Showing posts with label Electrical Upgrade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Electrical Upgrade. Show all posts

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Switching to Lithium ( LiFePo4 ) batteries. ( Pt. 3 )

So close - nearly completed the LiFePo4 install 

It was a very soggy day in Fort Lauderdale today but we decided to go ahead and make progress installing the LiFePo4 batteries.

Down at the boat I removed the battery hold down beams and then the 4 Trojan T105 6v batteries. That didn't take long. It took longer to clean up the battery bay box and remove the Aluminium angle bars that were part of the old battery hold down bracing.


As planned, I used the Oscillating cutter to remove a rectangle from around the Battery Disconnect Switch so that the switch could be installed and secured in place with it's large locking nut. Ok, it's not a locking nut, I just have to tighten it down as much as possible.

With the switch installed, next was the -ve Bus Bar, 4 holes and 4 screws - done. Next I cut the existing 1/0 Yellow -ve Cable from the Shunt to fit to the -ve Bus Bar. The wire is 1/0 Tinned Copper stranded wire. The new Terminal just fit in the crimper but I realized that the new ring terminals I had purchased were 1 AWG, not 1/0 AWG, so I only had 3 1/0 AWG Ring Terminals. 

I made a quick phone call to East Coast Electric to see if they had any 1/0 5/16" Ring Terminals, nope! But they did suggest Wards Marine Electrics and they did have them. Not cheap! it cost $61 for 14 terminals. Phew!  Worst, my Hydraulic Crimper cannot handle those 1/0 terminals - Grrrr.

Ok, I didn't want to leave the boat without power overnight while I find a suitable crimper. So I made up a couple of 10AWB wires and terminals to connect the 1st of the 3 LiFePo4 batteries up to power the boat overnight.  That took about 10 minutes and we had power. I didn't connect the Victron Batter Sense wire nor the Battery Temperature sensors, so the Victron is not reporting the status of the system except for the power consumption ( that data comes from the Shunt ).

So the boat has power for the bilge pump, the solar is turned off and there's no shore power also the engine will not be run till we're finished with the install.

I found a Hydraulic Crimper on Amazon, it's on it's way. Should be able to finish the job on Wednesday.


It arrived the next day ( Tuesday ) and  I went down to the boat to complete the install on Wednesday

Looks like a decent crimper, only issue is that the dies are marked in Metric mm2 but their user manual has a conversion chart.

If you watched the weather in SoFla this week, you'll be aware of the major flooding storm we had in Fort Lauderdale - we were on the boat when that started.

The good news is that we installed all three of the LiFePo4 batteries and completed the wiring. The new Crimper worked great. Before we left from the boat 3 of the 4 old Trojan T105 batteries were in the back of the truck. We often hear about the benefits of LiFePo4 v Lead Acid batteries. Well moving the Trojans out of the boat is a task! Getting them individually to the dock is a challenge then onto the dock and up the 5 steps across the lawn down 5 steps out of the back yard and up into the truck took some efforts. I can carry 2 of the 100Ah LiFePo4 Chin batteries in one hand! The weight has a big impact. I'm wondering if it will affect the boats normal lean to Starboard. We're moving over 300lb and replacing it with just over 100lb. True, they are pretty close to the center line, but definitely on the stbd side of that.

With the batteries installed and the wiring complete, it was time to head home, truck windscreen wipers working overtime. I first checked that the Victron system was up and running, but as mentioned, all of the chargins sources were off so I didn't complete the programming of the Solar Controller, Multiplus and the Balmar Alternator Regulator.  Plan was to return to the boat after the storm to complete that.

Thursday - Storm has passed, it dumped 25" yes, over 2 feet, of water, our dock was 20" underwater but the pilings kept the boat from impacting the dock and our normal 8 lines kept the boat in a safe place.

I headed down to the boat this morning but could not get there. The Broward Blvd Exit from South Bound I95 was closed. Trying a detor via Sunrise Blvd and surface streets, I was unable to get to Broward Blvd. When the vehicle in front of me had water higher than the lower edge of their doors, I decided it was nuts to keep going and re-routed back home.

So, will try again another day. There's plenty of power in the batteries to keep the system up and runing for several days, but I would like to get the solar system reprogrammed and turned on, but better safe than sorry.

Another update soon.








Saturday, April 8, 2023

Switching to Lithium ( LiFePo4 ) batteries. ( Pt. 2 )

Installing the Lithium ( LiFePo4 ) Batteries. 

The story todate.
Over the past couple of years we have replaced practically all of the boat's electrical charging system, that includes the Inverter/Charger, the Solar Charger and the Alternator Regulator. When selecting their replacements we made a distinct decision to chose equipment that had modern charging profiles. ie. Lithium.

Now we're replacing our Flooded Lead Acid (FLA)  house batteries with LiFePo4. 
The old batteries were Trojan T105 6v batteries connected to provide 12v with a total capacity of 450Ah at 12v. However, we could only use 225 of that 450 and even then the voltage of the batteries would drop to where some electronic equipment would experience low voltage problems. That's a feature of Flooded Lead Acid Batteries.

We selected LiFePo4  Chin 100Ah Smart ( Bluetooth ) batteries, but just 3 of them for a total of 300Ah Capacity, however, we can use up to 90% of that power and they will still produce 12v.

Yes! They are more expensive to purchase than FLA batteries, but they should last at least 4 times a long, probably a lot longer than that. Also no more playing around with Battery Acid and no waking up in the morning to see that just running the Fridge and Anchor light all night has drained the batteries to a low voltage state.




Ok, that's the background.

Now the practicalities of the install.

