Jump to content

samsharp99

Member
  • Posts

    20
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Rugby
  • Occupation
    Software Engineer
  • Boat Name
    Half Awake

Recent Profile Visitors

915 profile views

samsharp99's Achievements

Explorer

Explorer (2/12)

1

Reputation

  1. The 20l cylinders that are currently available to buy online are about 22kg. There are other alternatives to compressed hydrogen that offer higher energy densities - metal hydride is a powder that chemically stores the hydrogen but they're not currently available to consumers (and they're refillable as well, like an LPG bottle). I accept that I might be a few years too 'early' to release something that would be economically viable but if I at least understand what 'economically viable' is now, I'll know when the time is right.
  2. I do know and appreciate the difference. Power is the measure of energy use per unit time (measured in Watts). If you multiply the power by a period of time (as for 'daily' power consumption), you get back to 'energy' - this is typically joules, but in electrical systems it's more commonly measured in Watt-Seconds/Minutes/Hours etc.). One Kilowatt-Hour is the amount of energy/power consumed when you use 1kW for 1 hour. If this 1kWh was consumed at 12V, you can divide by 12 to give you the energy/power consumed in Ah.
  3. Ok, the terminology isn't 100% accurate if you're being pedantic - I've used 'power consumption' interchangeably with 'energy consumption'. Thanks for the feedback.
  4. Apologies - I've fixed it on the survey to allow you enter whatever the hell you like! Sorry for the frustration. Instant power is measured in Watts, daily power consumption is typically measured in Ah or kWh (but you're right you need the voltage if Ah, I had assumed it was @12V - I had a question before about what voltage your system was running at but took it out).
  5. Yes - that would be great but at the moment the reformers are only economical on large-scale (e.g. at solar/wind farms or for dumping excess grid generation. A 20l cylinder (which is 325x550mm) would give around 7kWh. I have seen the Efoy systems but they only have an output of around 105W - I'd be looking to design a system of at least 500W, most likely around the 1kW mark. I see that it would be a portable system as that would simplify things in terms of BSS / installation. One of the challenges of appealing to the boater market! Yes please - I'll drop you a message. That's the reason for the survey - I am investigating possible options but there's little point in continuing at this stage (as time progresses, these things become cheaper) if I can't make something that would appeal from a cost/performance perspective. I do see it as a real alternative to generators / engine charging - so long as I can get it to work at the right cost.
  6. Sure - I said I was looking to upgrade my system - I currently have 440Ah of batteries and no solar so it only lasts 2-3 days without a shore supply. I've been based at a marina for most of my time aboard so I generally have a shore hookup but I'm looking to spend more time away so I wouldn't have a hookup. I'm already planning on buying some panels but unless I completely fill the roof, I won't be able to get 100% of my power requirements from solar alone so I'd still need to top-up with either a generator or running my engine. Do you run your engine or a generator just for power? If not - how many watts of solar panels do you have? I'm genuinely interested in how other boaters meet their power needs - and that's most of what the survey is asking so I'd appreciate any input you had.
  7. I have worked for a fuel cell company as a software engineer for over 3 years before leaving to set up my own business. I wrote software for testing the fuel cells and fuel cell systems (from 5W to 100kW in power rating) so I understand them pretty well and I still have many contacts within the company/industry. I am a professional engineer with a specialism in control software with over 10 years experience. At the moment, the running costs would be significantly higher than diesel/petrol but that's the reason why one of the questions on the survey asks what you would be willing to pay per kWh of power (with zero harmful emissions) for such a system. At the moment, there is very little consumer demand for hydrogen which makes it more expensive than diesel/petrol/LPG. One of the biggest improvements to this was the ability to order cylinders of Hydrogen online through BOC which shows that availability is increasing (and will continue to do so...as more H2 fueled cars become available and the H2 infrastructure improves) and that only happened in the last few months. My dream is that one day marinas/chandlers would stock H2 bottles just like they stock LPG and that would bring the cost down significantly. In any case - I would appreciate your answers on the survey.
  8. I am working on a concept for a new zero-emission power system (a generator based on hydrogen fuel cells) which I was hoping to target at the narrowboat market. The reason why I think this would be a really good market for fuel cells is that they can produce considerable power (I'm initially looking at a 1kW system but could potentially go between 500W up to 2/4kW), run much quieter than generators/engines (the only moving part is the cooling fans) and they produce only water as emissions (no CO2 or other harmful emissions from petrol/diesel engines). The availability of hydrogen gas has improved significantly with being able to order bottles online from BOC. I see the system I'm designing as a replacement to using a generator or running your engine for charging (e.g. at night when the noise of a generator is frowned upon or during winter where solar doesn't meet your power requirements). I am a liveaboard boater myself and have been looking to upgrade my power system to allow me to stay off-grid for longer than a few days at a time and having worked for a fuel cell company for over 3 years, I resented the idea of buying a generator for 'topping up' if my solar panels don't provide enough output. I'd love to find out more about what power systems you're currently using and whether you would be in the market or interested in a zero-emission power system for charging your batteries. To gather this information, I have created a survey which I would love for as many of you as possible to fill out: https://goo.gl/forms/3T0cPaYYei73rPhy2 Feel free to comment or message me if you have any questions. If there's a lot of interest, I might see if I can get a stand at the Crick Boat Show to be available to talk to people (I'll be there anyway, just maybe not with a stand). I have a website: http://www.marinecleanpower.com
