Cost to Cruise - November 2012

November came, and November went.  Two big items impacted Costs this months:

• First and Last at Friday Harbor
• Filling out the Spares Kits in preparation of heading North.

First and Last we will recoup when we depart next year.  The Spares consisted of completing our chart kit for Canada and purchasing a spare Raw Water Pump and Transmission Heat-exchanger   Those two complete the Cooling water side of our spares kit.

Insurance / medical will start to climb higher as we see the Docs for the once-yearly thing, and get ready for Kristi's Cataract surgery next Jan/Feb.  Surprisingly, Dining Out was not as high this month.  Perhaps Kristi and I having colds for a couple of weeks slowed down the Coffee House thing!

On the Energy Front: Last year we heated almost exclusively using the Dickinson.  Though wonderful, it consumed 80-90 galls of fuel a month.  (Or about  $300+ of fuel).  This year we are trying to use the small electric heaters combined with the Hurricane to 'warm things up' in the morning.  This months 30 hours on the Hurricane combined with a bit over 1,000KWhs of electricity is about 1/3rd what we spent last year on heating when we relied solely on the Dickinson 

Saving $$ is great, but the Dickinson is still really nice when it is on.   Over the Winter we will try to use it only for those really cold / rainy / windy days and use the Electric / Hurricane combination when we can.  Or other 'special occasions' :-)

And look at Solar!  Hey, I know 27Ah's / day is not all that much, but it is about 2x what we expected in the modeler!  Go Solar!

ProSine 2.0 packing it in?

One of the first 'major' purchases I made for Viking Star was a true Sine-wave inverter.  MSW inverters had been around for some time, and were well know for their simplicity and robustness.  But they also had SOME compatibility issues (electric Blankets being the biggest issue for some reason).   So for the long haul, a true Sine-wave was what I wanted.

Can it be saved ????       

Back in 2001 there really were not too many options, and I ended up purchasing a StatPower ProSine 2.0   At the time Statpower still had a good name, and their inverter looked just like what I needed.


However, , ,



Little did I know that StatPower had already begun its transition into Xantrex.  And that the ProSine was one of the first of 'problem children'  to come out of that company.  Problem inverters combined with $$$ oriented business practices - little to no support for the end consumer let alone their dealer network.  Their reputation can easily be found all over the internet.

Once these things came to light it was too late for me.  So I prayed I would have 'That One' that worked. . .

And it has, sort of, for 10 years.  Despite the occasional hiccups - Like faulting on "Low Bus Voltage" (when the batteries are well charged and little load is being placed on the unit), or my favorite "Revise AC Polarity" (impossible -- we have an isolation transformer.  Polarity is established on the boat, not the dock.  And even more fun:  this error would come up when we were not even plugged into shore power).  And poor cooling of the unit rendering it unable to support more then 80A charge rate without overheating.   But we limped along, listened to the faulting after which it would mostly restart-after-fault.  So it went.

Till a couple of days ago when it started reporting its Low Bus Voltage every day.  And it would no longer auto-restart.  Then last night it went wild with Errors 0258, and error 3073.  I also noticed it was starting to trip the incoming AC mains breaker - a quick check showed that the unit would Max Out the charging current to over 100A, despite being capped to 50A in the setup, and the 'AC Breaker' size being set for 20A.  This maxing out, combined with the dryer running would cause a 33A draw on the AC mains, easily tripping my interior Circuit Breaker of 25A.

So, last night I had to disable the ProSine.  We still have our backup Heart Inverter that we can use (aka The Tank), but I would like to get the primary inverter back into operation.  Before I plunk down $1,500 or so on a new inverter (and it will NEVER EVER BE A XANTREX product, I am looking at Magnum Inverter)  I want to bust open the ProSine and see if there is anything obvious.  Looking for blatant signs of distress, and also perhaps corrosion on interconnects.  This Slow Die of the unit just has that feel that the unit might be rusting up some, and causing reliability issues with interconnects and / or the ability to reliably read its sensors.

Stay tuned for more!

Coffee Shop View

After a shared cold kept us on the boat for several days, and the Thanksgiving holiday, yesterday morning I put my nose to the grindstone and really dug in to my current work project.  After a couple of very productive hours, I wanted a break, so I set out to re-visit the Churchill Coffee House.

