Friday 17 October 2014

Gentle days

I don't remember two days like this is the time we've been out on the network – days when we've done very little except read. It's partly because we've needed to kill some time before going on to Nantwich, but I've also taken the opportunity to test our moored-up battery charging regime.

On-line conversations with people responding to the post I put up on the CanalWorld forum have continued today, and have helped to focus the issues. I'm becoming resolved to running the engine, in neutral, rather faster than idle, for somewhere between 2 and 4 hours, depending on the external temperature the fridge is having to cope with, and probably on how much TV we've wanted to watch. I'm satisfied that the faster engine speed is better all round – better at charging, better for the engine, and no more wasteful of diesel than idling. But the discussions have left some questions around exactly how much current my alternators are producing, which I'll need an extra meter to measure. That will all feed into the thinking about whether we buy a solar panel.

So it's been a quiet, productive, but rather unusual day for us. It's been good preparation for some days we think we may have next June, if we can get up into the Pennines on the Leeds & Liverpool canal. Lots of food for thought. But also lots of time for thinking.

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