Monday, July 27, 2015

[Electric Boats] Re: Electric Repower Next Winter?

 

I repowered last year with a Motenergy ME0201014201 5kw BLDC motor and a Kelly 300A controller, 2:1 reduction, and a 48v bank of golf cart batteries. Boat is a Cal 2-27, so you are slightly bigger. FWIW my top speed was about 4.7kt and max range at 3kt with a 50% discharge probably about 25 miles without recharging. Yesterday I changed to a ME0913 12kw motor and a 500A controller and the power which was meh, is now pretty impressive. Of course if I use all that power I will gulp down all my battery charge pretty quick, but shouldn't be much difference if I am only cruising slow as usual.

The 4201 motor can be had for about $400 and the 0913 motor runs around $700 but I would urge you to go with the bigger motor. You will have plenty of power for when you need it. The Sevcon controllers are sine wave, I believe, and the Kelly controllers are square wave. But the Kelly is more easily user configurable using a serial to USB cable and your laptop. Unfortunately the configuration program only runs on Windohs or Mac. They have no provision for those of us with a grown-up operating system like Ubuntu. The Sevcon requires a special programmer to set up. The vendor will set it up for your motor and anticipated operating parameters, but without shelling out the bucks for the programmer you won't be able to change any internal settings. I went with the Kelly because it is easy to configure and it is considerably cheaper. My reduction gear is a Baldor enclosed gearbox, 2:1. The 0913 motor depending on the prop will definitely work best with a reduction gear, in the 2:1 to 3:1 range, in your boat. I really like the Baldor because it is the same face as the motor, so it bolts right onto a standard plate, and the motor bolts right onto it.

Golden Motors is another Chinese company selling basically the same thing but the jury is still out. I have no experience dealing with them. And for a higher price point, there are other motors and controller setups available. You should avoid brushed motors, and you can't have a brushed motor with any gasoline or propane accessories onboard. That leaves BLDC/PMAC or regular AC motors.

With a BLDC setup, you will generally have regen capability. However, your folding prop will give you absolutely zero regen, and regen really doesn't help much anyway, generally speaking, when trailing shaft at under about 8kt or so. Its sort of a non issue then, with smallish displacement hull sailboats.

The LiFePo4 batteries are great. I can't afford them, though. I use flooded lead acid. But if you got the dough, go for it. For your anticipated usage pattern, a 200ah or so bank at 48v will be plenty, but think about more, rather than less. When you got it, you will certainly use it, sooner or later, and miss it when you need it. Figure on a cruising speed of about half your hull speed, so around 3kt under motor alone.

The electric is much more dependable and it is nice to not have to handle fuel any more. But it is still subject to breakdowns. However, for the cost of components, it is practical to have a spare motor and controller onboard. Nobody keeps a spare diesel ready to plug right in place of one that refuses to run.
 

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