Jan’s gone viral and a visitor

Jan likes to read the Feedjit live traffic feed to see where readers are located.  This morning she was quite animated about the number of readers from Australia.  On researching further they had all come from www.OzBargains.com.au.  But why?  She then realised the ‘Coles’ supermarket chain had announced they would no longer be stocking Easiyo powered yoghurt.  The Oz Bargains website was directing website readers to the above website where they could obtain two free sachets of yoghurt powder.  Someone on the Oz Bargains forum had posted a link to our blog telling forum readers they could significantly increase the amount of yogurt made from the sachets by following Jan’s instructions on our blog post.  As a consequence the blog post looked like it was going viral.   Quite amusing really!

Later in the afternoon I happened to glace out the side hatch and noticed a well known boat passing by.  On calling out the steerer stopped and reversed back to breast up against Waiouru and have a brief conversation.  Here’s a hint on the steerer’s identity.

If you didn’t work it out then scroll down further.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, it was Granny Buttons with Andrew Denny at the tiller.  We’d previously communicated by email and phone but this was our first face to face meeting.  Albeit a very brief one!  He’s a lovely fellow and we had an interesting discussion about some technical aspects of boat equipment before he had to be on his way to reach Rugby by the end of the day.

The Smartgauge –v- Victron BMV600

The BMV has now been operating for three days and my opinion of the two battery monitoring devices is starting to solidify.  I’m pleased we have the SmartBank Advanced system fitted to Waiouru. It manages the combined output of the two alternators on the engine which results in a more rapid charging of the domestic battery bank during the initial ‘Bulk’ stage.  I would anticipate this is saving diesel and reducing engine running hours.  The SmartGauge part of the Smartbank Advanced system can be purchased separately.  It’s very easy to install and gives the battery state of charge (SOC) as a percentage figure and the battery voltage.  This makes charging the battery bank relatively easy.  Just run the engine until the SmartGauge shows 100% and then stop the engine.  My reservation with the Smartgauge is it doesn’t display how many amps have been used or replaced back into the battery bank.  100% of what????  The capacity of all lead-acid batteries gradually declines with age.  So the Smartgauge will continue to report the batteries are at 100% of their gradually reducing capacity.

The BMV also displays the battery voltage and SOC as a percentage.  However it also shows the following:

• Total A/h removed from the battery since it was last fully charge
• The current amps going in (or out) of the battery bank
• The time left in the battery bank at current load.

If I was going to choose between the Smartgauge and the BMV600 I would probably opt for the latter.  It’s slightly more complicated to install but provides far more information about the state of the battery bank.  A comparison of costs isn’t a consideration as they are approximately the same price.

At 10.00pm last night Braunston Church was illuminated.  Jan noticed it through one of the portholes and I subsequently took the following photo.

Today she was informed the church is only illuminated when someone pays for the electricity.  Apparently it costs the ‘donor’ £5 per night.