Member postings for Steve Skelton 1

I should point out that battery manufacturers claim all sorts of things for batteries that are never realised in real life. Guarantees are virtually impossible to claim on as there are all sorts of get-outs - even the best most expensive battery companies have clauses and small print which makes it very, very difficult to make a claim.

Crown say they use 10% thicker plates than their competition and do say this battery is suitable for this use and on paper they look good, I would just appreciate the benefit of others experience.

Thanks

Steve

A bit off the "run of the mill" questions but with the quality of the contributors I was hoping someone could advise with my other hobby which is sailing.

I have a boat which I regularly use for long periods away from a 230V supply. It has three series 24 size 12V lead acid batteries (about 85Ahr each) for low current service use - ie powering lights, a fridge, electrical instruments etc. I have previously used "Leisure" type batteries but am only getting at most two years of life from them and end up running the boat engine on a daily basis to recharge them (with the help of a clever alternator controller to give a three step charging regime).

I am looking for a cost effective flooded lead acid battery (this rules out AGM and Gel versions).

Does anyone have any experience on makes and models of this type of battery. I am currently looking at the Crown 24DC95 deep cycle units - has anyone used these before?

Other size batteries are not really practical as there are space restrictions which prevent larger batteries being fitted.

Many thanks in anticipation

Steve

David, so you are saying that if the fault lies elsewhere you are happy that Warco takes the hit for something which is probably is not their responsibility. We know where we stand with you then.

If an earth fault was present within the lathe then the earth loop impedence and resulting fault current at that point in the circuit is unlikely to have lead to the damage you see on an earth cable as it would have lead to the operation of the RCD.

Whilst supplier bashing is acceptable to a point, people who do not understand electrical basics should not come to snap decisions on a fault they do not understand.

David, your point is ......?

Hi, I am coming to this late but have you considered that there may have been a line fault by the service provider. We had something similar down here when one of the three phases developed a fault at the local village step-down transformer which went to a very high voltage on the line causing similar problems.

Every third house was involved and it fried selective appliances in each house - the service provider ended up replacing large number of appliances at their cost.

We also had a similar thing take place during a thunderstorm where a line surge did a similar thing.

Non earthed (ie double insulated appliances) were not affected. This may have been as the potential difference was between line and earth not line and neutral. Which also explains the earth line damage.

It would be worth investigating as whilst natural surges due to lightning strikes are an act of god - faults in the suppliers equipment are not.

It is easy to jump to the conclusion that the fault lies in the lathe but I have my doubts. 230V line to earth faults will trip the RCD in less than 40mS if the RCD is working correctly and looking at the damage the earth fault current was hugely in excess of that and it may be that the earth fault current was greater than the rated capacity of the RCD or MCB protecting that circuit and therefore could not disconnect he circuit in time. It would be worth checking the fixed wiring on that circuit as well.

Have a word with the supplier or neighbours to see if they experienced anything.

Steve

Had a similar problem with PVC window boards where the protective film had been left on for years. Found that chemical paint stripper softened it all up without affecting the PVC window board.

Not sure if paint stripper will damage polycarbonate though. Have you triedcontacting the manufacturer - they are bound to have looked into this problem.

Oops autocorrection is a pain.

Palates should read pthalates

There was an occasion in the sixties when cable manufacturers tried to cut costs and changed the formulation of the PVC sheath and substituted alternatives for the plasticisers in PVC. Over a period of time these plasticisers started to leech out of the PVC and formed a sticky deposit at cable ends etc. This was sorted by the seventies so should not be a problem now unless they are trying it again (possible low grade cables used?). PVC plasticisers are palates and are not particularly harmful unless digested. In the sixties it was generally called "green goo" and I have come across it a few times. It is a sticky deposit the never gets fully solid even if left for some time.

Don't know if this is similar to what you are finding.

Cheers Steve

Rick, with all due respect B type RCD's do exist and are used where there is a DC component. With standard AC RCD's they sometimes do not trip if the coil becomes saturated due to the DC component.

See http://www.abb.co.uk/product/ap/seitp329/4bd0ec0528a84420c1256f5500557772.aspx

I would suggest contacting the inverter manufacturer for advice.

What you need is low modulus silicone. This is not the acetoxy high modulus type. It does take longer to cure but generally has better adhesive properties.

If you want mail order (or have a local outlet) try "Toolstation" product code 85598

Cheers

Thanks for this - so the general consensus is that 4mm pitch is possible.

Just have to buy the lathe now then!!

Cheers

Steve

Hi, I am new to this site and would appreciate some technical advice please.

I am considering buying a WM 250 lathe but have a specific job in mind which requires me to cut an external 4mm thread onto a nylon bar (M39 x 4). From the spec of the m/c it can only cut pitches up to 3.5mm.

I have spoken to one of the technical guys at Warco but to say the least he was unhelpful - he said "if the specification says 3.5 then 3.5 it is! Can't help you".

Not having a m/c to examine and having never used a small machine of this type before I am a bit in the dark. Is there anyone who could advise me whether change parts could be acquired that would allow this to be done.

Thank you in anticipation.

Steve