Sail Life - More maintenance & CTEK Battery Sense, BHA #2

[@SV-WAKAWAKA]

I love the effective use of your belt to loosen the filter.

[@twomilesuphill]

I love the details on the maintenance. I always kept a maintenance log on my bikes. Anytime I did something it was noted in the log and included oil, filter types, mileage or hours and links to any online information I used. Aside from not having to actually remember when or what I did, it was much appreciated by anyone I sold the equipment to. The same thing is done to my car only the dealer keeps the records and I get a print out.

[@evanofelipe]

Thanks for the latest update - I enjoyed the video and particularly like the way you work, you're clearly thinking ahead trying to anticipate problems e.g. using plastic bag to avoid diesel spills when removing filters etc. Keep 'em coming and glad you're so evidently enjoying getting to know your boat. I've always subscribed to the belief that you should 'look after her and she will look after you' principle.

[@mb8083]

You are such a likeable guy. Your videos always brings a smile to my face. Best regards from Poland.

[@RAJAesq]

Very resourceful - I would have never considered using my belt as a loosening device.

[@ktobias63]

Was nice seeing you waking up in Athena! Enjoyed following your comments and progress posted to Facebook during your crossing, CONGRATULATIONS!! You made it! Hope you are feeling better. Looking forward to seeing your videos as you start projects aboard your new boat.

[@HiltsyAdventure]

Kind of funny watching this video after your re-wiring video and seeing the beautiful wiring that is in the future.

[@somedaysailor7913]

Judging by that smile, Athena already feels like home!

[@SailLife]

+Someday Sailor You are 100% correct :P Lots of projects to get out of the way before moving aboard but she definitely already feels like home :)

[@toms4123]

How nice to find another video of yours when I came back from Black Pearl this evening. I have so many things to be done still that I look forward to any maintenance/repair video you put out. I have learnt a lot from your contributions and I am sure that there is a lot to learn still, so please don't stop. Today it was continuation of a semi complete rewiring, a blocked toilet despite a recent overhaul and trying to free a blocked skin fitting/ball valve. It never stops, does it...

[@billbruce5528]

Glad you had a great trip across the North Sea and am especially looking forward to seeing some clips of the Scotland canal portion. Monitored your track several times a day throughout you passage, very exciting.

[@dvsteve71]

All that room... You are living well sir!

[@thordehr]

Great videos! A note though, here, those copper lines and screw closed valves are SO illegal. So are the open flame heaters. With so much regulation and oversight it's really surprising that these three things are allowed in Europe. Loving your content and being allowed to follow along on your hard work, triumphs and adventures.

[@TheIconTalent]

Agree with the instant coffee, another great video...

[@AndysEastCoastAdventures]

I love seeing the maintenance parts of your videos. It's what boating is about. A friend recently got quotes for a service for a yanmar 2gm. Filters, oil and valve clearance. Quotes were between £400-600. A huge amount for such an easy job!!

[@SailLife]

+East Coast UK Fly Sail Thank you so much. For the budget conscious sailors being able to take care of you own maintenance is a big advantage for sure :) Also, it's nice to get to know your engine for WHEN it breaks down in the middle of nowhere ;) WOW! £400-600. Yikes! I made the mistake of having my car service at a garage ONCE. I paid £400 for about £30 of parts and 20 minutes of work. Ever since that experience I've been a big proponent of DIY ;)

[@AndysEastCoastAdventures]

I know the labour charges can be high but I tend to think they over charge labour rates on most jobs. I'm the same though, if I can do it myself I will. Thankfully like you I'm OK with tackling more or less every job on a boat to save costs.

[@raymtl8892]

Hey Mads, you should consider keeping a maintenance log so this way all of your maintenance is noted including the date and engine hours when the work was done. Much better than scribbling notes on filters and such + helps with the sale of your boat if/when you decide to sell it as it shows that regular maintenance has been done on it to any prospective buyer.

[@garygreen8737]

hey now madd, get yourself a log book and keep your dates in there ! all the best dude ! lol !

