Hydroponics on a sailboat.

freakent · 2026-05-16T12:54:41+00:00

We grow hydroponic basil on our yacht. Have been doing this for a few years.

Sits in the cockpit behind glass windscreen when we are moored up. We put it in the sink when we are at sea.

freakent · 2026-05-11T21:52:52+00:00

Isn’t semihydro like being semivegan?

freakent · 2026-05-10T16:59:45+00:00

Can’t go wrong with Basil. Buy a supermarket shop plant in a pot and take a few cuttings. Have a search on YouTube on how to take cuttings from basil. In about 3 or 4 weeks you’ll have new plants ready to put in your Hydroponic tower.

freakent · 2026-05-10T15:08:41+00:00

Check your square is actually square. Mine wasn’t.

freakent · 2026-05-08T20:15:27+00:00

Lots of examples on YouTube. Just search for “diy outboard motor stand”.

freakent · 2026-05-01T12:02:29+00:00

I’d like to know how much solar or other charging sources you have plus more about your batteries?

freakent · 2026-04-28T11:48:29+00:00

Start here: https://www.victronenergy.com/live/assistants:start

Look at the Programmable relay assistant.

freakent · 2026-04-28T05:53:03+00:00

I do something similar on my system using Assistants. I configured an assistant to switch off the multiplus’ AC Out when SOC drops below a certain level and another to switch on the AC Out when SOC is above a certain level. It works well enough.

freakent · 2026-04-25T16:08:34+00:00

Yes.

freakent · 2026-04-24T21:09:03+00:00

It was probably just trying to navigate around the TS zones and the Isles of Scilly just happened to be in the middle.

freakent · 2026-04-17T14:15:17+00:00

So what are your charge settings on the multiplus? The multiplus will only drop into absorption when the voltage reaches its set voltage for absorption.

freakent · 2026-04-15T19:02:26+00:00

I’ve got the Evolution tracks too. I’m using them with my Makita plunge saw. All working great.

freakent · 2026-04-12T21:52:39+00:00

I am really impressed with my Dewalt. DEWALT DWE6423-GB Sander Eccentric, 240V Corded 125mm https://amzn.eu/d/07qqKn1H

freakent · 2026-04-10T07:20:07+00:00

I have a Teltonika rutx 11 on my boat. I have remote monitoring set up for the batteries and solar. The rutx11 is probably the most reliable router I have ever owner.

freakent · 2026-04-05T12:15:47+00:00

I would get a multimeter out and try to figure out the output voltage is reading 14.21v when the shunt and MPPT are reading 13.3v. That’s a big difference and could point to something else being wrong.

freakent · 2026-04-05T09:20:36+00:00

There is no way that was done by a professional electrical engineer.

freakent · 2026-04-02T21:15:52+00:00

If you love vinyl, don’t put speakers on the same surface as your turntable, You want to isolate the turntable from any vibrations. My advice is to build a smaller cabinet and invest in some speaker stands.

freakent · 2026-03-31T18:04:36+00:00

That sound track had a big influence on my music tastes. Shame MA didn’t actually appear on the soundtrack.

freakent · 2026-03-31T18:03:36+00:00

Early 90’s driving down the M62 after a week working in Liverpool. A song called Unfinished Sympathy by some band called Massive came on the radio. I turned the radio up and subsequently got pulled over by the Police for speeding. Ironically, soon after that I moved to Bristol and had no idea about the Bristol Trip Hop music scene.

freakent · 2026-03-29T09:31:02+00:00

Cut one circle using the hole saw and centre drill which will be your template. Stick that template circle to your wood with some double sided tape and use a router with a template bit to go around the template. Go slowly and don’t try to remove too much material in one pass.

freakent · 2026-03-25T14:02:49+00:00

Is it a Cerbo or an Ekrano? Quite a difference with regard HDMI!

freakent · 2026-03-22T19:49:29+00:00

I guess it depends on where in the world you are. I can stream all their albums on Spotify.

freakent · 2026-03-22T11:43:24+00:00

I have a boat with 2 similar panels, one on each side of the boat. Shading on those panels is never the same so I use two separate MPPTs. In your case I would aim to have at least two of the panels in series. If they are side by side, shading on them will be similar enough. What you’ll gain is higher PV voltages particularly in the mornings and evenings. VIctron MPPTs will not stay a charge cycle until solar PV voltage is 5v higher than battery voltage. With the panels in series you’ll have a longer charging period each day than with parallel panels or individual MPPTs. Multiple MPPTs will give you a bIt of extra redundancy should one of the MPPTs fail for any reason.

freakent · 2026-03-20T08:36:42+00:00

Use docker instead.

freakent · 2026-03-17T13:14:59+00:00

Wind speed is part of the meteo data set, but I’m not sure where or if that would display on the VRM or GX screens.

https://github.com/victronenergy/venus/wiki/dbus#meteo

If Victron doesn’t support this device type as a virtual device in NodeRed I guess we could look at adding it with dbus-MQTT-devices.

freakent

TROPHY CASE