Steve S.,
Thanks for trying to clear up any confusion. Unfortunately, you are mistaken: plug a 12v house battery directly into the 29.6v Torqeedo 1003, and you get magic charging. The Torqeedo battery pack incorporates it's own charge control computer. The "charger" that comes with the motor from the factory, is just a 12v power supply, 4A. In other words, Torqeedo went with "smart batteries" and "dumb chargers".
Apparently included in the "smart battery" computer is several charging source sensitivities:
1. if charging from a solar panel, it allows "solar chargers with a voltage between 24 V and 60 V and a charging current of 4 Amps max" (http://www.torqeedo.com/us/hn/products/travel-503-1003/details-travel-5031003.html)
2. charge from 100-240v 50-60Hz AC with the supplied "charger" (12v power supply).
3. if charging directly from "house" 12v bank, someone on this list found it only charges at 1 Amp, to avoid draining the house battery. I suspect if the house battery was being charged (voltage above 13.2 volts or some number), the Torqeedo "smart battery" internal charger would take the whole 4amps at 12v. I will experiment later.
4. Torqeedo recommends using an inverter from a house bank to get AC, then using the Torqeedo supplied "charger" (12v power supply). This is probably to avoid mad customers... inverters shut off when the house battery is getting low, but maybe the Torqeedo battery would continue to suck from a low house bank, possibly harming the batteries. I don't know.
Thanks again for trying,
Mark Stafford
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <sstuller@...> wrote:
>
> I think there is some confusion about the charger provided by Torqeedo for the Travel 1003. It requires 110 volts AC and converts it to DC for the integrated battery - 40 volts DC if it's similar to the charger that came with the Travel 801. You therefore need an inverter if you plan to recharge from a 12 volt battery. It should be obvious that you can't recharge the 30 volt lithium battery directly from a 12 volt source. The charging voltage has to be higher than what is being charged for charging to occur. Thanks. Steve S.
>
> --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, chris Baker <chris@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I can offer some information about the various charging methods for the 1003 battery.
> >
> > The battery itself has some intelligence built in, and can detect whether its being charged by a solar panel or direct from the supplied charger, or from a 12v battery. The Torqeedo charging paradigm assumes intelligent batteries and dumb chargers.
> >
> > The scope for solar charging is a nominal 24v panel outputting a maximum of 4 amps. The limits for voltage are from 24 to 60 v. I think this is because the open circuit voltage of a 24v solar panel can be about double this. So long as your solar panels falls in this range you simply plug it in to the charging socket of the battery and it will charge to the proper levels. The management of the charge is done by the battery. Its charging light will flash during charging and be steady when charged.
> >
> > The provided charger operates at 4 amps at 12volts.
> >
> > You can also directly connect a 12v power source, such as a 12v battery to the charging socket. But interestingly the 1003 battery will only draw about 1 amp and it will take over 50 hours to charge the battery in this way. Its clearly a trickle charge option. Perhaps its designed to charge your 1003 battery from a yacht's house battery at a slow enough pace that it doesn't get drained too much. Typically a boat on a mooring will have a small solar panel attached to its house battery. By charging slowly it gives a chance for that solar panel to keep up. Even though the 1003 battery is physically a small size, its capacity is 400 watthours, and the new ones 500 watthours. Even a 100 amphour house battery has only 1200 watthours available, even though its a big hunk of battery. So charging a 1003 fully from such a house battery would drain it to about 60%, less whatever you get form the sun.
> >
> > The intriguing thing is that it does seem to be quite clever at detecting the charging source, such as the difference between a 12v battery and the 12v charger. I've experimented with 12v solar panels, and even though the open circuit voltage can be as high as 30v, charging will not commence. I guess what happens is that as soon as any load comes on the voltage drops to below the threshold and so its shut off from charging.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > On 07/05/2011, at 11:12 PM, Mike wrote:
> >
> > > Steve:
> > >
> > > From what I saw they have a foldable solar panel that hooks in to the battery for charging. What is a solar panel? It's like a battery only it's powered by the sun not a chemical reaction. Are you sure you can not use an external battery instead of the solar panel or battery bank at the connection point? It seems to me you should be able to do it quite easily. Unless I'm missing something.
> > >
> > > Capt. Mike
> > > http://biankablog.blogspot.com
> > >
> > >
> > > --- On Sat, 5/7/11, Steve <sstuller@> wrote:
> > >
> > > From: Steve <sstuller@>
> > > Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: Torqeedo stops production of the Travel 401 and 801 models.
> > > To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
> > > Date: Saturday, May 7, 2011, 11:20 AM
> > >
> > >
> > > I called the 503/1003 dinghy motors because they are range bound by the lack of an external battery connection. They are not practical as auxiliary motors because of the lack of battery capacity. The 801 with its' battery adapter would allow you to hook up four Trojan T-105's with a capacity of 5400 watt-hours. This is ten times the capacity of the 1003's battery. I like the new models. I just wish they hadn't shot themselves in the foot because of the lack of an external battery hookup. Thanks. Steve S.
> > >
> > > --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "epowermarine" <todd@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > As a dealer who has sold many Torqeedo motors of all sizes, I can easily say that the new Travel 503/1003 motors are better and the old 401/801 in every way except (as you point out) that there is no ability to run off external batteries.
> > > >
> > > > What you can do be hooked up to an external 12v battery to 'charge while running' and thereby supplement the integrated LiMa battery by approx 45 watts continuous, but you don't actually run off the external battery. I have formally requested that Torqeedo design an adapter to allow true external battery hookups, but I do not know if or when this will be available.
> > > >
> > > > The 503 is $200 more than the old 401; and the 1003 is $300 more than the old 801. For the additional money you get a more efficient, waterproof, GPS range calculating, longer running, more powerful, and more flexible motor (solar charge capable, 12v charge capable, etc).
> > > >
> > > > And if your boat is easily driven you can absolutely bolt on the 3 blade 12x10 prop (replacing the T1003's standard 2 blade 12x8)for more speed and maybe more efficiency. Many of my customers have done this with great results.
> > > >
> > > > As for only using them on dinghies, that would be a personal decision. Many of my customers are using them on up to 24ft daysailors, 14ft pontoons, and fishing skiffs, in addition to dinghies.
> > > >
> > > > Capt. Todd
> > > > www.epowermarine.com
> > > >
> > > > --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <sstuller@> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Am I the only person on the planet earth wondering why Torqeedo stopped manufacturing the Travel 401 and Travel 801 motors? The new models 503 and 1003 have been reduced to dinghy motors because they cannot be connected to external batteries and the 1003 cannot use the high thrust prop that was on the 801 because of its' higher RPMs. At almost $2000 the 503 and 1003 are just too expensive if their only use is as a dinghy motor. Thanks. Steve S.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
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