2022 Project Update

 

Several changes came to fruition this spring.

The major one was the completion of the battery systems. A
slight redesign of the housing made the bank fit better in the boat’s molded
battery box. I rewired the old battery switch to be only an on-off switch for
the engine-battery, which remains AGM (a 4D). Even though, my LiFePO4 battery
bank is more than sufficient to crank the engine, they prefer not to deliver (large)
energy bursts, as a starter motor demands. I added a second “1-Off-2” battery switch
for the house load, which allows its power selection of either the AGM or the LiFePO4
battery bank. There is no ALL or combined setting on this switch, so the two
banks are totally separate, but the house can be powered from either bank. This
allows me to use the AGM bank for the house load in the winter, when the temperatures
might be below freezing-where charging Lithium batteries can cause permanent
damage. This allows me to run my boat monitoring system year-round from
batteries, plugged in or not!

A redundant power supply has been added to the boat monitor.
So long as one of the battery banks is on-line, the monitoring will continue!

Several IoT devices from Shelly.cloud were setup. TH modules
monitor the temperature and humidity in the cabin, cockpit, and refrigerator.  Shelly-flood devices are in the cockpit
(table) and in the bilge sensor also sets an alarm if it detects water (it is
set about six inches below the cabin soul, well above the hull. The alarm
sounds audibly aboard, but it also sends a text to my phone. I also added a
Shelly DC switch that controls the deck lights. Very helpful when leaving the
boat in the dark or finding her in a crowded mooring field!

I added a cellular router. I am no longer relying on a tethered
cell phone for internet. While this worked well, the addition of the third
camera pushed my monthly data above the high-speed tethered data limit,
resulting in slow internet towards the end of the month. I found that for only
a few dollars more, I could get 100 GB/month of data. The Netgear Cellular
router provides great wi-fi coverage for all of my IoT devices.

 

I added a bow camera to the mix. This camera allows me to view
my pennant lines. Now, without leaving my office, I can check for damage and see
if they get wrapped around the ball which inevitably results in fraying. The new camera is now viewable on the webcam page.