Thanks Al, that is the common sense practical answer that I am looking for. So, for now, I am at, get Lithium. The rest of these questions probably need to be tempered with a cost benefit type grain of salt. Too much money for something might make it not worth it if doesn't add much.
So, for this particular rowboat, that will have sail and kite as well, to help the electric, Should I go LIPO?
Should I use the 12 v trolling motor I have or go with something like a 35 v or 48 v (they seem expensive)
My buddy rick in New Zealand is building something for a sailboat to get in and out moorings. He is using
"4kW Mars 3001 PMSM motors and we were using one of those for testing. The gearbox was designed for a farm spreader. These are way bigger than you need for a small boat. I am planning to use one of the motors in an electric day boat that will get to 20kts."
"I was using a tiny model aircraft motor that weighed 159g on that and it achieved over 10kph. You can get bigger model aircraft motors that are efficient around 500W. They need to be geared to get efficient prop. I have been playing with some of the bigger model aircraft motors as well. I have one of these:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/%5F%5F18182%5F%5FTurnigy%5FAerodrive%5FSK3%5F6374%5F168kv%5FBrushless%5FOutrunner%5FMotor.html
It will sustain 500W easily.
For testing on the proa we were just using 4 old lead acid batteries. They are starter batteries and not suited to the application but cheap for testing. We plan to get LiFePO4 for final installation. Each motor will use a 48V 60Ah battery. This battery needs 16 cells and they cost around $80 a cell. Easch cell weighs around 2Kg. They will give about 1 hour operation on the proa for getting off and back on the mooring." Rick
He seems to be making his own. Any thoughts on that as well.
Thanks
Tom the rower
No comments:
Post a Comment