https://groups.google.com/d/msg/ina-nonsuch-discussion-group/DYgP3tC8uT4/-mFuUwTsBgAJ
FYI
I have linked to a discussion concerning boats that have converted to Electric Propulsion after removing the diesel. I linked to one of the replies to make the subject more geared to conversions of Nonsuch boats to help make it be more specific to this group.
Re: Fwd: “Sailing Uma” and electric power
Other recipients: ina-nonsuch-di...@googlegroups.comYou are correct in your math…now for the bad news…pop up thunder storm. I just got hit by lightning. My neighbor saw the hit. …i just inspected boat. Boat is electrically dead…my blue box (inverter charger) was smoking like a chimney. Almost deployed fire extinguisher…48v system dead. 12v system dead. Isolated 12v battery is working. I hope other than the blue box, i hope the fuses protected the electronics. No way to tell…48v battery monitor is working so 48v bank appears to be fine…BUT Nonthing getting any juice. dont know if motor is ok…it too is dead…just called insurance…so frustrsting…at least no fire…shut everything down, unplugged from shore power. Hard to believe.
Wife gave me a hug.
Ehrich Rose
SV Kahuna
1987 NS30U #391
Hernando Beach Fl.
Ehrich:
So sorry to hear about this. The only bright spot is that now I and others can learn from you because of this turn of events. Some thoughts:
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It’s probably a good thing you are using AGM batteries. Lead acid technologies should be more robust than the sensitive Lithium setups in a lightning strike. You might want to pickup a Harbor Freight Battery checker and see how the CCA numbers and internal resistance of the batteries has held up. Unfortunately, it is made for 12 volt batteries So you might have to test two of your 6 volts in series or see if you can find one made for 6 volt batteries. Heres a link to a recent test I did on BIANKA: https://biankablog.blogspot.com/2019/06/testing-electric-propulsion-battery-bank.html
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As your post at the top shows you have designed your system so it is easily accessible to work on. Something that many people fail to do. I certainly don’t miss working down below on the iron pig in the diesel days.
I always try and make sure I can at least be comfortable should I have to do any trouble shooting on the EP system and have mounted the components accordingly. Your setup should allow for quick replacement of the major components once the Insurance Company comes through.
Hope you are up and running soon but, it would be great if you can post updates here as to what you find as you go through the process of bringing thinks back to life.
Thanks Mike
Here is latest. I ran some diagnostics.
48v battery is good. May be some hidden damage but sitting at 53v. Separate 12v battery the same.
AC appliances in boat (fan, AC, microwave, toaster oven, fridge and freezer.) Were all plugged in. They all work…used external extension cord to test.
Bilge pump and stern thruster on isolated 12v battery are functioning as before. Windlass on same battery is not.
12v circuit is dead, 120 curcuit is dead, and motor is dead.
Appears inverter/charger is fried…that could explain why 120 is dead.
Bith 48v to 12v converters also appear dead. 48v goes in…nothing comes out. That may explain why 12v circuit is dead.
With a little luck, the fuse on windlass and motor saved those , and all i will need to do is replace a couple of fuses and the thee blue boxes from victron. Hopefully no other electronics are damaged.
Side note, Quiet Torque has already contacted me, and the company president has reached out with some diagnistic tips, and standing by to help. Nice to know in the event motor is a casualty.
Ehrich Rose
SV Kahuna
1987 NS 30U #391
Hernando Beach Florida
Ehrich:
It is actually good news on the fried components. Because the insurance will replace them. Lightning strikes can sometimes leave some electronics working initially but, have actually damaged some components internally and weakened them so they actually fail some months later. It’s why you should make sure you don’t sign off on anything until you and the insurance company are in agreement to replace any electronics for a reasonable amount of time after the major damage is addressed.
I’ve got a Lemco brushed DC motor. Unlike your AC motor I can just hook a 12 volt battery to it’s leads to test it. You should definitely check with your systems supplier on how to test your AC motor. They probably have some resistance measurements you can take to make sure the windings are not shorted. You might want to do something similar with the windlass motor too. My wind generator windings were shorted somehow. I wondered if it was from a nearby lightning strike but, will never know.
How did things on the mast and mast head survive? What other damage have you found? Update when you can.
Mike
BIANKA
1986 30U
Ehrich, Mike is right about weakened systems. When we got hit by lightning in 2012 we went through all the systems onboard and intended to replace only those components that had obviously failed. Our insurance adjuster wisely advised us not to approach it in a piecemeal sense. As an example, rather than replace the control head for the air conditioner/heat system, which had obviously fried, we were advised to replace the entire system since there were circuit boards downstream on the A/C unit itself. This was the philosophy that we followed for anything that had a circuit board. The mast wiring was redone and the mast joint refurbished. The hull was sandblasted, repaired, epoxy applied and anti-fouling applied. Total repair bill was over $50K. The insurance claim was left open for a month or so after we went back in the water to cover off damages that we hadn’t noticed at first. Good thing, because additional failures did show up after we relaunched and sailed a number of times.
