Bob, does the compass have an umbilical for night lighting?
Bob, does the compass have an umbilical for night lighting?
Yes, it has one light above the globe and one below. I plan to use small plugs so I can keep the wires out of the way until I need the lights.
Philpott will be along shortly to tell us that her compass has three lights.
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Last edited by BobJ; 06-08-2020 at 03:17 PM.
My compass may, indeed, have three lights. Having not uncovered it since the Electrician Magician installed it, I am unable to brag about that at this time. My my, aren't we all bored? I see that those bad boys and girls in the Moore and Melges contingencies had a Delta Ditch UnRun. Sigh. I wish I'd thought of that. But in 30+ knots? Whoo hoo. Coulda Shoulda Woulda. We're a pretty staid crowd by comparison.
Lots of people out sailing Sunday. Coming back in from the city front I saw Robert Johnston sail past on Surprise! I tried to catch up, honestly, but it was impossible. This must've been why:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oApAdwuqtn8
Thank you to Bob for the appropriate film reference.
Last edited by Philpott; 06-16-2020 at 10:10 PM.
Boat wiring and the Law of Unintended Consequences:
The electric halyard winches work great but if I ran either of them for more than 10-15 seconds, they caused a voltage drop with which the B&G system, including the autopilot, was not happy. So I had to sacrifice most of the liquor locker to move one of the big batteries back aft to run the electronics. I installed an ACR between that battery and the other two in the house bank (which are still forward). Now the electronics don't see the voltage drop.
This gave me an excuse to buy a set of crumpets, which are really fun.
I thought the wiring changes didn't work because of what the panel's multimeter was showing, then I realized the meter was still measuring the two forward batteries, not the battery for the electronics. I fixed that but now I have a new problem: With all DC loads turned off, the meter shows -0.6A. Could the two little lights on the ACRs be pulling that much?
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Last edited by BobJ; 07-12-2020 at 01:22 PM.
It's too late for you now ...
You have fallen down the rabbit hole. Oh, Electrician Magician, what have you wrought?
It all started when I kept Ragtime! in Vallejo.
Rob was aboard and said what Rags really needed was an ACR, a combiner switch and a subwoofer.
I think LEDs pull about 25mA but there could be more to the ACRs. Depending on where the current sensor is could the aft battery be charging the fwd bank or something? If their voltage was different because of using things?
Here's what I think is happening based on the wiring: The voltage reading on the meter (12.91v) is now coming from the positive terminal of the single, aft battery. I can set up a third battery in the VSM if I want to see the individual voltages for the forward bank, aft battery and starting battery. I'll probably do that.
The negative cables from the aft battery and the two forward batteries are combined on the non-load side of the shunt. My understanding is the meter is drawing its amperage reading across the shunt, so it should be a combined measurement of the three house batteries. Otherwise as they "equalize" the amperage would be distorted, as you suggest in your second sentence.
(Edit) Rob corrected me, pointing out that the shunt is measuring the amperage only for the battery that has the positive lead back to the meter. (It must be that "completing the circuit" thing.) So I'll move the negative cable for the non-metered battery back to the negative bus and see if the readings make more sense - after I go sailing on Sunday.
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Last edited by BobJ; 07-20-2020 at 10:38 AM.