TheQ

Sun 4th September 2016 Bressingham Steam Museum, Low Road, Bressingham, Diss, Norfolk IP22 2AA OPENING TIMES: 1030-5:00 ADMISSION: Adults £5.00 Concessions £5.00 Children £5.00 Model Railway Show at Bressingham Steam Museum. A variety of visiting layouts our varying gauges and scales. There will also be a good selection of trade stalls. The £5 entrance price entitles visitors access to all of the museum and 17 acres of Gardens. Live steam Narrow Gauge railways will be running all day long (extra cost to ride on the Railways if you buy the £5 ticket). CONTACT: 01379686900 QUICKINFO: L:18 T:8 List of Traders Attending : List of Layouts Attending : Model Scenery Supplies B & E Model Railways Bob Pearman Books Layouts4u Wookery Nook Scenics Joe Lock Model Railways Scograil Great Eastern Models Winsford Hill (N-Gauge): Ipswich Railways Modellers Society Hindenbach (Swiss N-Gauge): Felixstowe N-Gauge Group Binns Road (HOrnby Dublo) Helendale (N Gauge): Diss Model Railway Club Nightlayer's Drove (00 Gauge): 31a (Cambridge) Model Railway Club Tobyham (00 Gauge): 32a Model Railway Club Fen Lane (00 Gauge): Thetford and District Model Railway Society Marsh Lane (00 Gauge) Torrecastle Viaduct (N-Gauge): 31b March and District Model Railway Club Peckston (N-Gauge): Bury St Edmunds Model Railway Club Butler Central (N-Gauge): Mid Essex Model Railway Club Small Swiss Layout (Associated With Scograil) Lydgate (00 Gauge): Mid Essex Model Railway Club N-Gauge Layout from the Advent Modellers Tri-Ang: My First Trains Set (00 Gauge) Nibley Knoll (009 Scale) Midsummer End (N-Gauge) Wadham Yard (0 Gauge) List of Other Displays : Bressingham Steam Society HOW TO GET THERE: If you are Travelling by Car : Nearest Railway Stations : Check here for Parking Options. Diss [3.01 miles] Harling Road [7.76 miles] Eccles Road [7.82 miles]

Time for a couple more Local shows to be notified to you. Norfolk & Suffolk Narrow Gauge Modellers - Running Day Model Railway Exhibition Sat 3rd September 2016 Barsham Village Hall, B1062 Beccles to Bungay Road, Barsham Near Beccles, Suffolk NR34 8HA OPENING TIMES: 10.30 am - 4.00 pm ADMISSION: Adults £2.00 Concessions £2.00 Family £4.00 We are holding a small exhibition of our group member's layouts at Barsham Village Hall on Saturday 3rd September 2016. Money raised will be donated to the village hall improvements fund. CONTACT: 01502471760 QUICKINFO: L:8 CS Md List of Traders Attending : List of Layouts Attending : Hubbards Halt - OO9 Hawkins Tower - OO9 Nibley Koll - OO9 Chapel Mills - OO9 Ashfield Green - OO9 Shipmeadow - OO9 La Garita Hills Railroad - On30 Watts Mine - Gn15 List of Demonstrations : List of Other Displays : 009 Modelling Demonstration 1/16th Inch Railway Models Display 7 1/4 Inch Railway Display HOW TO GET THERE: If you are Travelling by Car : Nearest Railway Stations : Check here for Parking Options. Beccles [1.97 miles] Brampton (Suffolk) [3.98 miles] Somerleyton [6.79 miles] Haddiscoe [6.8 miles]

"Boats are beautiful, big or small, old or new......". Grace Are you sure? PS I agree with the rest!!

Ah marrows wonderful!!!!

It's noticable that the amount of greenery that comes up with Mud weights, on boats or bouys is increasing, we've been getting it on Black Horse Broad for a couple of years now. But this year it was even coming up on the mud weights out of the river in Horning. There are water lilies lining the river bank through Horning now which were not there before.

Over the years I have picked up many fenders, boathooks and mops from the river, I suspect most of those that were reported "Nicked" just went for a swim, I picked up an intact, new looking mop and not so intact fender (unuseable) last time out.... The fender had been scaped off of a Barns brinkcraft, by leaving The Swan, Horning, by going forwards, ripping the fender off on a metal corner of the Southern comfort.

Viking23's and Vaughan's points are correct, many of today devices, microwaves, induction cookers, TVs, computers, all those little black brick powers supply's, have a filter built into their input. This is to stop radio frequencies escaping back out of the equipment, turning your wiring into radio transmitter and feeding that into other equipment. During the 3 Rivers Race we had very bad reception from one of the guardships this proved to be every time their inverter was on. I'm betting it didn't have an earth and whatever it was powering, was causing RF interference, when I get a chance to I'll chat to the owner about it. This reinforces my choice of option 1 Interestingly when my house earth failed, my microwave didn't become live or we were not touching another earth so didn't complete the circuit and it did become live. Every Winter, We used to have small electronic items fail, around the house, and mobile home (different meter and phase from the house) often coinciding with an RCD trip. This stopped when the electricity poles and the mains wiring was replaced in our area. We've not had one fail in the 2 years since this was done. So for your house, failures can be caused by outside influences. I've taken them apart to see what failed and every time it was the switched mode power supply ( which includes the filter on the same board) As for heat, the battery chargers (CTEK) I have and the inverters I'm looking at, have their own built in fans. I'm going to mount them under the sidedecks, highest above water level, no chance of water drips in a fibre glass boat, mounting them here would, however, form a heat trap. So I'm intending to arrange fans blowing the hot air out, these will come on whenever the chargers or inverters are switched on. Also although inverters are most efficient when run near max power I'm going to overrate the inverter so it will not get as hot and not be as stressed