  9. I'll try and get some pictures over the weekend when I get chance, I'm at work now but started looking at various bits and pieces over lunch to shop for and then got a bit lost and thought I'd seek some expert advice!
  10. There is already a switch panel there - but it only has switches & indicator lights - no fuses. I hadn't considered that...I was more concerned with upgrading the cables and tidying things up rather than replacing the existing panel - I'll have a look into it though!
  11. Hello, So I recently bought a 12V fridge and like others, found out the hard way that I have pretty inadequate 12V cabling on my boat. I upgraded the long run to the fridge with 10mm² and now instead of a 6V drop as the fridge kicks in, it's now only about half a volt so the fridge works - hooray! To upgrade the wiring though I had to open up the switch panel just inside the door and found it's a rats nest of thin diameter cable (much less than 10mm² - even the connection from the battery) with everything connected to screw-terminal blocks with some in-line fuse holders but essentially everything is just loosely hanging in the box. There is a switch panel (without fuse holders) - similar to this sort of thing: http://www.discountmarinesupplies.com/46221317.jpg I'd like to get this sorted but does anyone have any advice on/pictures of their DC-distribution setup that could help me figure out the best way to improve it? I was thinking about a covered bus-bar (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dual-Bus-Bar-amps-Cover/dp/B000K2MABA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1442573191&sr=8-2&keywords=dual+bus+bar), a covered fuse box () and some 16mm² cable from the battery isolator to each side of the bus bar? Does that seem sensible and a good way to tidy things up? It's not a particularly big area I have to work in (15cm x 20cm x 10cm) but if I need to make it bigger then so be it. I think the cable from the leisure batteries to the isolator is pretty substantial but then after that I think it drops down to some 6mm² (maybe 8?) to the distribution panel. I have quite a lot on the DC system - the main things being the water pump, shower gulper pump, fridge, lights etc. and when some of these things kick in, I notice that my lights dim. I also want to be able to run an inverter for my box-freezer (I don't have a fitted inverter) when I'm off the shore supply. Does this all seem sensible?
  12. As I've been looking around for data deals they've just opened this offer up again - http://shop.ee.co.uk/campaigns/summer-sim-from-ee £10 gets you a PAYG Sim 1GB of data + 100GB a month for 2 months. Should tide me over until I decide whether or not to stump up for the £40 a month for 50GB.
  13. I could possibly take the time off work or try to convince my mum that it's the best use of her summer holidays to help me repaint the boat This is the current colour: I actually don't know what colour I want it to be...other than I don't really like the colour it is at the moment (unless I'm mad and it's actually OK). Would probably need to be something that didn't contrast too horribly with the red/brown pram cover.
  14. So as I've posted about before - I'm soon to take ownership of my first boat and I've now had the survey done and everything in the boat was in good condition (e.g. hull, engine etc.) so I'm planning to go ahead with the purchase. The only problem is - I don't really like the colour! Maybe it will grow on me over time but I definitely need to change the name so removing the old signwork and putting something new on will be needed but I'd also like to change the colour if I can. What is the minimum amount of painting required to re-colour the cabin exterior of a boat? I looked up some guide prices for a full professional repaint and at £80-120/ft it's a hell of a lot of money with a 50ft boat. The survey report said that the paintwork on the cabin roof and sides were fairly intact apart from minor blistering so I'm hoping that I might be able to get away with not needing a full repaint. The boat is being re-blacked following the survey. It's not something I really want to do myself because of limited time available with working full-time, but I also can't justify the sort of costs of a full repaint. My options are: - See if I can get quotes for a 'partial' repaint...just to re-colour the boat (rather than a full sanding to metal, priming, u/c & t/c) - has anyone tried this and what sort of price would it bring it down to? - Do it myself and if so, what's the amount of work I'd need to put in - could I just prepare the current paint with a clean / light sanding and then paint over the top?
  15. So I'm currently in the process of giving up my life on land and in the process of buying my first canal boat to live aboard. Now that I've had the survey done on the boat and there was nothing major I've gone from a split of 75/25% excited/anxious to 90%/10%! In case anyone is interested or might find it useful, I decided to write about the whole thing so I've set up a little blog here: http://onthewater.mediamongrels.com I'm currently trying to catch up with posts of the whole searching/finding a boat process since I didn't want to post anything until the results of the survey (the 'crunch' point). It's mostly for my own posterity really as everything is happening so fast that I want to be able to look back on it in a few months and see how things have changed!
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.