The old battery bay is located just forward of the Galley, almost amidships. And will only fit 3 x 100Ah batteries, otherwise I would be installing 4.

The battery bay is a fiberglass enclosure that sits inside of the cabin seating. Wish I had realized that before drilling the hole for the new Battery Disconnect Switch. I'll have to cut out a larger hole in the enclosure in order to fit the switch.

Ok, so, as always, here's the plan

Turn off all electrical equipment, Disconnect the Starter Battery and Disconnect the Solar Panels at the breaker.
Disconnect the batteries and cut the switch hole.
Mount the Fused Terminal Block and the -ve Terminal block to the inside of the enclosure
Cut the existing +ve Wire that went to Battery Positive and connect it to the Switch
Make a new +ve wire to connect from the Switch to the Fused Terminal Block
Cut the existing -ve wire that went to the batteries and connect to the -ve Terminal Block
Install the new Batteries and makeup the new wires from the Batteries to the Terminal Blocks all of equal length.

Sound simple.
I'll need my Oscillating saw, cordless drill and drill bits, Hydraulic Cable crimper, Terminals, Heat shrink tubing, Heat Gun, Wire cutters, Label maker. The new batteries, Terminal blocks, Wire and hand tools.

Batteries are currently equalizing - all three are charged and are now connected in Parallel and sitting for over 12 hours.  The terminals and heat shrink should arrive today ( Friday ) so looks like Monday will be a good day to do this.

In the meantime: I could be thinking about what we will do with the extra power. I smell a coffee maker and milk frother in our future.  Peggy is even talking about us taking the boat down to Biscayne Bay later this week... hold still my beating heart.



 

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Universal M25-XP Alternator Support Arm Failure - Again

Universal M25-XP Alternator Support Arm Failure - Again

Twice in the past 7 years, I have purchased a pair of OEM Support arms for our Alternator on our Universal M25-XP Diesel engine, I have one left and have no reason to think that it will last as long as the others, in other words, failure is imminent. 

When they fail, they break near the top attachment slot and, luckily, it has not been a disaster. When they break, the arm falls down about an 1/8" of an inch, not much, but enough for the arm to rub against the Coolant piping and the potential rupture of the pipe and consequential loss of engine coolant. That could be a disaster.

I went to a local machine shop and described the problem and taking the last remaining arm with me to use as a template.

My request was to double the thickness of the arm from 3/16" to 3/8" and to expand the width at the slotted end by a 1/4" They did a great job.

The Gray arm is the original


The Original is laying on top of the new arm

Just spent a few minutes cleaning the surfaces with a nylon sanding pad, clean with Acetone and  then a couple of coats of spray High Heat Resistant Rust-oleum paint followed by a couple of coats of Rust-Oleum Metallic paint ( just happened to have some of that on the shelf) .  

L-to-R Original, Primed, Finished

Should be able to get down to the boat on Friday to install one, the second piece will get wrapped with clingfilm and stored on the boat with all of the other engine spares.

They were not cheap! The new arms cost $150 for one and $200 for two, but they now have a Drawing of them incase anyone wants one or two.

If you want one ( or two) reach out to them. The invoice number is 25326 for reference.
Tropic Marine Products
217 SW 29th Street
Fort Lauderdale FL 333015
Phone: 954-779-7038

I'm not getting any compensation for promoting these, but I know that so many Universal M25-XP owners have had similar issues.  

See you on the water.

Saturday, March 12, 2022

Our Battery Charger Failed

Zantrex Freedom 20 Inverter/Charger failed


We noticed that our House Batteries were not charging and dived into the power management system to find out what's wrong.

After a lot of diagnostic testing, we concluded that it was the Freedom 20 Charger that had failed. It's 18 years old and was a DIY installation back in 2003. We have extensive notes on the system, all of the Manuals and diagrams that have been expanded to over the years with hand written notes.

Going to the web, we found (Peggy spent hours working on this part) that the Freedom 20 has a couple of fuses inside, but they only control the Echo Charger it charges the Start Battery.
There are a number of relays (at least 3) in the unit and it could well be one of those, but they are soldered into the circuit boards and I'm more likely to damage that trying to replace the relay than fix it. Lastly there's the possibility of a failed circuit board. I could find an old one but that feels like fixing an old car that has a bunch of other things waiting to fail. Finally, there's the fact that the Freedom 20 cannot be used to charge LifePo4 Batteries. Not that I'm planning on replacing the batteries, yet, but .... Santa is due in just 9 months!

So, I'm going to replace the energy management system.  

One thing I did like about the Zantrex System is the integration and the control. I'm a bit geekish, so those things are both  cool and valued.

The decision after a month of research is to go with a Victron System. 

Just two weeks after we realized that the Charger had failed permanently, I was invited to attend a Victron North America Training Tour in Davie Florida on Monday Feb 14th (yes Valentines Day - I had to play that one very carefully). The seminar was excellent! A full day of exposure to the variety of systems that Victron has available and, of particular interest, how they integrate with the boat systems and communicate outside of the boat if desired (oh yea!)

Trying to keep the Boat Bucks under control, I decided on the following equipment:

Victron Multiplus 3000VA
12v 120 Amp Inverter Charger

Initially, I was going with the Victron Energy MultiPlus 2000VA 12-Volt Pure Sine Wave Inverter 80 amp Battery Charger, Compact.
However, while at e-marine, they showed me the Multiplus 3000VA 12 Volte 120 amp charger, the size and shape are a lot closer to the old Freedom 20, and it was less than $200  more. 

This has a 3000VA (3KW) Inverter and a 12v  120 amp battery charger, it also has a 12v  4 amp trickle charger which follows the charge profile of the main battery charger.