Luckily the met office measurement's are in little ventilated white boxes, with the wind speed measured on a pole at 30 ft, many years ago l lived in a 3 storey barrack block which looked down on the met office site a hundred yards or so away. Their anemometer registered 126 mph!!!! The barrack block was steel framed, and swaying in the wind. The water in the loos could be heard sloshing about!! It couldn't be seen, the powered had long since failed.

I tend to use xcweather which is meant for pilots, if anyone is going to get it right they will http://www.xcweather.co.uk

I only kick up a wash, if I'm sailing and it's half a gale!!!! Maybe this afternoon or tomorrow looking at the forecast!!

"Humour! If you don't like it, have a quiet little 'tut' and move on!" Shall we go up river or down river?

That may be something I have to use, once I have fitted my 240V system, until I next get the boat lifted and get a permanent installation.

There needs to be a circuit to make the anodes erode, the only way I can see that happening would be for power to enter the boat somewhere, Propshaft? and then loop back to the anode for that to happen, with an external source they would have to be VERY close. Or did the owner have a battery charger connected for sometime as that would complete the circuit, because I doubt they would have a galvanic isolator on an extention lead!! Also on the broads we have an interesting problem, If you only use the boat in: Fresh water the anodes should be Magniesium, Brackish water the anodes should be Aluminum, Salt water the anodes should be Zinc, So depending on where your boat is based, depends on what type you need , the wrong type and it will erode very rapidly or not give you protection. (There are other considerations depending on hull / prop / propshaft / outdrive, materials as well)

Everything is a question of risk, And actually there are laws which do cover this, since You are responsible should there be an accident. Now, there is no law that anything needs P.A.T. testing (yes I know it's not actually called that anymore) anywhere, only that it is the responsibility of the owner and user of any Electrical equipment for it to be safe. The regulations on Electrical installations fixed and portable are there, But no one I've ever heard of, has their electric lawn mower or kettle checked at home ( there is no specific requirement to do so, but you are still responsible for your equipment should family or visitor get injured), and I would bet there are many more accidents with them, than electricity on the water. Now I P.A.T. a couple of clubs ( model railway and Sailing) I belong to, I also do my own mains leads and Equipment. But I would say It's likely that my boat will probably be the only Non hire boat to be checked in this way. The Problem of whether to earth or not earth all metal equipment on board is an interesting one. Do you just use Live and Neutral with no earth? This actually seems to be the way the world is going with more and more equipment having no earth and so relying on "double insulation". It is something I can see the merits of both ways. Since an RCD does not need earth to work, it just looks at the Live and Neutral and looks for an imbalance (because the extra power is going through YOU). Most homes 99% of the time are protected by the RCD and not the earth. The Earth is just for that exceedlingly rare occurance on something going short to the metal case. How many mains operated metal cased Items are there these days? at most cooker, toaster, microwave , fridge / freezer, dish and clothes washers. How many have you ever heard of them going short to metalwork? (I know Beko equipment keeps catching fire but thats not Short to metalwork) I do think that ALL of that household equipment will soon be supplied double insulated. As for galvanic isolation, it's your boat and if you wish to risk your boat by not having an Galvanic isolator or Isolation transformer it'll be your wallet that pays...

Yes WD40 is a non conductor of Electricity, there wouldn't be much point in displacing the water off of cables, if it wasn't.!! It's propellant theses days is CO2, which is also a non conductor (CO2 is used in Fire extinguishers for electrical fires.) You do have to be carefull picking up cans marked WD40 now, as there has been "brand expansion" and some cans whch have WD40 as a brand label have in smaller print a different substance such as: Gell lubricant or Easing oil or engine degreaser!!!.

Well I'm sat here with 1000v, on bare connectors 1ft away from me and when I change the frequency, my fingers will be within 2 inches of the connectors. but that's the sort of thing I do. I used to have to do strange things like changing 3 Phase contacts, connected to the national grid while they were live or working on very large CRT's with covers off, and they needed a high voltages, as you can tell I didn't get that wrong or I wouldn't be typing this now. The only time even been burnt on the fingers from electricty was when some clown stole the light bulb from the wall mounted light above the head of my barrack room bed, I reached under to turn it on (the switch was next to the bulb connectors) and my fingers touched the bare pins of the bulb connector, leaving 2 small round burn marks and the air in the barrack room blue with language. As for life changing or near life changing I've not experienced that with work myself, But I know of two killed, doing the things I did, who did get it wrong. The nearest to a life changing was driving the car, a drunk driver pulled out in front of my my car, just outside Lanark race course. I was doing 50 when I hit the brakes, as I T boned him, the car floor pan rippled and I cut both legs and I had a beautiful bruise from the seat belt come up the next day. but other than that I was OK...

