Trust me - there will be a mutiny

We bought our DC-AC convertor over two years ago, it has been sitting in Salty Lass not connected for absolutely ages, so at last it has come time to actually fit it. The main reason that we want to do that is so that we can charge our drones battery. We love the drone footage that we get, but it would be really great if we could charge the drone up without going into a marina

Installing a DC-AC Inverter

Inverter Circuit

Equipment

  • DC-AC Convertor - We went for a 375W power output, as this was sufficient for our requirements which was to charge up the drone
  • Wire - Do make sure that you think about the surge currents, for our unit 6mm2 is more than adequate, however I had neglected to think about the surge currents which is why we went for 10mm2 cable in the end
  • Breaker - Ours came with a built in switch so that it could do two jobs

Other items

  • Small box to mount the switch
  • Short cable for between the battery and the breaker
  • Mousing line

Hints and tips on wiring

  • Mousing lines - where you need to install cables always put a mousing line. This line should never be made from string or other materials which are known to degrade because it might be a long time between uses and the last thing that you want is for the string to break.
  • Wire lengths - Always buy some extra because when you are wining through a boat, you have to follow certain paths and these are not on the shortest path. We purchased 3m of cable but it would of been better if we had a little bit longer
  • Position of units - If you have to compromise, the position of the unit could well be some thing that you could compromise on
  • Splitting loads - Because cables have resistance then for charging batteries and for drawing high loads then it is better to use different terminals. We only have two batteries so we put the negative wire on the one battery and the positive wire on the other battery - see diagram below for clarification
Charger Circuit

Other projects

Because I had bought the 6mm2 cable we decided to rewire our sterling charger so that it would be charging across the batteries. This is needed because wires have a resistance and if you put both wires from the charging to one battery then that one battery charges first and then the other battery, but if you wire across the batteries then the both charge at the same rate.

We also moved the engine panel on by making a new surround for it

Question of the week

How do we live in here when we fall out with each other

  1. First of all we are good friends. A lot of things have happened to us and it is the friendship that has kept us going through all of that
  2. We have common interests, but we also have separate interests. Sailing and Science are both common interests but we have different viewpoints because Beverley is interested in the more of the Science while I am interested in the application of that Science. We also have separate interests which for me is sewing, arts and crafts while Beverley is interested in Cosmology and Physics
  3. Have separate spaces - Being in each others company all the time can be wearing, but if you have your own private space then you have a space to do what you want to do.
  4. Have time alone - Do things that you want to do.
Raising money for the RNLI

The RNLI turned 200 years old on 4th March 2024. So as sailors and people who promote the joy of sailing, we thought that we would like to raise just £200. What we hope is that other people take up the shout and raise their own £200. In the last 200 years the RNLI have saved over 144,000 lives and yet they are funded entirely by people like you. They are not government funded.

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