[@factstory1771]

Subscribed. Love watching your video's,and being right at the start of our own journey find them both informative and inspiring.! Lovely boat,great host,and the dog is sweet too! :) Really looking forward to the footage from the North Sea passage.

[@SailLife]

+SV Talulah Thank you so much! :) Welcome "aboard" :P I hope the footage from the trip back home won't disappoint :)

[@Pulltabporter]

That fuel filter looks like a big flaw. Filters should be easy to replace, would not want to do that under way. Love the new gal though, she's is beautiful! Look forward to another update soon.

[@granjerolunabrillo1487]

I know this is a way old video but I also know how far you have come as I have watched almost all your videos on the new girl. I look forward to seeing your videos every sunday and just wanted to say one thing about battery monitoring. You can't get accurate states of change using voltage because of sag's on the drain side, rises on the charge side and has to sit for a wile for a accurate voltage reading. What you should look into in monitors that watch the amp hours drained and amp hours taken on a charge. that way you know almost exactly how much power you have left. voltage readings are only good to check that you have a stable output.

[@trimsails]

Hello Mads, I have been using a very economical battery monitor in my 2 battery bank system with great results. It is a INNOVA 3721 Battery and Charging System Monitor Costs about $12 on Amazon or many other retail outlets. It simply plugs into a 12V outlet and gives you the voltage in the circuit. I have a battery switch so I check each battery then I check with the switch on both. These are both house batteries so sometimes I just leave the Innova plugged in so I can see what the batteries are doing at a glance. I have several DC outlets. Jerry

[@BetterthanitwasNetsailing]

Glad you got everything sorted. It was fab to see you again and thank you for having us all on board. Athena has a great cooler that makes a perfect ice-cold coke on a really hot day. We had a tremendous weekend. You made it back much quicker than I had expected. We took 3 days to go 40 miles 😩

[@richardcooper38]

I hope you had a great trip and glad that it was a safe voyage. I do a lot of servicing on heavy farm equipment. In addition to the date I always put the hobb hours on the filters as well. The date is a good guide but the hours is a better reference. You might only put 20 hours on a motor in six months or you could put on a 100 hours a week. On my airplane it was every 50 hours or one year. What ever came first. I would use this for you engine as well. Happy sailing!

[@SailLife]

+RC That is an excellent idea! Thanks :) I'm sure most sailors only put the date on there because they rarely rack up enough hours. When I go cruising full time I'll definitely put hours on there as well as the date :)

[@richardcooper38]

+Sail Life One thing I didn't mention is when I put the info on the filters or at least metal canisters I scratch them in with my pocket knife. They'll start to rust at the scratch marks but it's permanent. If you do this on your marine engine just put a clear coating over it. It may sound a little girly but I sometimes will swipe a jar of my wife's nail polish to cover with the clear coat or bright color to mark a spot on something. It has a built in brush, small, and doesn't dry out in the jar. You might ask some of your neighbor ladies for some. I wouldn't go to the store to buy some. lol Have a great weekend.

[@queenofyeay]

As a diesel mechanic, the CTEK battery sense is certainly a nice addition, it WOULD be a better system if it included volts and I'm surprised that it doesn't have a setting that allows you to view the voltage. One thing it does have is an alert mode in the settings that will message your phone. I might create a chart of voltage corresponding to the percentages. That way you might easily be able to understand at a glance what percentage shown equates to actual voltage. The fact is if they are basing percentage of charge on the TOTAL output of the battery from 100% to 0% (a bad way of estimating charge in my opinion) then 89% of charge @ 12.3 volts equates to your batteries 100% charge voltage being 13.6 volts. Depending on the health of your batteries that will change over time obviously. I might see if there isn't a better battery monitor out there but it is better than nothing!

