Category: Michu

Engine Part 1 – Water should stay outside, fuel should stay inside.

As promised, here is the first installment of the engine series. Back in Electricity Part 1, I explained how, at the time of purchase, the batteries aboard Milou were trying to light themselves on fire. The other two …

No Time to Hibernate

Last weekend I made a social visit to the Twin Cities. A good friend mentioned that the nice part about Midwestern single-digit temperatures is that it gives me time off from working on the boat. If only that were …

Electricity Part 4 – Three ways to fill a battery (mostly alternator)

Persistence. Whether repeating the same tired joke for the thousandth time, or not giving up on a difficult IV start, or relentlessly describing the DC systems on a cruising boat, persistence is a quality that has served me …

Electricity Part 3 – Battery management systems

Are you a total battery nerd, or setting up your own lithium iron phosphate battery system? If so you will probably find this post interesting. If not I’m betting you will find this all pretty dry. I think …

Electricity Part 2 – A bucket for your energy

Fancy switch: check. Shelf for battery: check. New wires: check. Batteries: kind of… check? In my last post, I talked about cleaning up a mess of acid and fixing up the storage area for our batteries. As I …