Monday, June 12, 2017

Re: [Electric Boats] Feasible to change to 6v golf cart batteries?

 

Captain Carter,


I am getting ready to do solar on my boat. I am running 60v. Can you give me some advice or part numbers for a system. The boat is only 26' & 8' wide so I will only be able to get two panels over the cockpit. I want to be able to charge the 5 twelve volt batteries in a series and one lone twelve volt. Maybe I need two solar systems. A small one for the one battery.

Dan


 

Mathew,

That's pretty much exactly the way my Flexmax 80 solar charge controllers works. All the threshold voltages, absorbsion times, float voltage, and equalization cycle intervals are programmable. Trojan has great documentation and it was easy to look up all their charge recommendations but when I went to put them in it turned out they were the default settings from Outback. 

On a sunny day I can feed my little "golf cart motor on steroids" about 70 amps almost all day regulated by the mppt charge controllers, leaving the batteries topped off if it's good and sunny out. On partly cloudy days the batteries make up the difference. It takes about 50 amps to do 3 kts and at 70 amps I get just over 4 mph which is a little slower than the diesel. When I'm in the sweet spot with the sun on the solar array I can get over a 100amps which only gets me up to about 4 kts though. It takes about 150 amps to hit 5 kts so I don't go 5 kts on electric for long. 

The sweet spot on the diesel is 5 kts and it can give you spurts of 7 kts but not for long as it heats up fast at anything over 5 kts. The best thing about the electric, beside free fuel, is the reostatic control you get on the prop in close quarters around marinas. It is so much better than the diesel because as soon as you engage the transmission, the boat wants to go 3 mph at idle speed. Makes for a lot of banging the transmission on and off while you lurch around. I always dock in electric mode.

Capt. Carter 
www.shipofimagintion.com




On Monday, June 12, 2017 12:43 AM, "Matthew Geier matthew@acfr.usyd.edu.au [electricboats]" <electricboats@yahoogroups.com> wrote:






On 11/06/17 13:11, boat_works@yahoo.com [electricboats] wrote:
Whoops, forgot the link!

 


The charger for my Trojan flooded batteries 'balances' by a controlled over charging at regular intervals. (i.e, not every charge, but at some regular interval) The charge profile in the charger is supposed to be specifically set for Trojan's recommended charging profile. It relies on the batteries being able to 'safely' gas and that the user regularly checks the water levels or has a automatic watering system.

36 and 48v lead acid systems are common on electric forklift trucks and other similar warehouse equipment.

My batteries are not in sealed boxes and the boat is quite open so the hydrogen can easily dissipate and not hang around looking for trouble.






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Posted by: Daniel Michaels <nov32394@yahoo.com>
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