Actually WD40 IS not an easing oil, although it does often work that way, WD40 stands for Water Dispersant number 40, ( The 40th attempt to get it right!). It's designed purpose was to be sprayed onto things like ignition leads to expel water, which, if you've old ignition leads that don't like the cold and damp it it's extremely good at reviving.

Yep that useful sounds like option 1 to me.

I remember talking to someone about a chipshop that had been divided up, after a couple of years customers started feeling tingling as they leaned against a wall, over time this was getting worse and eventually an investigation was carried out. As part of the dividing of the shop a light switch pattress (back box) had been plastered over. But left connected to the mains, as the high humidity of the chipshop soaked into the wall the wall was becoming more and more live. ( i must assume that the power was off, when the wall was pastered and dried out orginally)

i see Vaughan is getting involved with "Adult Education".

Yep, I bought one of their chargers from Screwfix some years ago, I do like it a lot. They are available on the site of the very strong women and electronic site of the concave coastline as well. Though, If thats the way I go, then the site I linked to, has all the fittings which would make it convienent. There is a lot of interesting equipement on that site that could be used on boats.. Here's another thing I came across while reseaching info, for the questions on this thread, One site had a warning NOT to leave those 3 light reverse polarity detectors plugged in, they have enough leakage current to affect the operation of RCDs and the like!! So I think I'll have to add "Press to test Switch" to my shore power control panel. A double push to make should do it.

Jackpot!!! just found what I was looking for, a bit expensive £169, But a battery charger that can take 50V DC in and charge a 12 V battery. http://www.bushbatteries.co.uk/campervan-boat-electrics/contents/en-uk/d82_ring-rscdc30-microprocessor-split-charge.html "Ring Automotive" DC SmartChargerNew Lower Price!! Takes the energy from a vehicle's main battery (engine running) and converts it into multi-stage output for charging an auxiliary battery. Input voltage (starter battery bank) can be between 12v - 50v and output is 12 volts to charge a 12v leisure / auxiliary battery bank. Compensates for high voltage or a drop in voltage to maximise charge to auxiliary battery. Programmable for most battery types. 3-Stage smart charge output for optimal battery performance. Suitable for battery banks from 40-500Ah. Will work with smart alternators to deliver accurate charging voltage. Low battery shut off to protect main battery. Sleep mode to eliminate battery drain. Solar panel input with MPPT feature for charging at rest. Applications include utility vehicles, vans, motorhomes, caravans and boats. Manufacturer: Ring Automotive Model #: RSCDC30 Charge rate: 30amps Voltage input: 12v - 50v Voltage output: 12v Dimensions (mm): L 236mm x W 203mm x H 87mm Warranty 1 year Multi-stage charging: Yes Instructions included: Yes Installation difficulty rating:

Sadly SWMBO is not interested in sailing, (or hair straighteners) and taking all my venerable relatives out on trips in a sailing boat, is not an answer when they can barely get to the boat in the first place. Although it is the answer I'd prefer. I am an electronics Technician / engineer, so electronics to me is no more difficult than pulling bits of string during Horning regatta week. These pages and pages of discussion almost all depend on one (EARTH) point that even the UK authorities seem not to have made a recommendation on. Oh Vaughan, I've had a look at the Only X-splt I could find, It appears to be made by Driftgate 2000 ltd who's directors seem to have resigned in 2015!! SO if i go that route I'll probably uses something like. http://foundry4x4.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=173

Vicking 23. Yes, my system would be less efficient, except for: My electric motor is direct drive, so no Gearbox losses, A diesel has a gearbox for which you need to take the losses off for that. A diesel is less efficent when warming up (like my generator), at low revs it's less efficient as well. Some of my power comes from solar, So short trips from my mooring to the sailing club (or anywhere else) use no outside power source, where as the diesel would be very cold and inefficient for trips like that. If I've done a long trip and used power from the batteries, the generator will be warm and stay at high revs (more efficient)

Someone , Grendal? asked where the earth pin is connected to on an inverter, well, wading through dozens of Circuit diagrams and pages of information generally it seems the answer is.... nothing. Also the 240V is spread equally across the 2 pins so it is 240V relative to each output pin. I've been wading round many UK web sites (because the yanks do all sorts of strange things on their systems.) The conclusion I've found on UK Narrow boats WITH INVERTERS and generators, is that when running an inverter onboard you do not have an earth. This requires that your Shore power / inverter switch, switches Live, Neutral AND earth SO the alternatives are, 1, Onboard Earth, as Vaughan says, bonded to it's own sacrificial Anode. 2, OnBoard Earth, as the Yanks do, bonding AC earth and DC Low, together to a sacrificial anode. 3, No Onboard Earth, But if I choose that, then I would ensure ALL onboard electric equipment is double insulated. though the narrowboaters seem not to go for double insulated. My preference is for 1.