'ole over
Winter isn't an option, as too cold is as bad as too warm. For the rest
of the stuff, most of it is happy at room temperature for the few days
it takes to use up anyway. For what isn't, when I'm at home and not on
tour (Not happening now as I'm officially rerired,), I can nip out to
the butcher and get fresh every day,

> (I take it he's no longer bothered about his on board radio hamming or
> band practices then. He went through a phase of talking to folks in
> other parts of the world, conversation being about signal strength and
> weather every time!)
>
Radio hamming can be done on 12 volts if that's your thing. A lot of
them are interested in seeing how far they can get using a low power
transmitter and a decent aerial. The guy next to me has a small thicket
of them on his roof, and he used to CC.

Acoustic bands don't need power to rehearse, but space is tight on a
narrowboat anyway. I have an 8 channel mixer and recording rig with
quite nice sounding phantom powered mics here that will record a session
using a few AA cells, (It can also be powered using a dropper from the
boat 12 volt system or by the mains) and a pair of JBL Control 1
monitors which are powered by a JBL car power amp, at 50 Watts per
channel. (In a space about ten feet long by the width of the boat.) If I
turn it all the way up, the neighbours at the other end of the moorings
can hear it, especially in the Summer, when the doors tend to be open.
The speakers are good enough to do a rough mix when they are talking to
the laptop, and I've been known to use a pair of headphones to check for
the nasty little problems that sometimes come up when on location.

> Thought you might be interested in his thinking.
>
Thanks for that.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

Anything but those caravan gas lights with their awful pong grimy light and
condensation.
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
<chrisnd@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:kgo18kFdc9oU1@mid.individual.net...
> On 06/07/2023 14:10, Tone wrote:
>> My kid brother Steve lives aboard on the GU most of the time. He's just
>> outed his inverter in favour of, and I quote:
>>
>> "I have thought about going down the lithium battery route, but we don't
>> use a lot of leccy and we now have no 240v inverter connected (other than
>> a small car one if we need to run a small 240v device like my keyboard or
>> coffee grinder). It made it much easier to get through the boat safety
>> exam!
>>
>> "I've bought a small 20 litre car fridge which only consumes about 16ah
>> per day off 12v. The logic being that it's cold in the winter so should
>> stay cool in the engine room with it switched off. In the summer, plenty
>> of solar to charge the battery up!"
>>
>> (I take it he's no longer bothered about his on board radio hamming or
>> band practices then. He went through a phase of talking to folks in other
>> parts of the world, conversation being about signal strength and weather
>> every time!)
>>
>> Thought you might be interested in his thinking.
>
> Nice to see someone going back to the old ways of thinking :-)
>
> Chris
>

On Fri, 7 Jul 2023 10:14:15 +0100, John Williamson
<johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> wrote:
> Radio hamming can be done on 12 volts if that's your thing. A lot of
> them are interested in seeing how far they can get using a low power
> transmitter and a decent aerial. The guy next to me has a small thicket
> of them on his roof, and he used to CC.

On HF, when conditions are right you don't need a lot of
power. But just as there are people who think you can't drive any
vehicle with an engine of less than 4 liters, there are those
that think any tranmitter of less than a kilowatt is not worth
using.

--
"But don’t get an M.B.A.! We have too many M.B.A.’s as it is, and
they’re killing the economy!" - Robert Reich May 2008

On 08/07/2023 13:43, Julian Macassey wrote:
> On Fri, 7 Jul 2023 10:14:15 +0100, John Williamson
> <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> wrote:
>> Radio hamming can be done on 12 volts if that's your thing. A lot of
>> them are interested in seeing how far they can get using a low power
>> transmitter and a decent aerial. The guy next to me has a small thicket
>> of them on his roof, and he used to CC.
>
> On HF, when conditions are right you don't need a lot of
> power. But just as there are people who think you can't drive any
> vehicle with an engine of less than 4 liters, there are those
> that think any tranmitter of less than a kilowatt is not worth
> using.
>
You mean like the burner my mate used to have for his CB?

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 08/07/2023 13:58, John Williamson wrote:
> On 08/07/2023 13:43, Julian Macassey wrote:
>> On Fri, 7 Jul 2023 10:14:15 +0100, John Williamson
>> <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> wrote:
>>> Radio hamming can be done on 12 volts if that's your thing. A lot of
>>> them are interested in seeing how far they can get using a low power
>>> transmitter and a decent aerial. The guy next to me has a small thicket
>>> of them on his roof, and he used to CC.
>>
>>     On HF, when conditions are right you don't need a lot of
>> power. But just as there are people who think you can't drive any
>> vehicle with an engine of less than 4 liters, there are those
>> that think any tranmitter of less than a kilowatt is not worth
>> using.
>>
> You mean like the burner my mate used to have for his CB?
>

Yes. I had one o' they. 25 watts comes to mind. Totally illegal in UK of
course.

