T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] battery bank upgrade

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Re: [Electric Boats] battery bank upgrade

Brian, I converted my Ericson 27 about one year ago, but I really wonder if you could get the mileage out of even the Lifepo4 batteries needed to push five or ten miles against the current in Lake Michigan. Have you thought about a Honda generator ?

Don

On Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:05:21 -0000 "drmsudo" <drmsudo@yahoo.com> writes:

I changed over my Ericson 27 Atomic 4 to electric propulsion three seasons ago. I have been running it on 4 group 27 92ah deka batteries. This has worked well for day sailing. But, we would like to start cruising and I would like to have a range that could take us across Lake Michigan (about 80 miles). Most of the time we are sailing, but I want the confidence that we could go the distance if needed. I am thinking of using a Lifepo4 batteries from a company called HiPower (http://www.evequipmentsupply.com). The cost of the batteries alone would run about 4k, then I would need a BMS and charger to complete the system. The main reasons for the Lithium batteries would be weight savings, ability to deeply discharge without damage to batteries, and the number of cycles (2k) that can be charged. Anyone have suggestions or experience with the LiFePo4 systems? Other sources for batteries and how to build? I did the conversion myself, but I have no other experience with DC systems. Any input would be helpful. Thanks.
Brian