It will talk to a Cerbo GX so that means there's a lot of control options.

The Inverter will also provide power assist if the load exceeds the set shore power. ie. if the Shore power max is set to be 10amps then if the load exceeds 10amps, the inverter will assist, the amount of assist is also managed.
Lastly, it can act as a UPS, if the shore power fails, it can switch over to Inverter mode in a few milli seconds.

Victron Cerbo GX Network Hub
Victron Energy Cerbo GX, Panels and System Monitoring.
Basically, this device is data central. All of the victron devices that can communicate on the VE-Bus can plug into this device, then with either a PC plugged into it or a wifi device connected to a wifi network, the data can be viewed and the settings changed.
It has a Micro SD Card Slot so that it will store up to 120 days of system history  - WooHoo!




Victron GX Touch 50 Display/Control panel

Victron Energy GX Touch 50, Panels and System Monitoring (Waterproof)

This display will cover the hole in the existing panel but will provide a lot more info than our Zantrex Link 2000R control panel for the Freedom 20 Inverter/Charger (not working)










Victron Energy VE.Bus Smart Dongle (Bluetooth) (Although I may not need this as the new Multiplus may have both Blue Tooth and Ve Bus connections to the Cerbo GX, I'll confirm that shortly.
I'm now certain that this part is not needed.




Victron Smart Shunt 500Amp

Victron Energy SmartShunt 500 amp Battery Monitor (Bluetooth)
This will allow monitoring of the battery charge status and communicates with the Victron Connect App and the Cerbo GX




That equipment will integrate with the existing Victron products that I installed a couple of years ago.

Victron MPPT Smart Solar Charge Controller

Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 100V 20 amp 12-24-Volt Solar Charge Controller (Bluetooth)

This unit provides the best Solar Power form from our Solar Panels. The plan is to upgrade two of the three panels as they are low power panels and waste a lot of the available real estate for PV power.

I may have to upgrade this charge controller






Victron Smart Battery Sense

Victron Energy Smart Battery Sense Long Range (up to 10m)

This unit has a self adheasive backing and is wired to the Battery +ve & -ve terminal 

(The negative terminal will be moved to the load side of the new Victron Smart Shunt)










Then there's the geeky stuff...

Victron GPS Module

This is a Victron GPS module.
Why do I want this? 
Well, if I link the system to the cloud, the data will include the GPS location. We can do all sorts of good research with that.
Such as 'Where were we when we had a slump in Solar Power' etc. or Where's the boat right now? 












Victron GX- LTE-4g GSM Cellular Modem


This is the Victron GX-LTE-4G GSM Cellular Modem for Victron devices.

The GPS module connects to this device, it also will take a Sim Card.
This unit connects to the Cerbo GX network hub and gives it access to all of the data stored and live from all of the devices in the system.

Victron has a VRM Portal. All of the data will be uploaded on a set schedule.

With the data online, we and the tech support team can review the current state of the system as well as historical conditions. The VRM portal also allows for update of the settings remotely.

The GX Touch panel dimensions are bigger than the cut out hole for the existing Heart Interface control panel, so that should easy installation of the control panel.

The Multiplus dimensions are close to the Freedom 20 is located, I may have to trim the shelf under the Nav Table, but only by a few inches.

The location and length of the +ve and -ve wires to the Freedom 20 will not fit directly to the Multiplus, so I'll have to replace those two wires. The 110v In and 110v Out wires to the Freedom may reach the Multiplus so I may not have to replace those two wires also, but will be ready to replace them.

Then there's this:
That Red Cable is attached to the Chassis Bonding Lug on the Freedom 20! GRRRRRR!

Marine Electricians would throw a hissy fit over using a Red Cable for a Ground Bonding /Wire!

So that cable will have to be replaced also. It will be a Green Cable and I'll check the size (AWG) as it's a safety route for unexpected current to flow.


Ok, now for the schematic. This is a dynamic diagram (it's created in Google Drive ) but I'll make a copy of it to cater for any changes needed during the installation.
Power Management Schematic (note the date)


Update: 02/21/2022 - The Multiplus 3000 Inverter Charger has a 4amp trickle charge for the starting battery - but that would only charge the Start Battery when AC power is applied! So I think I may need to add a Victron Smart Orion DC-DC Charger to the system. That will allow a more controlled recharge of the Start Battery. Of course, this is all questionable. The draw on the Start Battery is high load but short duration and it could be that the trickle charger would suffice for our Start Battery profile, but by adding the Orion, it begs the question - Do I need it?  I don't have a record of the Start Battery model, I know it's a Duracell AGM but with the model # I can lookup the charging parameters. The Orion addition also paves the way for a house battery upgrade to LifePo4. The Multiplus 3000 dictates the maximum Ah capacity of the House Batteries - the daily energy consumption dictates the desired maximum Ah capacity. 

Ok, time to close this part of the Upgrade. Next part will cover the supply of the parts and the removal of the existing system.

The removal involves:
  • Turn off the Solar Power
  • Disconnect the House Battery +ve 
  • Remove the Zantrex Freedom 20 Inverter Charger
  • Remove the Link 2000R control unit & electronic pack.
  • Remove the external regulator (not used right now) and the cables to the Link 2000R
  • Run a temporary wire for the Bilge Pump to the House Battery (don't want the pump to be out of action during this job.)
  • Remove the existing shunt.
Should get all of that done on Day 1. All of the heavy duty power cables (for both the DC system and the AC system) are available locally so if any are needed we can drive to a supplier on the way home, there are several suppliers within an hour's drive of the boat.

Day 2 - Physically mount the GX Touch 50, the Multiplus 3000, Cerbo GX, GX-LTE-4G GSM Cellular Modem, GPS unit and the Victron Smart Shunt 500 (which should fit in place of the existing Shunt).

