Netgear Nighthawk M1

I needed a new 4G router for Elysium. I was using a MikroTik Chateau Router Access Point Class 12 LTE but it was horribly unreliable, more than you’d expect from poor 3G/4G coverage.

I purchased the Nighthawk router from Amazon’s ‘Used-Like new’ offer. This was a mistake that I wont be repeating. the router did not recognise the SIM when inserted, nor any other SIM I tried. I really should have just sent it back to Amazon, but I am terrible at doing returns.

A year later I found the modem again and decided to investigate the problem. Dismantling the modem was interesting. There are a number of very small torx screws under the battery compartment to be removed. Here are some photos :

The underside of the display :

The PCB has screened boxes on both sides. The interesting bit for me was the SIM socket. I was hoping for a poorly soldered socket, but the soldering looked fine. Further investigation showed 3 of the 6 pins missing. The below photo shows the SIM socket with the upper metal body removed

The internal antenna was interesting, being strips of metallised coating on the inside of the plastic box

The next steps are to find a replacement SIM socket, or to solder the SIM directly in.

The Nighthawk M1 supports 4 antennas for MIMO and CAT 12 Multiband operation. Only two of these connectors are available to the user, however the PCB contains connectors for the other two and can be used given the correct leads.

Winter on Elysium

I do not live about Elysium full time. My visits are quite health dependant but I try for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. My plan on arrival is quite minimal, just to drink tea, feed the ducks, watch the river go past. There are so many jobs to do on board, so often one or two things get done whilst I am there.

While this is great during the spring, summer and autumn, its much more difficult in the winter.

Elysium currently has two heating options. I chose not to have gas onboard.

1) a camping heater attachment to put on the meths cooker. Its supposed to put out around 2kW of heat but it does use lots of methylated spirits and vents its fumes inside

2) an Aladdin paraffin lamp with mantle. This should put out around 1kW of heat as well as a lovely light. I’ve not been able to trim the wick so that it only has blue flame and it has set the carbon monoxide alarm as a result.

Elysium also has a binar diesel water heater. This has been out of commission since I purchased Elysium, and I has hoped that I would have it connected to radiators before this winter set in. There are still a number of things to do in order to get this connected up.

  • Install the header tank
  • Install radiator in the bathroom
  • install radiator in the main cabin

The winter is not time t0 do this.

The long cold spell in December dipping to -10 degrees C overnight and not rising above zero during the day took me by surprise.

Previously this year I had replaced some engine pipework and did not top up the antifreeze. This was a major worry. The cold water system had not been drained either. I was prepared for the worst as I visited her after the long freeze.

The cold water system was still pressurised and running, the engine ran perfectly after quite a lot of preheating. Phew.

We’ve purchased a narrowboat

Monday, 1st March 2021. Lockdown. I paid for Elysium last Friday and have been told that she is ours.

Elysium is her current name, but neither of us really like it, so we are trying to decide on a new name. This may take us a while.

We organised a full survey and a river trial. Essentially she is sound with a good 10mm base plate, 6mm hull and 3mm cabin. The engine is a Lombardini LDW903 20hp 3 cylinder diesel, and it not considered a great engine.

She has a rather odd layout inside. A nice shower with a grim loo leading into a kitchen, bed and a lounge. This will change. I like the idea of a bed at the bow.

The gas hob and oven will be removed. I don’t trust myself with gas on a boat, if there is a leak the gas will make its way to the bilge. We will have a meths cooker and a microwave. Not sure what to use the gas lockers for.

The plan is to get her ready to move in April/May from near to Heathrow back to the Fens and to a marina near to Newmarket. Its going to be an interesting summer.

Elysium is being craned out of the water on the 3rd of March to be cleaned and the hull blacked, then an engine service and cam belt change. The engine bay is in a poor state and needs a good clean. Craned back into the water at the end of March.

So, the plans for this year are :

  • Disconnect Gas
  • Install Spirit cooker
  • Remove Oven
  • Move and rewire fridge
  • New toilet
  • Remove sofa
  • Remove mattress
  • Make table/seating
  • Make ottoman bed
  • remove front cover/cratch
  • Move hot water cylinder
  • Move batteries
  • 48v from Engine
  • reconfigure batteries to 48v
  • Install Inverter/charger

..oh and to install some radios

48v narrowboat electrics

Hopefully this week, we will finalise the purchase of Elysium. I have a medium term plan to convert her to hybrid power using a 48v motor as well as the Lombardini 20HP diesel engine.

Elysium ( her name might change ) currently has a 12v system configured as below ( circuit drawn with kicad ) :

This is all fairly standard. However, Elysium’s 12v system needs upgrading and I have plans to convert Elysium to a hybrid diesel electric drive and will need a 48v high capacity supply for this. So, the questions is – should I install a 12v system for the short term or a ( complicated ) 48v system for the long term ?

Below is the proposed solution. I like Victron kit. The engine’s existing 12v alternator charges the cranking battery and the 12v/240v inverter feed one mains input to the quatro, the other being from shore power/generator. This has the minor advantage for being able to charge the 48v battery bank to its full capacity ( 14.4 bulk charge ).

The disadvantages are the unnecessary complexity, especially creating the 12v for the fridge, bilge pumps and comms radios. The design feels unsatisfying. In order to charge the 12v battery bank, both the quatro and the 12v charger will need to be running, with the power loss that entails.

The next image is a slight modification where we add a fictitious 48v input 12v 3 stage battery charger, I’m not sure these exist.

Of course the upgraded 12v only system is easier, it will just need replacing if I move to 48v propulsion :

So, that’s it for now.

Buying A Narrowboat in lockdown

Before the second covid-19 second wave and associated lockdown hit us in December 2020, I had looked at a number of narrowboats with a view to purchase.

Of course I found a narrowboat that seemed solid, albeit rather scruffy. She had an odd engine, reverse layout and a cruiser stern. She ticked all the boxes and we could just afford her.

Unfortunately, when I saw her at the brokers near to Heathrow, it was pouring down with rain. I had a brief look outside, and good look inside but no view at all of the engine. After some consideration I put in an offer, negotiated and it was accepted dependant on survey and river trial. I fully expected to be there to chat with the surveyor after the survey, and visit during the buying process to measure things up.

Then we went into the second lockdown. We were taking lockdown seriously so a trip to the brokers was not possible, and the broker forbade it.

The boat was taken out of the water for a full survey and I had the report that evening. There are issues, but nothing terrible.

I’m just rather uncomfortable taking the purchase forward on a narrowboat that I have only seen once, in the rain.

Anyway, to put this in context, I realise I am very lucky to be able to sell our motorhome and buy and narrowboat during the pandemic, when so many people are suffering.