Under-Load Battery Voltage vs. SoC
Battery After 20 Hour Capacity Test = 95.69 Ah Capacity For this test I wanted to: Show the relationship of loaded voltage to [...]
Automotive Alternators vs. Deep Cycle Batteries
A Deep Cycle Battery Assassin The alternator pictured here helped to destroy a very expensive bank of TPPL AGM batteries in under two [...]
Installing Solar MC4 Terminals
Solar MC4 Connectors These are solar *MC4 connectors, the FEMALE is on the bottom, and the MALE plug is on top. [...]
Installing an Autopilot Rudder Position Sensor
Rudder Position Sensor - Radial Drive Close Up In this picture you can see the steering systems radial drive and the [...]
Anode Installation – Best Practices
Anode Installation I recently came from a customer’s boat after doing a winterizing and while there I noticed the anode (zinc [...]
Battery Melt Down Narrowly Averted
Note The Melting of The Battery Case (originally published July 2012) The connections to your batteries matter. How you make them, how you [...]
Universal Diesel Engine – Wiring Harness Upgrade
Engine Panel With Ammeter = Dangerous If your Universal engine panel looks like this, and has an ammeter, you are due [...]
External Regulation Conversion – Leece-Neville 8MR Alternator
A Stock Leece-Neville 8MR Alternator Many boats, both power and sail, come equipped with, or have have used, the 5" small-case Motorola/Prestolite/Leece-Neville style [...]
Rebuilding & Inspecting a Westerbeke Alternator
Remove The Pulley This article takes a look inside a typical Mitsibishi/Westerbeke 50A alternator. These are tiny little work horses that [...]
Making Your Own Battery Cables
Pick Your Crimp Tool I own both the Ancor hammer crimper and the FTZ 94284, as well as many others. The FTZ 94284 [...]
Easy VHF Terminations
If You Don't Know How to Solder..... If you really don't know how to solder a VHF PL259 connector there are other options as you'll see below. This one is laughable, except that when this owner needed his VHF it was no joke or laughing matter that it failed to transmit. The previous owner or perhaps even a boat yard employee decided that solder on the shield for the VHF cable was optional. It worked for a short while, rather weakly, and then failed all together. Those holes are where the solder would go to contact the shield or braided portion of the coax cable.
New Depth Sounder With an Old Transducer
Old Transducer Coax Cable Preface: This article assumes you're vessel is not yet into the 21st century with regard to your [...]
Shore Power – SmartPlug vs. 1938
A SmartPlug Kit DISCLAIMER: I consider this article is very serious in nature. I believe so much in the safety aspect [...]
Voltage Transients in Marine Electrical Systems
A Look at Voltage Transients in Marine Electrical Systems I had been meaning to put this together for a while and [...]
Marine Wire Termination
Marine Wire Termination - The Tools PREFACE: This article is long and rather detailed. It is written in two parts and [...]
LiFePO4 Batteries On Boats
LiFePO4 On Boats The base of this article was written a number of years ago (2010) but this does not mean the information [...]