Day 3 - make all of the inter device cable connections and determine any replacement power cables (DC or AC) get them locally.

Day 4 - Connect the Multiplus to the system (DC Cables & AC Cables)

Day 5 - Connect the system to the batteries, then turn on the Solar Power and connect Laptop to the system to review initial settings.





Saturday, March 5, 2022

Temperature Monitoring Hot and Cold

Monitoring our Boat's Fridge/Freezer and Hot Water tanks.

Our Fridge/Freezer has an adjustable Thermostat but no temperature indicator and there's no temperature indication for the Hot Water Tank. The fridge/freezer temp is important, we don't want our frozen food (think Klondike Bars) to defrost and don't want to waste fresh water running it until hot water (if there is any) to find out if it's hot enough for a shower.


Solution: Install a Dual Temperature display.

This one is from Amazon, $15

"WIDE TEMP RANGE - Temperature Range -58 ℉ ~ +257℉(Fahrenheit); Temperature measurement accuracy: ±1℉ (±0.1℉ when temperature within -9.9~99.9F). It can be not only used in water but also used to measure the air temperature. But the water temperature will be more accurate than that of air."

It's a small display, Size: 48*29*22mm. The probe wires are just 3' long, but some of the reviewers modified them to extend further.


Plan is to mount one Probe on the side of the Freezer box in the Fridge/Freezer and the other inside the thermal jacket of the Hot water tank.

As often is the case, determining where to locate the display is the challenge. The preference is somewhere that is visible without having to move anything or crawl/stoop down to some awkward position, but also away from any moisture, so not by the counter top.

I'll drill a small hole in the side of the Fridge walls and lead the wire for the probe outside of the insulation. The hot water probe will simply slide between the internal hot water tank and the fiber insulation between the tank (round) and the outer casing (rectangular). I think that the whole tank will need to be removed in order to insert the probe. There is a small area by each of the pipe attachments that I could possibly use, I'll make the decision when I get down to the boat and start on this project.


The unit has 3 connections on the back, one for each probe, the 3rd is for the power supply.

It draws about 8-9mAmps at 4v approximately 0.32Watts.

With a voltage range of 4v to 28v, the voltage drop over the power cables should not be an issue, I'll run power cables from Connection to the Compressor with an inline fuse. I'll use 16awg cable as that is the minimum size recommended by the ABYC.

This does mean that the Hot Water temperature will only be displayed if the Fridge/Freezer is powered on, but if we're on the boat and thinking about taking a shower, then the fridge/freezer will definitely be turned  on.



Back to the issue of where to mount the Display. There's a wooden panel that covers the midships water tank vent pipe on the forward side of the Galley  storage shelf. It would be easy to remove that panel, mount the display, connect the probes and power supply, replace the panel and we should be in business.

(The red arrow points to the planned display location)






Got down to the boat today and viewed the Probe location options.
Seems like the probe for the Hot Water Tank will fit by one of the 4 cutouts in the outer case of the Hot water tank. I should be able to slip a probe in touching the surface of the tank and use a couple of cable ties to secure the wire to the hose. I'll add a piece of tubing to insulate the wire and then feed it into the loom that goes up behind the sink area.



Just another fun piece of technology, an easy project. 





It turned out removing that wooden panel was easy, not sure if it is original boat woodwork though.

Easy cut out, drilled each corner than used a Fret Saw to cut out between them. 

Fits like a glove, the side 'Buckles' actually reach to the back of the panel, so it snaps in very securely.

Now to make the extension leads for the Power supply. I made the decision to get the supply from the Refrigeration Unit just forward of the Midships Water tank on the Starboard side. That's about 10'.

Next job is to extend the power cables and the cables on one of the Probes as it is too short to reach the Hot water Tank.

I'll do that at the boat. The wires will be Butt Connected and waterproofed with Sealed Heat Shrink tubing. I have not seen the power connection at the Fridge Compressor unit, need to take photos of that. 
The Fridge compressor unit is located just forward of the Midships water tank, getting to it will require some boat yoga effort.



Display Test

Here's the display setup on my workbench. I have an old 12v Power adapter (6amps) that I use to test gear at home.

The hot probe is in a cup of hot water, the cold probe in is air, the cold temp is actually my garage temperature, I'm wearing a sweatshirt, this is South Florida on January 29th 2022 !!
The temperature change reading is quite slow, it takes a while to register the increase although it does display the change about every 1 seconds. 










After sanding the panel and a couple of coats of varnish, it looks a whole lot better.

Our long term plans include lightening up the cabin by refinishing the wooden surfaces, there's a lot of wood, some of it will get painted. 
The ideas is that if the surface is smoother they will require cleaning less often due to mold growth which really is a problem here in South Florida.

I'm pretty sure this wood is Teak, it's much prettier without the darker varnish and years of exposure, most of the boat woodwork is that original dark finish, lightening up to match this finish will make a big difference.









This is the 'varnish' that I have used on the Companionway Steps which look great, it looks great on this display panel too.

Minwax Water Based Polycrylic Clear Satin














Day 1 of the installation.

Saturday January 5th 2022
The panel fit just fine, that was easy :) 
First wire to run was for the Hot Water Probe, I cut the Probe cable, it has two black wires, one was printed with white text. I connected the Red side of Black and Red Tinned Copper wire 16awg with Butt joints and then fed the other end of the twin wires along an existing loom under the sink over to the Stbd side below the Fridge/Freezer and up where the Water Fill Hose and the Tank Vent pipes ran and out to where the display is fitted. That took about an hour and a half and a lot of boat yoga.