Last year when we visited, there was an ice cream machine whose compressor was VERY loud.  I didn't see the same machine, but there was a drink cooler I could hear running.  I ordered my 'regular' drink, and a cup of soup from the very friendly people who run this shop.

I took a seat in the very corner, and discovered it is the BEST seat of the house!  It is away from the kitchen, and as far away from any coolers as you can get.  And the view, on a gorgeous sunny day!

The ferry to Anacortes is loading.  The inter-island ferry is arriving -- those garbage trucks are waiting for that one.  I can see Churchill's lights from the boat, so of course I can see the boat from here -- but I know what to look for......let me get you a closer view.

Look for the 'white cross' just left of center -- can you see it?  That's us!

After a side trip to the book store, I head back to the boat to get more work done.  It's Al's turn to go on walkabout.  When he returns, he sees 'sea horse' in the sky!

This shot also goes right back up to the Churchill Coffee House, though it's difficult to point it out.

Hopeful Things

Two recent images captured here in Friday Harbor bring to mind the thought of 'Hopeful Things'.

A rainbow, symbol of God's promise

Sunrise, a shiny, golden start to a new day!

These images cause me to think of Hira this week -- our friend, fellow boater and blogger.  She has been facing questions and testing regarding her health -- more today -- but Hira is such a shiny, golden, and warm spirit!  She is Light, reflecting through the clouds, full of Color and Life.

Progress on the Arduino Alternator Regulator and Small DC Generator control

Some time ago I mentioned I was looking to do something better around Alternator regulation for our DC generator: http://mvvikingstar.blogspot.com/2012/04/arduino-based-alternator-regulator-and.html

This evening I posted the 1st really ruff cut of code in the other blog:  "Arduino based Alternator Regulator and Small Engine Control" http://smartdcgenerator.blogspot.com/

Though I would just put a small notice here in case someone is interested  and perhaps had not been following the other blog.  Overall progress, hardware design is completed.  Parts and PCB for the 1st prototypes have been ordered and should be awaiting us when we go to Portland for the Holidays.  And today I posted the 1st ruff version of the Software.

Been a fun project, I had forgotten how enjoyable these small process-control designs can be.  Will be fun to see if it comes alive!

Can not let this one pass....

Wow,

One of the mailing lists I belong to posted this today:

http://shopping.sierralivingconcepts.com/storefrontprofiles/DeluxeSFItemDetail.aspx?sid=1&sfid=163917&i=294596599&gclid=CMTJybad3bMCFQkFnQodCzEAxw

I am speechless, really?   But I guess it is not so bad a deal.  After all, shipping is free.  Plus it comes 'Fully Assembled' !



Did bring back good memory of one of my favorite Ren and Stimpy bits:
                                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eusMzC7Rx7M

Wow, what will folks think of next!

Evidence of Wind

Whew!  Last night we were reminded long and hard that we live on a boat!  (Scroll down for the 'just published' post on the Liveaboard Policy)

In the afternoon, the wind pushed the needle on our anemometer up to 47.  We still are not sure if that's MILES-p-h or KNOTS-p-h.  But when it gets up there, who cares.

It was getting pretty rough after dinner.  Eating included holding onto the chili bowl so it wouldn't slide off the table.  The ferries seemed to be coming in a bit faster than normal.  Were they anxious to get back to dock? Late due to the weather and trying to make up time?  Is it easier to control at a faster speed (like Viking Star is)?

The boat shuddered many times.  Al stuck his head out the window to check the lines and fenders.  Even though the wind was 'blowing us off', the breakwater was rolling pretty good too, and we would ride those fenders between us.

A big sustained gust pushed that needle up to 55!  Then Al shown the searchlight across the water, and it showed a scary sight.  The waves didn't look THAT big in the DARK!

Right around 10 PM, it seemed to calm a bit. The rolling IS a lot easier to take while lying on our nice memory foam mattress.  I slept reasonable well.  Al still had a rough night, but I think that was more due to his cold and 'dealing with' all the fluids he's been drinking.

This morning, he stuck his head out again -- in the heavy rain -- to check the lines and fenders.  All survived well.  And then he cried, 'WHOA!'  I had to stand to see what he was seeing.

Just for a 'before' reference -- a photo taken of $13M boat Komokwa as she checking in with Customs.

And today's view, where the barrier has been pushed over so far that it nearly closes off the passage: