landyacht318
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Re: Good enclosed cig lighter socket?
A long while back I bought the Blue Seas receptacle and mating plug, but never installed it on my 90 watt DC to DC laptop power supply, opting for Anderson powerpoles instead. Later on, I employed the Blue seas products, powering a relatively powerful led light through a PWM LED dimmer. When on, and slightly dimmed, there was this insidious whining occurring, but not coming from the led bulb itself, as usual. It was coming from the mating Blue seas 15 amp plug and 20 amp receptacle! I was able to press it tighter together and change the volume of the whining, almost able to eliminate it, but take off the pressure and it came right back. Do note that Ciggy plugs have a fuse inside of them, Anderson powerpoles do not. I make my own inline ATC fuse holders from flag terminal quick connects, or regular female quick connects. All the premade ATC/ATO inline fuse holders I have used have been junk, melting at well below their amp rating.455Views0likes0CommentsRe: Alternator and LiFePo battery question
I wonder what triggers 'battery saver mode' in a modern Ram. Does it have a ring sensor on a battery cable? I've added hall effect ammeters to my engine compartment battery, one on feed from alternator +, and the other on the ground cable, but they said something like a 140F maximum temperature for the sensor, which helped inspire me to insulate the battery ( group 31 Northstar) from underhood engine heat and ventilate it to outside engine compartment. My K type sensor in free air above battery rarely goes 2f above ambient. On engine shutdown the sensor just outside the battery enclosure hits 145f and takes an hour to fall below 100f, where the sensor inside enclosure was 72f the whole time on a 70f day. At speed that sensor is basically same as ambient. My other battery bank are 2 Deka intimidator gc-2's that I pulled from a boat at 4 years old, which got new Lifelines, and while they together, have much lower cranking amp rating than the single group 31 Northstar, can still accept well over 120 amps when well depleted, as does the Northstar. The 50 amp charge limit on many drop in Lithium batteries is a bit of a deal breaker for me, with a system designed/optimized for fastest possible recharging of lead acid. Obviously the time my existing batteries could max out an alternator is limited. I do want to be able to run a 1600 watt tablesaw from my System. I want the alternator's to be feeding ~1200 of that load, but this is when they get the hottest, Idling maxed out, parked. Only in drive foot on the brake is worse regarding heating. I don't really have the need to do this now, nor the inverter that could power it anyway, only the desire for such capability. While boat engine rooms are usually not greatly ventilated, at least their radiators and AC condensers are not contributing to the heatload in the engine room, like on a vehicle sitting in traffic on a 100f day. I once made a powerpack with a 125Ah lifeline gpl-31Xt as the heart, and used 1/0 gauge cable from 2013 Rams' alternator + stud to it and ground cable to alternator mounting bolt. not sure the amp rating of that alternator but after several minutes of 100+ amps into the depleted lifeline, the alternator at idle, with hood up, shot with an IR gun was 220F, and stayed there as the voltage was lowered. There is a difference in my vehicles rpm with it in gear, foot on the brake, as opposed to in park or neutral, that 75rpm difference in rpm makes for a significant difference in heating and output. I've not really tested both alternators at max output into both battery banks when depleted. Generally one bank or the other is full. I still have V belts and one chrysler alternator, and one Nippondenso. The ND alternator has 2mm more distance between the belts, and even though I got the alignment pretty good, I want the separation between belts on the ND alternator to match the Chrysler alternator and crank pulley before trying to acquire matched V belts. My existing single V belt, is from before I removed AC compressor and replaced it with second alternator. When I did this, I found the original alternator location had its pulley 6mm out of parallel alignment with crank pulley and ac compressor pulley, yet I was still able to max out that alternator at 122 amps with just a single v belt, though if damp and cold it would slip and squeal. I often crank my voltage regulator to about 13.2v before shutting down engine, when I know the alternator the next morning will be maxxed out feeding a depleted battery. If I dont then squealing is guaranteed until I crank down the voltage. I also like to let the engine oil circulate for a bit before the alternator adds the 2+ HP load to the engine. My voltage regulators are switched on by oil pressure, the original VR inside engine computer is tricked with a resistor into thinking it is still attached to alternator. Other wise check engine light illuminates and engine runs crusty. I also have to keep voltage below 14.8v as 30 seconds of 14.81v will illuminate it.703Views0likes0CommentsRe: Alternator and LiFePo battery question