To connect the Cold probe, I'm going to drill from the fridge forward wall, through the inch or two of insulation and then through the stringer which is outboard of the galley forward bulkhead. The probe wire is only 30inches long, so I'll probably have to extend it the same method as the hot probe.

The power to the Refrigeration Unit is connected via a screw down wire clamps, not really suited to adding two additional wires, so I'm rethinking the power supply. There's a Lighting power cable just above the Display housing, so I'll use that for the power supply just using a pair of electric cable connectors.

Looks like it will take a couple more hours to complete.

Moving ahead. I snipped one of the Probe cables and used Butt joints to connect it to a length of Twin 18AWG wire. Fed the wire from the Hot water tank end along the existing loom to the Stbd side just aft of the midships water tank, then up using a fish tape to through the existing wire holes just forward of the galley fridge/freezer and then aft to the Display unit. That took about an hour but looks neat and is supported every 6-8" 

Next I drilled a hole in the forward bulkhead of the fridge freezer near the top and as far outboard as I could get my cordless drill, it was only about 3" from the inside of the fridge  freezer to the forward bulkhead (Hull Rib). I fed the wire my from the inside the fridge and was surprised that it went straight through first time! Sweet. Then I followed the existing loom which included the probe wire from the hot tank, up to the display unit.

Last part is to hook up the power. The lighting circuit in that area has a lot of connections, sadly, some that I have added. So I'm going to rework all of those and put them to a small terminal block mounted on the upper side of the cabinets. Those wires provide power to the LED light over the aft salon table seat, the two LED lights over the Galley and the Fan over the galley. My plan is to move all of the Fans to a separate circuit (we have 4 Fans and a 5th to install in the aft berth). Meanwhile, I'll just connect the Temperature Display unit to the Cabin light circuit. I have much bigger fish to fry. (stay tuned for an upcoming intro to that upgrade)


Ok. Here's a pic of the probe mount inside of the Fridge.

That pic shows the metal temperature probe secured to the outside of the freezer box using a cable tie hold down clip that is mounted on the separation ferrules. It's really difficult to see from looking down into the fridge/freezer but it's very secure. I added a strain relieving cable tie to secure the wire to that ferrule too.

That method alleviated the need to drill a mounting hole in the surface of the fridge/freezer box itself.







All done!

The final wiring was pretty straight forward, it is connected to the Lighting circuit.

Right now the Cabin temp is 81º F so the hot water tank is actually cooler! 

The Fridge/Freezer (blue) temperature is set for max cooling, and the display varies from 31.3 (as shown) to 8ºF when the Compressor is running.

We'll see how the hot water temp shows when we next run the engine.

Ok, sign off on this one.

Oh, the lighter finish of the woodwork is appreciated by the Admiral. It's a winner.


See you on the water (we are right now, rafted up with 4 other boats from the HISC in Lake Boca)


Saturday, September 25, 2021

Autopilot Upgrade - Wiring the System

Upgrading the Autopilot Power supply

Our existing Autopilot was badly wired when installed before we purchased the boat Six years ago. Now that we're replacing the Autopilot with a new Raymarine EV-100 system, we're making sure that the power supply is up to spec, all of the other cables are new.

The Autopilot Control Unit (ACU-100), the Electronics and Wheel drive motor of the system, requires 7amps 12v DC power. Separately, the new Raymarine SeaTalkng network Backbone requires 3 to 5 amps. 

The Electrical Control panel on Eximius is planned to be rewired later this year but we'll take any opportunity to upgrade the electrical system before then.


The Electrical Control panel has a 15amp breaker for the Autopilot. With a total of a max of 7amps, I'll replace existing 15amp breaker with a 10amp breaker.

The existing wire from the breaker to the Autopilot is #16 and the round trip distance is about 30 to 40 feet. The Correct wire size for 7 amps along that length of wire is #10.

Of course, the probability is that the -ve cable to the old Autopilot is also a #16 so that will have to be changed out for a #10 also. I installed a -ve Bus Bar adjacent to the engine a couple of  years ago, however, the planned upgrade to the Electrical panel includes having new -ve bus bars inside of the electrical panel housing. There is a -ve bus bar in that area, but it's just not suitable - and has far to many wires terminated at the bus bar. I'll install a temporary -ve Bus Bar near the panel.

So, we're going to pull two Red #10 (+ve) and a Yellow #10 (-ve) wires from behind the Electrical panel, aft into the Bathroom, aft again into the area behind the aft berth stern bulkhead then to the ACU area along with all of the other wires from the Navigation system (GPS, NEMA2000, Radar, and VHF, Echo Depth Instrument). 

In an earlier post I covered the rewiring of the instruments at the Helm Nav Shelf, so all of the instrument cables now exit from the deck down into the aft berth.


The existing electronics requires 2 fused connections supplied via the Aux GPS Circuit Breaker. Another two fused connections to be supplied via the Autopilot Circuit Breaker.

I have just ordered a second fuse block (see below) in order to provide a neat install of all four of those connections.

These blocks have a transparent cover and have 4 individually fused connections, however, I expect that only two of each will be required.

There will be a seperate Terminal block for the -ve connections.


Those fuse blocks will be mounted on the Aft Bulkhead close to the ACU. 

RANT Time!
Ok, I understand that electronics manufacturers need to make the cables long enough to suite a wide variety of installations, so the cables can be quite a bit longer than required. HOWEVER - they should have a note on the installation instructions suggesting that the cables should be trimmed to a length suitable for the installation. I've seen so many installs of Boat Electronics where the installer has coiled up the wires and left them loafing about somewhere behind the various panels on the boat. Today I pulled out 6 cables each one at least 15' long that could have been as short as 5' Grrrrr! I spent over an hour figuring out which cables were no longer required and could be removed in their entirety. At least I got them all out.    But then I started on replacing the power wires for both the Garmin Echo depth finder and the Garmin GPS - I knew they were bad, but had no idea how bad! Tomorrow I'll work on replacing those cables.

