Date - 29 Dec Day - Saturday Start - 1415 The Moorings End - 1600 below top lock
We arrived at the boat after a good journey from Suffolk. I turned on the battery isolators and the domestic batteries were sitting at 24.6 volts. The first job was to refill the water system, as I always drain it down before Christmas to try to avoid burst pipes in the frost. This went to plan and quite painlessly, unlike other years where I have left the bath taps open and then stored stuff in the bath. I then went to the engine room to fire up the engine, it went first time, but I always give the diesel lift pump a few strokes manually before I turn the key to ensure there is no air lurking anywhere. The first thing I noticed when the engine fired was no increase in the domestic battery voltage and no charge current. I checked the drive belts, all OK. I then checked the terminal voltage on the alternator, only 24.6 the same as the batteries. When I installed the 24 volt system I found that the alternator would happily self excite so I have never wired in a warning/ignition light or switch, normally as soon as the engine hits 500 rpm out comes the volts, not today. I restarted the engine and just flashed a lead with a small lamp in series between the positive and the "ind" terminal and we were away. I will need to watch that one. It has worked perfectly for over 5 years and goodness knows how many starts untill today. By now the light was fading so it was off down to the top lock to load up with the stuff from car before continuing for about quarter of a mile to moor for the night. -- Brian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit this site and help save our waterways http://www.savethewaterways.org.uk/