[@crazystuffproduction]

I love it when you do the technical stuff

[@GoofieNewfie69]

Save on paper towels, use baby diapers, they are really good for soaking up all kinds of fluids. Feminine napkins are good for hard to get places and a must for first aid kits

[@rixeethefirst]

awesome mads really enjoyed tracking your trip, hope you didn't have to feed the fish to much but i guess it does not hurt to share looking forward to more footage of the trip cheers ian

[@SailBeforeSunset]

Great to see you at it, Mads. I think we have similar diesels. I like Volvos, but I think it may be time for us to repower. Great boat you have there!

[@svamandolin3546]

Date on Filter. Smart idea

[@RangerRob]

Really enjoyed your video, Thank You

[@TheSailingBrothers]

I see that you made it back then, well done

[@SailLife]

+luke1000123 Thanks! It was a very nice trip - not my last visit to Scotland for sure! :)

[@youngypaul]

Great as always and looking forward to seeing some footage of the passage. Well done. And congrats on getting your old salty legs this time.

[@royandlorainenorthwood9971]

Another enjoyable video

[@shipskepr1]

mads great informational ,vid

[@CruisingTheCut]

Noooo! I LOVE diesel maintenance videos. Don't ever hold,out on us again ;-) At 12.3V those batteries sound pretty dead to me. Have you considered a Smartgauge (brand name). No Bluetooth but very well regarded as a reliable indicator of state of charge.

[@SailLife]

+CruisingTheCut Haha :) Well, I still need to put the old engine back in Obelix. That should be good for at least a few minutes of video ;) I didn't know about the Smartgauge but I've got something similar on my wishlist for Christmas. I was planning on putting in a NASA BM1 (I've been very pleased with the one aboard Obelix) but earlier today someone pointed me towards the Victron Energy BMV-700 series. I'm in love!

[@MrEroshan]

Fully charged lead acid flooded battery should be 12.7, nominal voltage is 12.7. 12.3 would be around 65 percent at room temperature. Perhaps battery sense takes temperature into account?

[@OutsideAndStuff]

Sad we missed out on the boat warming! Please sail to Seattle WA and then Alfy can sail down as well! Glad to see you so happy with your new boat! PS. Thought you were going to say the reviews were so bad because they did not allow more than three smilies on their support forum. :D :D :D

[@SailLife]

+Outside + Stuff When I finally do make it to Seattle I'll host another boat warming for sure :) With all the traveling you guys do you might find yourself in my neck of the woods. If that happens let me know - I'll host a special edition boat warming ;) Haha, I should totally check to make sure CTEK's support forum allows more than three smilies before doing a review :D ;)

[@OutsideAndStuff]

+Sail Life I keep telling Jen we need to take a trip out to Denmark so she can see the Lego HQ in Billund. And then I can go look at sailboats. :)

[@titustiger27]

hopefully future you will write the date on the filters BEfore you put them on

[@geonetil]

OMG An israeli coffee NICE!

[@helloman1976]

Taking battery voltage does not necessarily tell you the state of charge of the battery. Assuming these are lead acid based batteries you need to pick up a specific gravity gauge, get a nice one and keep in mind they're fragile. The best way to tell state of charge is by taking specific gravity and matching that up with a specific gravity chart, sometimes the battery manufactures will provide them online. In order for that app to know the state of charge you will have to have it configured with the right information, battery information to be specific: total amp hours, voltage and whatnot. I would prefer just seeing the voltage also...maybe you can write the developers and ask for that to be an option. Another thought is maybe you can find another APP that'll connect up to that product where someone has already thought of that and created it. Lastly, as a programmer myself, I would just write one if the developers provided an API let's say.

[@patriciabrooks5838]

We use a Victron battery sense, which not only measures the state of charge but also a number of other parameters. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6qyhaCYqNCSpZI Measuring the state of charge is quite complicated and probably impossible without knowing the current in and out of the battery plus battery parameters. Measuring just the battery voltage is not going to give an accurate reading of state of charge. If a standard charging system is used 13.4V-13.8V the battery will only ever achieve about 75% of its potential. It is only possible to charge to over 90% by using an IUOU (smart charger) or a pulse system.