RANT Off!

During a conversation with the Raymaine Tech support, I learned that there should only be a single power connection to the SeaTalkng Network backbone. My plan was to add 12v DC to that backbone. However, as they also clarified that the SeaTalkng backbone is basically identical in function to the NEMA 2000 backbone and that if they are going to be connected it should be via a SeaTalkng to NEMA 2000 (which Raymarine refer to as 'Device net') via a backbone connection and not a spur connection. That means that the 12v DC that is already provided for the NMEA 2000 network will also power the SeaTalkng backbone. One less power supply to worry about. That means that the 2nd Fuse block noted above will only provide power to the ACU-100 and not to the SeaTalkng backbone.

Down at the boat yesterday, I was able to remove a few unwanted cables (because they went nowhere and had no power on them). It required that I remove the Aft Bulkhead in the Aft Cabin, not too difficult. The port side bulkhead of the Aft Cabin also came out just to allow more access.

It will take a bit of effort to sort out the remaining cables. The Data cable from the Radar Unit cannot be cut and has about 30' of excess cable. Probably because the Radar Dome has the option to be mounted up the mast.




The bare wire connections that have to be made to the ACU-100 are the type I try to avoid, but there's no getting around it on this device. However, I can terminate the bare wire ends with Ferrules.

The ends of the bare wires that extend beyond the ferrules will be cut off. That leaves a nice and strong termination to clamp down with the Screw in wire holders of the ACU-100

Those ferrules will be used on the bare wire ends of connections for the SeaTalkng Spur cable, the Wheel Motor Power, the Rudder Position Sensor and the Power cables.

Some of those wires are just 24awg, imagine how fragile they would be if the bare wire ends were simply inserted and screwed down into place.  The kit was cheap from Amazon, worth every penny.


The old power cable for the old Autopilot is a two wire sleeved cable at the Autopilot end, but the other end is not sleeved and is not the same cable. So that whole wire has to come out as mentioned above. Sadly, the cable passes from behind that aft panel in the Aft Cabin up to the side of the Port side Cockpit locker - that means the locker has to be emptied - it's crammed! Probability is that I'll find a join in the cable that is slavered in liquid tape - I really really detest that stuff.

Anyway, while getting this part of the project done, Peggy found another leak in the cockpit, she was scrubbing it down after all the groty work I did earlier this week. The to Aft Cabin port lights are leaking. Another project, but for now I have applied Butyl Tape to where the outside port light flange attaches to the side of the cockpit seating. Another post for that.

At this point we're ready to run the power cables, 30 mins to empty the port side cockpit locker, another 30 to pull the old cable out (and the other defunct cables), same again to the the cables all the way from the 12v Control panel. Replacement should be  quicker as there'll be room in the loom cable ties for the new cables after pulling out all of the old cables.

That's Monday's job.
This project does seem to be taking a whole lot longer than expected, what's unusual about that, but we are spending time getting rid of the failed equipment and wiring. If we were installing this from scratch it would take a fraction of this time.  Oh well! Boat projects tend to do that.

Update: Here's the schematic modified after talking with Raymarine Support



Had to take a break on this as we found a couple of leaky leaky bits around the cockpit to aft cabin windows, that lost us two days.

Back on task, I removed the wooden bulkhead between the aft berth and the fuel tank in addition to the bulkhead between the aft berth and the water tank, all in order to get access to the jumble of wires that are behind those panels. So far I have pulled out another 40' of poor quality wire, bad connections and wrong sized wires.  By Saturday we had the wires pulled all the way into the main salon, just a couple more feet to go in order to get them out from the tangle of wiring behind the electrical panel. See the pic at the top of this post.

It's Labor Day Weekend, so we're doing family stuff until Tuesday, plus I'll get a bit of Canvas work done to bring in some boat bucks. Plan is to head down to the boat on Tuesday morning with the hope of running the new wiring from the circuit breakers to the fuse blocks close to the ACU and the GPS/Echo instruments.

Just in case you're wondering! Yes, we're ready to get the boat out as soon as this work is done! Working on the boat is fun and fulfilling, but we need water under the keel time.

Update Thursday Sept. 9th.
Down at the boat yesterday. Peggy spent most of the morning scrubbing down the deck, it's a constant challenge. With the power cables ran from the Cabin thru to the After berth, I was able to sort out the mess of wiring above the aft water tank. While at it (yep, another bit of project creep) I pulled the wire for the Echo Depth finder's transponder from it's old route into a much shorter and neater route which allowed for the additional wire to be coiled up neatly. Here's a pic of the current state of the wiring behind the aft bulkhead.


NEW PIC HERE


Sadly I could not find the adapter cable I had purchased from Amazon that joins the NEMA 2000 backbone to the SeaTalkng backbone - we spent way too much time searching for it. A new cable should arrive Friday. Saturday we'll go down to the boat and should complete the wiring at the Aft bulkhead, connecting the ACU and the Backbones. That should leave just a few more steps.
  • Replace the Wheel Pilot with the new one.
  • Complete the cable management of the wiring from the aft berth all the way to the main cabin.
  • Connect the Positives (Red #10) to the two circuit breakers
  • Connect the two Negatives (Yellow #10) to the -ne Bus bar at the back of the electrical control panel.
  • Test everything before doing the sea trials.
Well, Saturday was a huge success. I completed the looming of the cables in the Port Side Cockpit locker, removing about 30 old zip ties that were really not doing anything. Then completed the wiring in the aft berth, that's the cables going to the ACU, the SeaTalkng backbone connection to the NEMA 2000 backbone. Installed the Negative terminal block and connected the -ve from the ACU power connection, the -ve from the Echo depth instrument and the -ve from the GPS power connection. Then the +ves to the two fuse blocks  - 1 for the ACU and the other for the GPS & Echo Depth. Ran the ground wire from the ACU to the fuel tank grounding tag (the fuel tank is grounded to the engine) Basically got all of the wiring in the aft berth complete.

