Is any day non-eventful?

Although I had managed a shot of the crescent moon at dusk earlier, i just could not get a sharply focused one once it became darker. It is very striking as the cup shaped crescent is “on its back” and Venus is directly above it. I recalled from some of my trips abroad that culturally this had “positive vibes”.

I did some digging (who would believe I would be Googling “witchcraft sites” from 2700nm offshore). Anyway, “its orientation, resembling a vessel or chalice, suggests an openness to receive the blessings of the universe and an invitation to embark on a journey of self-exploration.” In some astrology sites “when the moon and Venus conjunct, it brings peace and harmony into life.” There are also a lot of references to the moon representing female spiritual energy (not surprising with the monthly cycle) and we all know the symbol for Venus and female are the same. Female energy only!

The Sun usually represents male energy, and as Bill will attest – it did not make a showing at all yesterday. We had our lowest day of energy production on record with only 630 watt hours (we are usually 5 to 7 times that).

So the generator was on early and later in the day, but although the generator works fine, the “inverter/charger” will not seem to let it do its job.

WARNING: techie stuff. The generator when it runs creates AC electricity like we have in our homes. So at those times, we run the induction cooktop stove as an example as it loves AC current. The inverter/charger also can take the AC power and convert it into DC/direct current and shove it into the batteries.

Bill has 5 new Lithium batteries that together hold about 1200 amp hours (ah) of energy. As an example, the fridge draws about 6ah and runs half the time, so would use 72ah in a day. So if nothing else was running and no new power put into the batteries, they would keep the fridge running for 16 to 17 days.

So I have good news and I have bad news!

So the good news is that as of the wee hours last night, Bill figured the batteries could run the fridge for the next year – easy! The bad news is that the fridge packed it in and is now drawing 0 (zero) ah. I have a feeling we may be chowing down big time tomorrow to use what we can before it goes bad. There is also a freezer, but it is pretty full still.

So back to the story line. So like all good electronics the inverter/charger has a “brain” to keep us from shoving too much energy into the batteries at once. When the new generator starts up it can put at least 1200 watts = 83 ah into the batteries at once. So if the batteries were 1/2 empty (600ah down) and we ran the generator for 7 to 8 hours we would be at 100% on all 5 batteries – amazing! But it appears the inverter/charger has had a lobotomy. After the generator runs for about 5 minutes it says “I don’t need all this juice/power” and reduces the size of the pipe in to maybe 1/4 the size, so we would need to run the generator for 30 hours or more 🙁

Yesterday Bill resorted to pulling the little Honda generator (the kind you buy at Canadian Tire), filling it with some gas and running it into a separate battery charger that does not try and “be smart”, just do the charging. We ran it for a noisy hour, but with no sun we needed the juice, and it put in about the same as the big guy.

So you might ask, why after spending so much on this big fancy generator, do you let the lobotomized inverter/charger be so stupid! Just allow the power to come in! Funny you should ask that!

On my boat (Stealing Summer), anything that needs an on/off either has a switch on the device (like a light switch), or is wired back to a simple control panel like an electrical panel in our condo (so I can turn the fridge, or Nav lights or whatever on and off), or I need to go and turn a physical knob (like switching from one water tank to the other).

Because Turtlebones has many more moving parts, spread over a bigger area, it would take a lot of wire and a very big breaker panel to manage. So instead, they have 8 different “CZone mini-brains” installed in different parts of the boat and these 8 mini-brains then have one cable that runs back to the master controller. As an example, remember the water maker in the port side engine compartment? It, and the engine, and a water pump for the port water tank, and a bilge pump – all could link into a CZone mini-brain back in that compartment, which is then linked to the master. This way it can all be controlled from one location – brilliant!

BUT, 2 issues…

First, that lobotomized inverter/charger has no way we can see the “settings” and change them other than through the integrated CZone. Remember a lightening strike a few years back that fried all the electronics, including the CZones? When they were reinstalled the local technicians wired in the brains, but then got some people in Miami where the new CZone was purchased from to dial in remotely and configure everything. All the “configuration” is on their computers and Bill has no access. So we have downloaded the software to be able to “look inside the CZone” and as a result we hope “look inside the inverter/charger brain”, but we have decided to wait until we are safely at anchor before we touch the system. I would be very unpopular onboard if I screwed something up and we had no electricity to the instruments or autohelm as an example.

Second, about 2 or 3 weeks before we left Puerta Vallarta 2 of the 8 “mini-brains” went on vacation and stopped working. We contacted the manufacturer helpdesk asking options but no answer. They do at least have a bypass, so remember the 7 or 8 individual circuits that go into each mini-brain? Bill had to move a physical fuse for each one, and move it to bypass, which then permanently “turns it on”. Thats fine for some things but others (like the cabin lights in my berth), I cannot have on 24-7 and I do not want to go back to the engine room to turn on my lights – so they are off. I do have a couple LED reading lights that I can use, but not surprisingly I am often in the dark. Some other things are more inconvenient. If Bill wants to switch from the port water tank to the starboard one, he needs to go down into the port engine room, move the bypass fuse for the pump to the off position, then he can come back up and turn on the water pump on the starboard side (that mini-brain is still working).

Ever get frustrated with your car when sensor lights indicate a problem (tire air pressure too low)? Inevitably when you take it to the dealer the problem is the sensor – the tires are fine – but it will cost $300 to fix the sensor! Although I am very happy with some tech (like the Starlink), I sometimes feel our smarter devices just create more points of failure. I need something to do that does not require an electronic brain!

So I washed myself, my under ware and T-shirts. Minimal brain cells were harmed in performing this activity!

We are 300nm from Hiva Oa. The sun is up (so solar power today!), winds are very good and we are zipping along at 7.5 knots. We should arrive about this time in 2 days! Once the anchor is down, we will likely pop a warm beer (remember the fridge?) then Bill needs to make us legal. It looks like there are 4 restaurants in the town.

After we check out the Tattoo Parlour, I see a nice dinner for the 3 of us in my near future – a dinner where I do not have to do the dishes!