[@SVWildHare]

I have a Clipper battery monitor that does everything I need. The problem I see with what you have is you're going to have to keep or turn the phone on every time you want to see your battery charge. Last I checked they hadn't installed cell towers in the middle on the ocean so why would you have the phone on? Im sure you can get it on a tablet but what a pain. I'll keep my clipper. Its on and ready for me to see 24/7

[@SailLife]

I have a BM-1 battery monitor board Obelix (the one you mention - unless you have the BM-2). I wanted to play around with the CTEK Battery Sense just to see what it was like. It won't be my primary battery monitor aboard Athena (I plan on installing a Victron BMV 702). I do actually keep my Phone on at all time. I use it for sending and receiving messages from my InReach ;)

[@HammerRocks]

Glad to see you back home safely Mads. I've been tracking your progress from Scotland back to Skive through your InReach tool. Hows the new boat? How did she sail across the North Sea?

[@SailLife]

+Hammer Rocks Thanks! Athena is wonderful! She handles a bit of wind beautiful. The highest winds we saw on the trip was in the low 30'ties so not a ton of wind but enough to get a sense of how she handles :) For the trip across the North Sea we had very low winds. I remember one watch in the middle of the night out on the north sea looking at the wind instrument and seeing it read "0".... not "0."-something ... just 0. I had purchased extra diesel before leaving Inverness and it's only 400 nm so we just did a bit of motoring :)

[@wallacegrommet9343]

Hello! Do you mind the stubborn diesel aroma on your hands from the filter change? I always get disposable gloves on whenever I handle diesel! Cheers!

[@SailLife]

Hi :) I don't mind the smell but disposable gloves are always nice to have around :)

[@anthonyrstrawbridge]

When fully charged each battery cell should produce 2.1 volts. Do the math. Straight away I observed the 89% along with your proclamation of 12.3 volts on your multimeter and knew you either have a small load or a weak battery cell. Cheers.

[@whotknots]

I noticed that what sounded like RF interference impinged upon your audio several times, perhaps it originated with your mobile phone?

[@bummibaer7038]

before fixing the filters, fill it up ...

[@AndyUK-Corrival]

Hey Mads, great to see you got home okay and looking forward to the videos of your trip as they are uploaded. There is a battery monitor on ebay sold for motorbikes, bit cheaper that Ctek and it shows VOLTAGE! www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JMP-Bluetooth-Battery-Monitor-using-iPhone-or-Android-Smartphone-/371488380784?hash=item567e6ed770:g:sMAAAOSwLzdWSnvz. I guess you have to buy one for each battery but maybe better than the % as I agree that is not that helpful, both would be even better. Best wishes. Andy

[@SailLife]

+FrenchAM100 Hi Andy :) Thank you so much :) Someone has turned me on to Victron's Energy BMV-700 series. I'm in love! I'm very much looking forward to taking a closer look at their battery monitor :) The one you've found seems like (to me) a more useful product than the CTEK Battery Sense :)

[@crazystuffproduction]

So where does bathroom waste go?

[@oldmatelots2748]

Excellent vid as usual and I'm looking forward to seeing the details of the North Sea passage. Before you commit to a SOC monitoring device take a look at the Compass Marine analysis of the Balmar Smart Gauge. www.pbase.com/mainecruising/smart_gauge

[@cawfeedawg]

you give credit for music in the description but I didnt hear any.. lol

[@davandstudios]

Instant coffee? I'm not watching you anymore. Lol

[@SailLife]

+Urban Deployment Hehe, if it's any consolation I've been through all the brands before settling on this one :) Best instant coffee I could find :)

[@davandstudios]

+Sail Life No such thing.One of your house warming gifts should of been a French press. Go pick one up.

[@What_If_We_Tried]

+Urban Deployment :: A Bialetti Moka Express pot is even better! ;) www.bialetti.com/coffee/stovetop/moka-express-c-1_7_22.html

[@granjerolunabrillo1487]

that moment when your host gives you a horrible cup of coffee and you have to take small sips as to be polite and when they leave the kitchen you quickly pour it down the sink, wash your cup up and thank them for the nice cup of coffee haha.