So the plan on Tuesday is to go down to the boat and run the wires from their entrance into the cabin (that's inside the sliding door cabinet above the Nav Station) and connect +v's and -v's as mentioned above, at that point we should be able to test the electronics. WooHoo!

Of course, life gets in the way! On monday the roofing company is due to arrive at our home to start work on replacing the roof and Facia. We're in Florida, so that work needs a bit of personal supervision, the last company we used 20 years ago did a carp job and had to re-do some of it due to failing an inspection. Now I know what to look for - and I'll be looking!

We may get the boat out in a week or so, won't that be sweet!

See you on the water - soon.



Sunday, August 15, 2021

Autopilot Upgrade - Mounting the p70s Control Head

 Mounting a Raymarine p70s Controller


The Autopilot Controller for the existing system is mounted on the Starboard side bulkhead adjacent to the Helm Wheel. To reach it we have to bend or sit down to operate the buttons, definitely not the best position for the controller.

This is the New 'p70s' Autopilot Controller. Size wise it is almost identical to the Garmin GMI 20 Instrument already mounted on the Helm Nav Shelf. So I'm making a similar mounting unit.

Sadly, the plumbing business has changed the design of their End Caps for their 3" PVC Pipe. Good news, is that the new end caps are even better. So the new mount is only two parts instead of three for the GMI 20 instrument mount.







The mount is made from 3/4" Starboard and is 6" along it's longest edge (lower left in this pic) and 5" Wide.

The back is made from a 3" PVC End Cap from lowes. $5.35

I drilled out the Starboard with a 3" hole cutter (the internal diameter of the End Cap) 

Secured the end cap to the starboard using 1" #4 philips flat head SS screws.

There's a hole in the lower side of the end cap for the connection to the SeaTalkng cable to the Backbone.





The lower edge of the Starboard is cut at an angle that matches that of the Garmin GMI 20 Instrument so they pretty well match now.

Getting the bezel off of the instrument is a little tricky when the instrument is mounted. I found using a very fine pin Pick it comes off pretty easy.







The finished product, total cost about $10 including screws, Starboard (purchased from Sailorman in Fort Lauderdale by the lb) and the End Cap.

It will be secured to the Helm Nav Shelf using a couple of screws from underneath the shelf into the bottom edge of the Starboard.

Very pleased with this part of the project.

Next part is to install this at the helm and run the cables through the cable glands near the bottom of the pedestal guard. Looks like we'll be doing that on Wednesday.





See you on the water ---- Soon! 

Update - Wednesday August 2021
Well that went well.
This morning I went down to the boat with a plan - reposition the instruments and mount the new p70s Autopilot Control head in it's new holder.


This is the Helm Nav Shelf before today's work.
The Garmin GMI-20 is on the starboard side of the shelf. The GPS mount is centered at the back of the shelf. The Garmin Echo instrument mount is on the port side of the Shelf.

That black line is a zip tie that we use to hold down notes that we keep at the helm like the bridge list for the ICW or the Dock map of the various marinas we visit.

Left side of that picture is forwards, Top is to Starboard and right is aft.








After the work, the GMI-20 is on the Port side and the Autopilot p70s is on the Starboard side.

Not shown in this picture, the Garmin Echo Depth instrument is now located to the Starboard side of the Pedestal guard.

The data and power cables are temporarily secured to the Pedestal guard but are not re-routed to their final position yet. That requires the opening of the cable gland at the foot of the Pedestal guard, pulling the wires up from the aft berth, repositioning them to the shortest side.

When completed the wires will be routed as follows:
Port Side Gland: GMI-20, GPS and Radar Cables
Stbd side Gland VHF remote, p70s, Echo Depth, Autopilot Wheel motor.

First step in that process is to clear out the Aft Berth (our Garage) so that we can get to the old Autopilot's ACU. Remove the old Fluxgate Compass, run new power cables etc. etc. Worth another post.

Again - See you on the Water.


Thursday, August 12, 2021

Installing the Raymarine Rudder Position Sensor

Installing the Raymarine Autopilot Rudder Sensor (RPS)

This starts off techy, but read it to the end.



As mentioned in the previous post, the plan is to mount the RPS on the underside of the Aft Locker Shelf Support Beam. 


The RPS arm must be parallel to the Steering Radial Drive Radius when the rudder is amidships. There is a small amount of adjustment of the sensor (it has 3 extended slots in it's mounting base)




Schematic of RPS
Connection to the Steering Radial Drive


The vertical alignment of the RPS and the Tiller Pin has to be within +/- 5º Max. I'll make several Starboard Mounting plates of different thicknesses and use those that are needed to get the alignment within tolerance. I have several thicknesses of Starboard, so this should be easy. 

Well that first layout didn't work. The vertical alignment of the Tiller Pin would move everything down too low on the Steering Radial Drive - there would be huge chunk of starboard on the underside in order to clear the ridges.

Second design: Duh, looks a lot simpler.
This pic shows the underside of the Steering Radial Drive, that hole with the cable poking through is the problem for the 1st design.

