38:21.000N 000.02.367E

First things first… I’m writing this message AFTER the fire, after everything is cleaned up, nothing threatens the boat of myself,  no damages to the boat or myself! 

So, that is the story…. 

The day started very well. Good coffee, nice breakfast… 

After all hard time the boat gave me last evening as we were rounding Cabo de Palos,  the boat seems to be in a good mood,  running nicely against the winds, doing impressive speeds… 

The weather cooperates too!  Sunny,  light breeze. The wind direction may be better… But no complains! 

So, we are having fun! 

I decided to do something nice ( for the boat )….  In Almerimar,  I fulfilled my promise and installed the new solar panels…. The rack for those panels was wielded on Antigua, in 2018… 

So, finally — I got the panels and mounted them.  They fitted very well, and proves to be a huge  potential ! 

Though I’ve installed the panels,  I did not upgrade the controller….  So, the old controller has been working fine,  using all its potential.  But still, it was much less  then the panels may provide ( in theory… )

So, this wonderful  Sunny morning,  looking on batteries,   controller, all electronics  running and eating power…. the idea crossed my mind…   

I do have the spare controller. And according to the manual,  It is possible to connect them in tandem…  So, both controllers would provide twice more power….  Not matching the whole potential of the panels… But… Should be good! 

And most importantly — I would not wait another 4 years to upgrade my system…. ;-) 

Found controller manual,  Installation instructions,  controller…. Yes, I’m right — it is possible, and easy…. 5 more wires — and the job done! 

As the Sun was rising,  and started to look into our panels — we started to receive all the power!  

So the whole morning I’ve been very proud of myself!  Great job, nicely done… Tones of money saved… The batteries would be charged nearly instantly now, since all  the current electrical consumption is covered ! 

The Sun was rising, the systems working,  the boat was doing 8knts,  the autopilot was singing happy! 

From the pure practical topics, I moved to philosophical ones, about Western engineering,  how they thought about distributed devices controls in those times,  etc, etc, etc… 

Those thoughts has been probably brought subconsciously due the fact that we were preparing to cross the Greenwich meridian, moving from the West to the East…. 

 

I’ve pushed away the idea to open the bottle of champain… and decided that watching the GPS would be good enough! 

So, here I’m, sitting at Navigation station… Behind me  —a small door to the closet, where the controllers are installed… From time to time, I’m opening this small door, to prove to myself how smart I’m ! 

The moment is coming… Counting down the final tenths of the Western longitude … 9, 8, 7,6,5,4,3, 2, 1, edge…. 1, 2, 3….. WE ARE IN THE EAST!!! ( If the GPS is telling the truth… )

Wait!  Who started the firecrackers ?!  The sound can not be missed…. I’ve opened the small door…  my jaw dropped…  The controller, which was working so nice all the morning,  was celebrating the crossing too, by sending the bright sparks all over !

Then the smell appeared… then the smoke…. And then — all stopped…. 

It happened so quickly, that I even did not realised how bad and dangerous it may be…. 

The aftermath — Indeed, the controller got fire… One of the transistors, in the output charging circuit gone… leaving the traces of smoke…. 

The smell — was horrible for the rest of the day…. Despite the fact that I removed all broken parts away…. 

I have no idea about the status of the remaining controller… It seems working… But I’m not sure if it has been damaged or not…. 

What bothers me a lot — the perfect moment when it happened… Exact moment we crossed from the West to the East… ;-). Coincidence ?   The sign from the boat ?  Or… ? ;-)

Being trained in physics, spent quite some time in the East and in the West,  I can tell with authority — not everything from the West seems to work good in the East, and vice versa… 

Today experiment — proves it solidly! ;-)

We are still going,  electrical  devices are still controlling the boat…. 

Everything is OK on board. 

Talk soon, 

M.