[@whotknots]

Tired of Diesel maintenance? NEVER!

[@baritonejp1]

instant coffee 😟

[@AndyUK-Corrival]

Yes Mads the Vitron does look quite good but needs a shunt I think. I have plans to fit this Smart gauge to my Rival 32, take a look. www.force4.co.uk/merlin-smartgauge-battery-monitor.html?sqr=Battery%20monitor&#.V0BvPdR4WrU

[@cyclingwithkiwi3956]

i was 50 on thursday the 19

[@SailLife]

+alan mckinnon belated happy birthday :D

[@granjerolunabrillo1487]

I've been 21 for nine years ;)

[@JohnRushworth]

Personally I think you would better off with a proper battery monitor and shunt such as a Victron Energy BMV-702 which measures much more and has a free app. Note I blog for Victron and have tested a number of their products. Contact me via my page and I'll see what I can do. facebook.com/ElektraYachts/

[@SailLife]

+John Rushworth I agree 100% :) Anything with a shunt like the product you mention or the BM-1 I've got aboard Obelix will be much more useful. I like playing around/testing products and that's the only reason I purchased the Battery Sense. I don't expect much. I might reach out once it comes time to choose a battery charger. I'm looking at 3 different models (one of them from Victron)

[@SailLife]

+John Rushworth Just checked out some blog posts and came across this. www.victronenergy.com/blog/2016/05/12/victron-open-energy-monitor-emon/ I've been a long time fan of Open Energy Monitor and have put together several of their kits over the years. This is going aboard Athena - no question about it! Should make for a nice winter project :)

[@JohnRushworth]

+Sail Life Ha! You pick the one guest post we've had for ages. Not my post but I agree - a good idea. The concern I had for the Ctek is that resting battery voltages vary depending on make/type of chemistry and it will be of little use under load as you probably know. The reason I'm very interested in battery monitoring (including temp monitoring) is I pull high loads. As much as 0.5C on my old AGMs but now using Lithium so the C rate becomes pretty irrelevant. Enjoyed your trip. It's a few years since I was in Kirkcudbright with my boat and sailed to Oban. Have been through the Caldeonian canal on a previous boat round to Whitehills past Inverness. Great scenery eh. Looking forward to your edited videos.

[@SailLife]

+John Rushworth I hadn't even thought about the difference in resting battery voltages. Good input! I was aware of the issue with measuring voltage under load. That and the fact that they only show their interpretation of charge state in percent makes for a somewhat odd product. Lithium - nice! I noticed you have an electric motor on your boat. Lithium batteries must be a big advantage over AGM in that application :) Loved my stay in Kirkcudbright :) In fact, I loved all of the west coast and the canal! Amazig scenery! I'll be going back for sure! Don't expect too much of the footage from the trip back home. I managed to catch some kind of bug so I was a bit under the weather for most of the trip.

[@JohnRushworth]

+Sail Life Yes, I was sorry to hear about the 'bug' on Facebook earlier. A shame. At least the weather was kind to you. The other thing about batteries in particular is the Peukert effect, which really comes into play with lead acid tech at any load higher than the C20 rate. Handy spreadsheet www.smartgauge.co.uk/calcs/peukert.xls PS. Yes, lithium is awesome. None of this absorption and float wait wait wait to charge ;)

[@aserta]

/watch?v=gcReRfPg6XE < IF, this product has your type of battery in its memory banks, then this is the product for you. Waaaaay better design.

[@thordehr]

Yea, CTEK makes horrible battery related products. Check out bigclive's review and breakdown video of their charger.... Funny thing is that Ferrari's use a rebranded CTEK to keep their crappy electrical systems from depleting their batteries if they sit for more than a day or two.

[@BoatsnHoes69420]

SMASHING VIDEO and safe travels!