Duh - Just make a bracket that can be held in place using the Thru bolt (center of the 5 in the pic) 

Basically an L shaped bracket made from 2" x 1/4" Aluminium Bar and mount the Tiller pin near the end of that bracket. There's a flat surface behind the head of that center bolt, so the bracket should be solid enough. I'll add a few brazed shims to the bracket if needed to ensure it's soli





Schematic of Tiller Pin and Support Bracket

Down at the boat again this morning with a makeshift Tiller Pin Support Bracket, just to figure out the size of the RPS mounting plate. We'll also check the max Rudder Angle, it has to be less than 60º from Center to Port and Starboard. The pic above shows the dimensions


To make the Bracket, I purchased a 24" piece of 2" x 1/8" Aluminium Bar Stock from Lowes. Marked the bar about 6" from the end. With the bar held in an Oven Gloved hand, and a plumbers Butane heat gun in the other, I heated the bend mark for 5 minutes. Then set the hot bar between a couple of garden stepping stones and bent the bar to shape. After cutting the bar to size, drilled the end hole and the Tiller mounting pin holes. Aluminium nuts and bolts hold the Tiller Pin in place, Loctite to keep them there. 

I added the two SS screws and lock nuts to add stability to where the plate is attached to the casting on the bottom of the steering radial drive. Plan is to attach the bracket using the center rudder post bolt, then tighten up on the two stabilizing screws and lock them in place with the lock nuts.




In addition to the Tiller Pin Bracket, I need to make a shim on which to mount the RPS and then mount it under the Port Side Shelf support beam.
1/4" thick Support shim 
I made 2, the other is 3/8" thick


The Install process will be:
  • Remove the Thru Bolt which prevents the Steering Radial Drive from rotating on the Ruder Post.
  • Install the new Tiller Pin Bracket on the bolt and reinsert the Bolt and secure in place.
  • Mount the RPS on the new Shim.
  • Align the shim so that the Pin on the RPS and the Tiller Pin are aligned and the RPS arm, Tiller Pin mount form a Parallelogram.
  • Run the Connector wire from the RPS forwards over the Aft Water tank and then join the loom of wires that reach the APU.

With everything prepped, I just need to get down to the boat early enough to be the heat or late enough for it to have started cooling down. Currently, the daily noonday temp is typically in the high 90ºF :(

Anticipating that I should be able to complete the RPS install in just one more trip to the boat, I'll hold off publishing this post until then.   Tuesday August 10th 2021

Update:  Thursday August 12 2021
Well, after getting all of that prep done, we took a break on Tuesday to get our Vaccinations - not Covid, we did that back in January, no, on Tuesday we got our Shingles Vaccine - shot #1 no biggy. Well, no biggy till Wednesday morning. Couldn't sleep all night and woke up unable to lift my left arm. Ibuprofen did not dull the pain! Wow, it gave me a little insight to what people suffer when they lose control of a limb. So Wednesday was a write off, I was able to steer my electric lawn mower, but very tenderly. So I mowed the lawn single handed.

Thursday almost 100% back in action. Lifting my elbow as high as my shoulder was slightly painful, but I felt I could make progress on this project.

We were down the boat by 10am and quickly got to work. 

Step 1 was to remove the center bolt. This pic shows the two shelf support braces on either side of the Steering Radial Drive. Removing the bolt took some doing, over 1/2 Hour to get it out, glad I'm a skinny guy.  That small USB powered rechargeable battery fan helped me keep my cool.

The bolt was a really tight fit through the rudder post, it needed a little persuasion but there's no room to swing a cat, barely room to tap the bolt with a hammer (of course I had a nut on the end so that the thread was not damaged.)

With the bolt out I took a break. The plan was to divide the job into steps. Step 1 done, got the bolt out.

Step 2  fit the Tiller Pin Bracket.  Step 3 install the Rudder Position Sensor with it's mounting plate. Step 4 fit the connecting stud between the Tiller Pin and the RPS pin.



After sweating for another hour, the Tiller Pin bracket is installed. There was no need for the stabilizing bolts, it's secured really well just using the Center Bolt.

This photo was taken after the install was completed, it shows the Connecting stud already installed.












Peggy had a good idea! Use a clamp to hold the RPS unit mounting plate to the underside of the shelf support braces.

I didn't have a suitable clamp on board, but I did have a velcro strap, it worked like a charm. That probably saved the day, I just don't see how I could have held that mount in place and screwed the plate to the underside of the shelf support brace.

Thanks Peggy.





This shows the completed install. the RPS is screwed to that Green plastic plate which is then screwed onto the underside of the Shelf support brace.

The biggest issue is getting the alignment correct and I'm not sure how accurate it is. This area is really difficult to work in.

The RPS has 3 slots around its circumference, that allows for some adjustments. The Connecting stud also has about 1/2" adjustment due to the two nuts on the connecting stud. 


Now that it's completed, I took this set of images.
But just to give it some context, this job involved quite a bit of Boat Yoga.

Getting into the aft locker / lazarette, takes some doing, but getting down into position in order to be able to reach the underside of the Steering Radial Drive requires a bit more flexibility.

I'm on my second shirt in this pic, the first was sodden by the time I finished installing the Tiller Pin Support Bracket.

Peggy took a couple of pics when I was not looking.







With the Rudder Position Sensor installed, we're ready for the next step. Run the wire from the RPS to the Autopilot Control Unit (ACU) and Install the EV-1 Sensor Core, both those jobs are easy by comparison to this part of the project.

Total time to install the RPS at the Boat -  3½ Hours. Plus the loss of a few pints of sweat equity.

See you on the Water.