Only really useful on the road if chatting to another breaker further
away who also has boots. Otherwise it would just annoy everybody.

Very handy for ordering breakfast at the greasy spoon. It would be on
the table when I got there.

Also useful for getting invited round for an eyeball and coffee by bored
housewives. Biggleswade was notorious for that.

Tone

In article <slrnuaimfi.1ndve.julian@n6are.com>, Julian Macassey
<julian@n6are.com> on Sat, 8 Jul 2023 at 12:43:30 awoke Nicholas from
his slumbers and wrote
>On Fri, 7 Jul 2023 10:14:15 +0100, John Williamson
><johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> wrote:
>> Radio hamming can be done on 12 volts if that's your thing. A lot of
>> them are interested in seeing how far they can get using a low power
>> transmitter and a decent aerial. The guy next to me has a small thicket
>> of them on his roof, and he used to CC.
>
> On HF, when conditions are right you don't need a lot of
>power. But just as there are people who think you can't drive any
>vehicle with an engine of less than 4 liters, there are those
>that think any tranmitter of less than a kilowatt is not worth
>using.
>
I uster live next door to a rather large* array of aerials. My enjoyment
of my records (vinyl) was frequently marred by the re-broadcast of
whatever it was they were listening to. It seemed the wires to my
speakers was also acting as an aerial. There was no point in complaining
as the ultimate owners of the aerials were in charge of dealing with
complaints about interference and were also my employers.

All gone now.

* Large as in acres of pylons with wires strung between.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On 08/07/2023 13:58, John Williamson wrote:
> On 08/07/2023 13:43, Julian Macassey wrote:
>> On Fri, 7 Jul 2023 10:14:15 +0100, John Williamson
>> <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> wrote:
>>> Radio hamming can be done on 12 volts if that's your thing. A lot of
>>> them are interested in seeing how far they can get using a low power
>>> transmitter and a decent aerial. The guy next to me has a small thicket
>>> of them on his roof, and he used to CC.
>>
>>     On HF, when conditions are right you don't need a lot of
>> power. But just as there are people who think you can't drive any
>> vehicle with an engine of less than 4 liters, there are those
>> that think any tranmitter of less than a kilowatt is not worth
>> using.
>>
> You mean like the burner my mate used to have for his CB?

I *did* have a couple of burners - a 25 watt one and a FO big one which
doubled as a convector heater, but I've spoken to two truckers in
Nebraska - they were running 500 watts (in convoy!) and moving my neegle
while I was running 4 of wattsits.

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

In article <u8bnc8$1ofdg$1@dont-email.me>, Tone <tone@email.com> on
Sat, 8 Jul 2023 at 14:12:39 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>On 08/07/2023 13:58, John Williamson wrote:
>> On 08/07/2023 13:43, Julian Macassey wrote:
>>> On Fri, 7 Jul 2023 10:14:15 +0100, John Williamson
>>> <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> wrote:
>>>> Radio hamming can be done on 12 volts if that's your thing. A lot of
>>>> them are interested in seeing how far they can get using a low power
>>>> transmitter and a decent aerial. The guy next to me has a small thicket
>>>> of them on his roof, and he used to CC.
>>>
>>>     On HF, when conditions are right you don't need a lot of
>>> power. But just as there are people who think you can't drive any
>>> vehicle with an engine of less than 4 liters, there are those
>>> that think any tranmitter of less than a kilowatt is not worth
>>> using.
>>>
>> You mean like the burner my mate used to have for his CB?
>>
>
>Yes. I had one o' they. 25 watts comes to mind. Totally illegal in UK of
>course.
>
>Only really useful on the road if chatting to another breaker further
>away who also has boots. Otherwise it would just annoy everybody.
>
>Very handy for ordering breakfast at the greasy spoon. It would be on
>the table when I got there.
>
>Also useful for getting invited round for an eyeball and coffee by bored
>housewives. Biggleswade was notorious for that.
>
I suppose they have web sights for that now?
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On 08/07/2023 20:55, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>> Also useful for getting invited round for an eyeball and coffee by bored
>> housewives. Biggleswade was notorious for that.
>>
> I suppose they have web sights for that now?

Their 'sights' were pretty interesting in those days.

Tone