Tuesday, February 25, continued… After bypassing the battery protect device, and having Zeus set to 60% max load (~100 amps at cruising RPM), it was time to do some testing. First, Eric ensured switching to emergency power would work. He turned off the house bank via the BMS (simulating what had happened earlier), and then initiated emergency power by paralleling in another battery bank. It worked. Then Eric simulated being on a passage. He turned the main engine on, revved up to 1750 RPMs, and had all underway systems on. He watched the power readings like a hawk. This is where it got a bit weird. Every 400 seconds the Zeus restarted itself. Charging went to zero; but it had restart delay, so it took about 30 seconds to start charging again.
In general, we use about 60 amps underway, and this was actually enough charging for us to do the passage. However, watching the Zeus reset over and over made Eric nervous. He ran the engine for almost two hours, checking and watching. Eric had to made a decision: try to make it to Jamaica with a questionable alternator regulator, or re-check-in to Panama and try to troubleshoot more. Since the weather windows here were few and far between, he did not want to give up this window.
Now that we were certain that emergency power via paralleling another battery bank, we knew we could utilize the generator and the secondary alternator to charge the batteries. If there was a problem with the Zeus again, Eric would switch to emergency power, restart the LiFePo battery system, and run the generator to continue operating Kosmos via the LiFePo battery bank. He wanted to keep the secondary alternator in reserve and the other battery banks in reserve, as well. He also wired the ignition trigger voltage to a breaker in the pilot house, so if things started to go awry with Zeus, he could shut it down easily.
Keith and Christi helped with the testing/rewiring. Once Eric was done, Keith did archery with his friends. We had dinner in the marina restaurant.
On Wednesday, we didn’t need to wake up until 0500 to do the last minute things before going to sea since Kosmos was still mostly ready to go. Eric was feeling confident that that if there was another issue with the Zeus, he could turn it off via the switch that he’d wired up yesterday.
We untied at about 0600. This morning was much gloomier than yesterday, which felt ominous. We passed through the channel from the marina into the bay at low RPM’s, just as we had yesterday. When we were far enough into the bay that we felt like we were safe from any potential obstacles, Eric revved up the engine. All worked fine.
We exited Limon Bay via the east entrance. The big ships only use the west entrance, so we’d anticipated less traffic. Here were two ships passing in the west entrance.
This gave us a chance to drive by Colon and get a look at it. There were more newer, modern buildings than we’d anticipated.
Once in the ocean, it got uncomfortable fast. The swells were 4 feet at 4 seconds, but once in a while there would be an occasional 6–foot wave. The wind waves were about 2-feet at rapid intervals, creating white caps. Wind was about 10 knots on the nose.
If we were moving with the wind and waves, we’d say the seas were great. But going into the waves was not fun. With the boat hobby-horsing so severely, it was difficult to move around. We needed to hold on at all times while standing or else we’d be knocked over. Despite taking Sturgeron, Eric and Keith were both nauseated, but Christi felt fine.
In good news, everything seemed to be working fine, and Eric started to relax. And then about 0830, just as had happened yesterday, the 12v house battery bank disconnected and the main engine shut down. While still scary, we were more ready. Eric turned on the wing engine. We got emergency power connected, restarted the LiFePo battery system, and were ready to start the main engine and generator.
Before that, there was an important step: Turn off the ignition power to Zeus. Also, for good measure, Eric set the minimum voltage in Zeus to 12v. Eric suspects that the zero value caused havoc via some kind of divide by zero error that was not handled properly causing the Zeus malfunctions. Anyway, Eric had created two barriers to prevent Zeus from operating. However, Eric was still worried that the malfunctioning device would somehow control the alternator again and shut off our 12v power. At this point, though, trying to disconnect the alternator was going to be too difficult, so we were just going to have to live with some extra anxiety.
As the day went on, the 6-foot swells became less and less frequent and eventually went away, but swells stayed at 4 feet at four seconds for nearly the entire passage. Likewise, the wind waves were consistent for the rest of the passage.
Keith was nauseous the first day, but by the second day, he was fine. Eric was sick for nearly the entire passage. He ate very little and threw up just about everything he ate. He spent the majority of the passage lying on the salon couch, which is the spot that has the least motion on the boat in head seas.
We are relieved to report that everything worked fine for the rest of the passage. Initially, Eric was monitoring the battery levels and turning the generator on and off as needed to keep the batteries charged. But Eric eventually decided that he was too sick to deal with it, and left the generator running 24/7. The added bonus to leaving the generator on was that the 24/7 AC in the salon helped with his seasickness.
The days were mostly sunny with scattered clouds, but the clouds tended to be large and deep grey. Thursday’s sky shortly after sunset:
Friday’s sunset:
The nights were dark. It was a new moon, so there was no moonlight, and it was overcast, so few stars were visible. However, when there was a break in the clouds, the stars were stunning.
Because we were traveling in a known adverse current and wanted to ensure that we’d come in to port during daylight, we ran at 1825 RPMs. Even at the high RPMs, we only averaged 5 knots per hour in the first 24-hours. The second 24-hours, we averaged 6.4 knots, so Eric slowed us down to 1775 RPMs. The next 24-hours, we averaged 6.4 knots per hour, so Eric slowed us down again to 1650, which is the RPM we typically prefer to cruise at for fuel efficiency. On Wednesday the 26th, we rolled up 45,000 miles.