T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] 48v diesel telecommunications standby gen?

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Re: [Electric Boats] 48v diesel telecommunications standby gen?

This is the way I started, and reached the same conclusion. I naively thought it must be easy to replicate the Panda system.

I spent months torturing over this, as it seemed way smarter to make everything the same voltage e.g. 48 volt front to back i.e. smaller gensets etc , BUT when you stitch individual components together from different suppliers none will or can look you straight in the face and say their gear will work fine with others, and if something went wrong, it could end up just like the "old days" of PC ownership when the software maker would blame the hardware maker with the owner left with a system not working.

Plus if you look at the specs of 48VDC motor/controller packages, they often end up driving AC motors anyway (not Panda I don't think but Aquawatt and Mastervolt etc do) and HP for HP their torque etc is not a hell of a lot better than high performance 3 phase ac induction motors, but they are hugely more expensive, usually requiring return-to-base for repairs.

Its a minefield, which is why most in the long run either buy a package, or end up as interesting people in bars who are happy to recount tales of woe!

Two important questions are:

1) Will you be travelling far away from "one off" component suppliers

2) Is it your primary source of propulsion

If it's "no" to both then although a potential pain in the arse it's less important, but if it's "yes" to either then you must be bloody sure everything is compatible and has been tested properly in situ before you set off all full of smiles with digital cameras at the ready!

There's a reason Panda can charge what they do........... because it's really tricky to replicate.

I've tested my version "dry" and hope to test it "wet" in a month or so and you're welcome to my replication plans if it works OK.

On 13 September 2012 14:07, Michael Mccomb <mccomb.michael@yahoo.com> wrote:

other than the Panda stuff which is VERY expensive has anyone come across a 48v dc diesel charging system.... i'd rather use a sort of RAID approach with a much less expensive diesel/PMA system but am pushing the limits of my understanding to devise such a system.... seemingly both diesel engines AND permanent magnet alternators of sufficient power/capacity can each be had for under $1k... some electronics is undoubtedly needed but adding this would still bring a system in perhaps 10k under the Panda price

one can stumble across all sorts of reference to 48v diesel units used for telecommunications systems but i have had great trouble actually tracking such a unit down