I've now got two externally regulated 120 amp alternators feeding two separate battery banks over thick cabling. I pick and choose the voltage with external adjustable regulators with potentiometers on my dashboard, and have ammeters showing not only total alternator output but amperage the battery banks are accepting, and of course dual decimal voltmeters with sense leads on battery terminals. I've also have voltmeters on the Field wires from regulator to alternator, and K type thermocouples on the alternators casings. Maxed out at 50 amps hot idle, parked and the alternators get HOT quickly, as does the external voltage regulator, however at 75 amps output when moving above 25mph, they stay far cooler. Below 25mph and low engine rpms is not much better than idling parked. At 65 mph, both alternators can be nearly maxed out in the 120 amp range, and stay 155f or below, but stop at a traffic light, 50 amps max, and 220 f happens in 30 seconds or less and I have frantically lowered voltage to keep them from exceeding this, as My thermoucouples are on the exterior casing, the rectifier/ Diodes likely much hotter Obviously underhood airflow, and alternator fan rpm have HUGE effects on alternator temperature, as of course does the load, and these are all huge variables on vehicles making direct comparisons without supporting data, and blanket statements devoid of specifics, filled with unknowns, unwise. The voltage regulators, which are behind my dashoard, with extra heatsinking and 60mm fans attached get hottest at hot idle, low rpms. thats when field voltagwe is just shy of battery voltage. Maxing out at higher rpms field voltage is not as high and the regulators do not get as hot. Those alternators with voltage regulators inside the alternator have that added heat load, and idling maxed out is likely even harder on them. In the past, before I have had failed alternators which smelled like burnt varnish. I've got a plans to force feed my alternators cold air from outside engine compartment, for when I need their full output, when parked, which admittedly would be infrequent, unless.........702Views0likes0CommentsRe: Fan Speed Control
I've been a bit of a fan and ventilation enthusiast for years now. Of all the fans I run, only one, is run by a PWM motor speed controller. That one is powering the brushed motor of my vehicles Hvac system. It is 21 kHZ and is rated for 40 amps. I bypass the stock resistor packs, gain much more wide range of fan speeds, and can turn it on with no key in ignition. I've used it powering powerful computer fans and it works well, but it draws slightly more current than using a voltage controller to control the computer fan speed. A lot of computer fans are 4 wire PWM fans, and the 4th wire is to be sent a PWM signal from the computer motherboard in order to control fan rpm. Noctua has a NA-fc-1 speed controller that makes it relatively easy to control such fans, and I used to use it to control Noctua's IPPC NF-f12 3k rpm 120mm fans and their 140 IPPC version too. I had tremendous failure rates of these fans, and Noctua was excellent about warranty replacements, and sending shipping labels for returning the fans so they could investigate failure mode, but ultimately all these fans have failed. Before this Noctua speed controller came out, I cobbled together a 555 PWM signal generator, and achieved full function, but it was clunky as I had to feed the signal generator 5v, not 12v. As an experiment I tried to just use the 3 amp voltage bucker( lm2596 based), to speed control the fan, and it worked quite well. No whining at reduced speeds, and could slow the fan even more than when a PWM signal was fed via the fourth wire. comparing the amp draw at similar fan noise/speed/flow, revealed controlling fan speed via voltage bucker was more slightly efficient than a PWM signal generator. I then tried the voltage bucker as a LED dimmer. It was way better than the cheapo LED dimmers I had been using. absolutely no flickering and would dim the lights much lower, to tiny pinpricks of light at nearly unmeasurable amp draw. I found there were similarly sized XL 4005 or xl4015 based voltage buckers which are rated at 5 amps. when fed 12v, the max output voltage of the lm2596 bucker is ~11.35v when fed 12v the max output voltage of the xl4005 is 11.69v when fed 12v the max output voltage of the xl4015 is 11.81v. So ALL my leds are now dimmed by either the xl 4005 or xl4015 buckers. LEDs can whine on PWM motor speed controllers, and they can flicker. Mine dim to lower levels and never flicker on the voltage buckers. These buckers require removing the tiny voltage trimpot and adding wires to a larger potentiometer for simple finger twist voltage/speed control. some of these voltage buckers have two potentiometers, one for voltage one for current. Both work for controlling fan speed, led brightness, but I found voltage control to work better each time I compared. I also found the buckers with current control pots to not only be slightly more expensive but less reliable. My strategy with computer fans evolved to finding insanely powerful fans, and using voltage buckers to speed control them. I will use two potentiometers, one ( the tiny trimpot the buckers some with), inline with a finger twist, to keep it from going below a certain voltage where the fan does not spin. This minimum voltage ranges from 3 to 7 volts depending on the fan, and voltage required to get impeller spinning is usually 1 to 1.5v over this minimum rpm voltage. I also employ some 24vdc fans, and use a voltage buck/boost converter to speed control them. I like Delta brand computer fans, but beware there are clones and counterfeits out there, some of which still work quite well, but I can tell the build quality is less, and the blade balance is worse. If one does go the computer fan route, their biggest failure point is the solder joints where the wires enter the hub. I recommend peeling up the sticker on the hub and covering these joints with dielectric grease, or something like Amazing goop. Some of the fans, the wires are routed a bit differently to the hub, and enter the underside, and one needs to remove the impeller with some c clip pliers to access the circuit board. Most of the fans at minimum speed are well below 0.1 amp, even through a buck boost converter or just a buck converter, and quiet enough that I sleep with them inches from my head. I would recommend