Hope this helps…Ron
Ron & Diane Schryver
“Alpha Waves” 1987 NS30U #393
Georgian Bay Midland ON
All good advice. I hope to have the insurance conduct their assessment by early next week. They will use the same electricians that did some work for me earlier. I have been doing my own assessments. I bypasses the 12v circuit and ran 12v power to the panel. Lights pumps all work but fridge did not…at least the 12v power did not, but when connected to 120 via extension cord, fridge worked. But noticeable burn on 12v wires…so compressor kinda works…but to your point will need to get replaced. Have not been able to test transducers, chartplotters, radios, or autopilot…but so far somethings appear to be fine…others not so much…
Ehrich Rose
SV Kahuna
1987 NS 30U #391
Hernando Beach Florida
The electricians completed their diagnostic of the boat. The results were not great. Lightning struck the top of the mast, and they believe it hit the VHF antenna at the top. That antenna was totally vaporized. It no longer exists. Likewise the lights on the mast were all fried, the Nav lights bulb burst shattering the Red/Green Plastic enclosure. All of the instruments, Chartplotter, VHF Radio, Radar, Sonar, Auto pilot, are fried. The Inverter Charger, the 48V to 12 V Converters are also fried, as well as the Windlass motor,Fuse, Solenoid, and remote . In short, very little was spared.
They assessed that Four of the Full River 6v 410 AH batteries failed the load test. (half of my 48V bank)
They assessed that the Controller for the Quiet Torque 10 electric motor is fried. They are unsure of the Solenoid and the QT motor. They said that the Solenoid looked fine, but that no electricity was getting to the solenoid from the Controller. They did not want to put it under load bypassing the Controller. They said the Motor connections all looked fine. No signs of burning etc…but were unable to verify if the motor worked, since they could not get electricity to it. I will try and bring in a QT rep to complete that diagnostic…but will discuss with insurance company.
I will keep you updated as I work my way through this. My 120V appliances all seem to be operational, as well as the bow thruster and the bilge and sump pump. The 12v interior LED lights all work, but that is about it. The 12V side of the fridge compressor is fried, but the 120V Side is fully operational….though no cooling fan. They believe the electricity exited the boat via the transducers….all of which are…..yep…Fried. Even the Solar panels are not operating. Conservatively I am looking at least at 25K in replacements equipment and labor, but will have a more precise estimate once the assessment is finalized and sent to me. Keeping fingers crossed on the QT motor…
Ehrich Rose
SV Kahuna
1987 NS 30U #391
Hernando Beach Florida
This, too, shall pass, Ehrich.
Hang in, Skipper.
Ernie A. in Toronto
You have everyone’s sympathies, Ehrich.
You mentioned that, “They believe the electricity exited the boat via the transducers….all of which are…..yep…Fried.” I hope that your insurance assessment is including a close check on the condition of the hull surrounding the thru-hulls, in addition to the electrical system issues.
– Bob
Solar Wind
Nonsuch 26C #143
Sorry to what about the damage Ehrich. When we got hit we felt that the hull was fine because we weren’t taking on any water. My wife noticed a small gelcoat chip missing at the waterline so we decided to have “Alpha Waves” pulled out of the water. There were 41 similar gelcoat pops throughout the hull and rudder. We had the hull surveyed and the surveyor declared it to be in sound condition. He explained that the pops were caused by small amounts of moisture trapped between the gelcoat and the fibreglass that got turned to steam when lightning went from inside the boat to ground, i.e. the water. He stated that the exit path from the inside is undetectable as the strand of lightning passing through was virtually dimensionless. Most of the lightning in our case seems to have gone out through the keel and prop shaft. Some of the through hulls were damaged as well. BTW when I tested the bilge pump I thought it was fine because it ran. Unfortunately there was a hole the size of a quarter blown out of the side so when the bilge picked up the water it just spit it back out into the bilge through that hole.
Ron
Ron & Diane Schryver
“Alpha Waves” 1987 NS30U #393
Georgian Bay Midland ON
Ehrich: I can only say “WOW”. I don’t envy the pain of all that work having to get done even if you just sat back and wrote checks.
Joe Valinoti
S/V IL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
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Ehrich:
Good to have the batteries tested. With the pack half damaged and the others load tested ok. I might request that the insurance company replace all of them. The others might still have some internal damage or maybe not. At the very least the new batteries will not age the same as the remaining batteries. It’s worth a try. Don’t forget to recycle them they are still worth a few bucks in your pocket.
After eight years one of my batteries did not charge the same as the others. So I bought a whole new set of batteries to keep them the same age. They got damaged in shipping. Only two showed physical damage so they were replaced by the shipper. I should have rejected them all. Because a year later one of the physically undamaged batteries would not hold a charge like the others.
As for the motor it might be easier to remove it and send it back to QT for a thorough bench test. My motor can be removed in about ten minutes and reinstalled the same time.