Batteries, and an empty museum

It’s fair to say that we have been struggling a bit with our batteries ever since we set off.  At first we hoped they’d just become a bit lazy while plugged in to shore power over the winter and they they’d buck their ideas up.  But it’s become clear that it was worse than that.  While we were moving each day, they just about coped, but a stationary day, even one like yesterday with masses of solar, and they just weren’t holding their charge.

This morning Adrian was up fairly early, as he was driving down to Weymouth to see his brother, who’s 60 today.  It was then we found there wasn’t even enough power to get the Eberspacher started.  Adrian went off on his long drive as planned, while I tried to figure out what to do.  A ring around of the local boat yards revealed that non keep batteries in stock; some of the car parts places had some that might have worked, but only ever a maximum of two.  So I looked to see what Midland Chandler’s had in stock: plenty for order, but not a huge selection in their shops.  However, Preston Brook had had a delivery yesterday of batteries that would do.  I’d also looked at car hire prices, and found I could get the smallest model from Enterprise for £36 for the day.  I booked online for 10am, and then set out to walk the mile and a half to their base.  It was only when I crossed the Caldon that I realised it was the office just down from the Ivy House lift bridge.  I was given a Ford Focus, which is at least one class up from what I’d booked, and drove up to Preston Brook, which took about 45 minutes.  They helped me load the batteries in the boot, and was back next to our boat at 11.30.

To fit the batteries, I first had to cover the solar panel so it wasn’t producing any charge, and found that putting beach towels over it just wasn’t enough! I ended up laying the wooden engine boards over it, and then it went off.  I also disconnected the solar controller, and shut everything down.  I cable-tied various cables together so I could keep track of what went where, then disconnected the old batteries and replaced them with the new ones.  They were the same size and shape, which helped immensely.  The only photo I took of the whole procedure was the old batteries on the towpath beside the boat, with the white hire car in the Toby Carvery car park, just to show how close I managed to get the car.

I had lunch and located a scrap metal merchant who said they would take the old batteries.  I drove over and weighed them in —100kg — for which I got £35, which virtually covered the hire car cost.  From there I filled up with petrol at Tesco which is by far the cheapest round here, and took the car back.  I’d only had it for about 4 hours.

For my walk back, I went down onto the Caldon towpath, which may not have been the most direct route, but was certainly more pleasant.  I joined the canal near the new flats with the bottle kilns, and then went through Hanley Park, where lots of people were enjoying the sunshine.

At Etruria Junction, I called in to the Industrial Museum, which is only open on a Friday.  The main attraction is the flint and bone mill that will be familiar to anyone who’s been up the Stoke Locks.  It sits just below the top two locks.  The whole place is fascinating.

The museum also seems as if it’s on the verge of failure.  It’s run by volunteers, three of whom were there today, but is only open one day a week, and there are appeals for donations at every turn.  It would be a shame if it was open even less than it is now.

So this was not the day I’d had planned (I’d planned to do the even more fascinating task of re-doing the shower sealant!) but I do feel I’ve achieved something.  We’re already seeing voltages that are higher than we’ve had so far this trip, and hopefully the new batteries will be able to last the night without falling over!