high rpm 120 or 140mm fans. 38mm thick. Those with stator blades/ hub support keep the fan's flow a narrow dense column, not important for an exhaust fan, but great for interior circulation. the CFm ratings of fans is misleading, as the cfm figure is not actually measured by the volume of air moved, the speed of the air is measured and the diameter and some math is performed. Fans with just 4 hub supports usually have 4 'hotspots' of airflow, and the velocity of these hotspots is not representative of the total aperture. Static pressure ratings is another way to measure fans flow, and is more important when there is a restriction to flow, such as when it is trying to exhaust a closed bathroom or push air into a finned heatsink. I have achieved much better balance of some fan impellers using an accellerometer app on my smartphone, and some trial and error. These improved balance fans make less noise and can spin faster for the same voltage applied. My favorite fans a few years back were made by silverstone, as some models would come with a built in fingertwist speed control. the fm 121 and the 181, and the AP182. The AP182 hated charging voltages though. n1.1KViews0likes0CommentsRe: On the road, battery and charging problems
I installed 8 lifeline gpl-4ct (6v gc-2) last November on a boat. Each one measured 6.56v +/- 0.02 when I opened their boxes. 13.12v per pair. Each pair settled to a resting 13.16v after charging a few hours at 14.4v. 220 ah of New healthy depleted lifeline agm batteries will take a long time for a peasly low.amperage partially insane schumacher shop to shore charger to raise their voltage. What amperage is it capable of? 10 amps ? pfft. The state of charge display on Schumacher chargers should be ignored and mocked ruthleesly. A pair of well depleted lifleline gpl-4cts should see no less than 42 amps initial charge cUrrent. Lifeline tech manual pdf explicitly says no less than 20 amps per 100 ah of capacity in deep cycle duty. Id say you have a charger problem...not a battery problem....yet. Get a dc clampmeter. Need to know amperage into charging batteries, as voltage alone can be and obviously was, misleading.847Views0likes0CommentsRe: SC power supply charging?
I use an adjustable voltage power supply exclusively for plug in charging duties. Mine has a shunted ammeter/voltmeter amp hour and watt hour counter on the DC output, and some additional computer fans added to the casing. These fans and ammeter, would still run when there is No AC available, unless I disconnected the Anderson powerpoles. Now, I use a 50 amp 'Ideal Diode' so when I unplug from AC, I do not have to unplug the DC connector from the power supply. The ammeter and fans shut off instantly when I unplug from AC. The Ideal diode only loses 0.04 volts across it at 40 amps, as opposed to the 0.4v+ of a silicone diode, but even if there was a non negligible loss, I could just turn the voltage dial a little higher to compensate. I also parallel other power supplies/ chargers when 40 amps does not float my boat, and the Ideal Diode perhaps keeps the power supply happier. It's my opinion a adjustable voltage power supply yield vastly superior charging to automated 3/4 or 12 stage chargers( the 12th stage is fellating the proud smart charger/ battery owner), and they do not get confused when there is loads on the battery while charging.355Views0likes0CommentsRe: Powermax 75 amp converter/charger
A pair of gc-2s at a rested 12.38v, which only require 13 amps to be nearly instantly brought to 14.68v, are sulfated. If they were healthy, I'd expect it to take at least 45 minutes or more for amps to taper to that level with 75 amps of charger available seeking 14.68v. The hydrometer will reveal the truth, and you can then ask about or search for recovery procedures which might or might not be effective, depending on how hard the sulfation is. I've a newish healthy single group 31 TPPL AGM and 134 amps of plug in charging source, at 11.90v starting point, 134 amps was not enough to achieve 14.7v at battery terminals instantly. The breaker blew and then 'only' 94 amps still took nearly 10 minutes to bring the voltage to 14.7v at which point amps started tapering. This is a powermax adjustable voltage 100 amp model, and low input voltage is responsible for 94 amps instead of 100. A new 12AWG extension cord and it made 98 amps. I had it in parallel with my 40 amp Meanwell for those 134 amps into a depleted but healthy group 31 TPPl AGM. How many amps it takes to bring a battery to a certain voltage is indicative of state of charge and state of health of that battery, and the more experience with that charging source on that battery, the better.520Views0likes0CommentsRe: Furnace fan speed control
If using a PWM motor speed controller on a fan motor, seek one with 21kHZ or higher, as the windings will whine annoyingly at reduced speeds, depending on the age of your ears. It's amazing how much quieter a well balanced fan impeller is. I use a free accellerometer app on my phone, and some trial and error adding small weights, to greatly improve fan noise. Some fans have gone from an intolerable drone, to 'is it even on?'491Views0likes0CommentsRe: Refrigerator Interior fan ?
Interior fridge fans do not need to be powerful. They actually increase the heat load that must be sucked out, the more powerful the fan the more heat it generates. I use a discontinued 0.03 amp Sunon Maglev 40mm x 20mm 6.3 cfm fan in my small compressor fridge, and it has run 24/7/365 since October 2012. Huge difference in interior temp range. was 22f to 44f inside without fan, and is within 4 degrees F with it, and I use a lower thermostat setting. I tapped into the light's circuit before its reed switch.453Views0likes0Comments
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