Envoy is safely tucked away at Lefkas Marina.
During February we received an email headed “Lucky Envoy” from Andreas of Sailand, the company looking after Envoy while she’s in the marina.
By way of background Envoy’s 12 volt start and house battery banks are charged from shore power through an isolation transformer to a 220 volt charger. However the 24 volt bow thruster bank has a 120 volt charger so needs to be charged using our inverter to generate 120 volts while the house bank is on charge. Andreas explained that when their electrician went aboard for a routine battery charge and turned on the inverter, he noticed a very significant increase in amps, leading him to inspect the bow thruster bank. On checking it he immediately noticed some heat coming from the battery bank so immediately turned the inverter off. A closer inspection revealed a positive battery cable, which had not been properly secured when this bank was installed in Turkey. It had rubbed against a battery terminal causing abrasion of the cable’s insulation and eventually a short circuit.
Andreas considers that had this not been noticed a major fire could easily have developed – hence the title “Lucky Envoy”. It’s reassuring to know the Sailand guys are alert and on the ball.
Abraded battery bank insulation nearly caused a fire
During February we received an email headed “Lucky Envoy” from Andreas of Sailand, the company looking after Envoy while she’s in the marina.
By way of background Envoy’s 12 volt start and house battery banks are charged from shore power through an isolation transformer to a 220 volt charger. However the 24 volt bow thruster bank has a 120 volt charger so needs to be charged using our inverter to generate 120 volts while the house bank is on charge. Andreas explained that when their electrician went aboard for a routine battery charge and turned on the inverter, he noticed a very significant increase in amps, leading him to inspect the bow thruster bank. On checking it he immediately noticed some heat coming from the battery bank so immediately turned the inverter off. A closer inspection revealed a positive battery cable, which had not been properly secured when this bank was installed in Turkey. It had rubbed against a battery terminal causing abrasion of the cable’s insulation and eventually a short circuit.
Andreas considers that had this not been noticed a major fire could easily have developed – hence the title “Lucky Envoy”. It’s reassuring to know the Sailand guys are alert and on the ball.
Abraded battery bank insulation nearly caused a fire
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