Re: [electricboats] Electric Drive Update - end of season inspection

Egad thank you thank you thank you for the Pacer cable reference.  I needed that source badly!

Jeff LaCoursiere

s/v Angels Quest

www.aquasparc.com

On 1/4/22 2:36 PM, Dan Pfeiffer wrote:

As a follow-up on wire sizing,

Nigel Calder has a wire sizing calculator on his web site:

https://boathowto.com/wiresize/abyc/

By this calculator I am on the marginal side at 2/0 for my load max of 12kW.   The calculator shows 00 gauge good up to 10kW but 000 for 12kW.  So maybe I should have gone another size larger.  However when I push to max power all I have ever seen is 10.5kW on the shunt meter and at that power this calculator says 2/0 wire.   


Dan Pfeiffer

On 2022-01-04 2:58 pm, Dan Pfeiffer wrote:

Yes, good point.  The Pacer cable is fully tinned proper marine cable.   It is also nicely flexible cable with fine strands.  And all the wire used in any boat should be proper fully tinned marine wire or equivalent to that in specification. 

Nigel Calder has some excellent info on all this in his book, " Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual".  This book has answers to probably 95% of the questions you will ever have about these topics.  Truly excellent and indispensable. 
https://boathowto.com/books/


Dan Pfeiffer

On 2022-01-04 1:48 pm, Dave Yamakuchi via groups.io wrote:

Dan/Jorge: Something you might want to check for is _tinned_ stranded copper cable.  All quality marine cable will be tinned.   This greatly reduces corrosion for longevity.  Water resistant insulation is probably a smart move too.  The conductor sizing is only one variable. 'Welding' (aka soldering) the crimped terminals doesn't hurt either.  Same reason.

I'm guessing you guys probably already know this, but thought since the question came up it was maybe worth spelling out.

Best regards!

Dave

On Tue, Jan 4, 2022 at 12:28 PM, Dan Pfeiffer

<dan@pfeiffer.net> wrote:

The primary cabling from battery to controller is 2/0, also known as 00 (or apr. 70 mm^2).  I found the recommended size for my power level and went up 2 sizes.  There are lots of references on sizing of the wire and there is some variability in those.  I found an ABYC recommendation that I should have size 1 cable.  I found another that said size 0. 

I got my wire and lugs from Pacer Marine.  https://www.pacergroup.net/

I have a hydraulic crimper from Harbor Freight and I modified some of the dies to accommodate the 2/0 lugs.  That was easier than expected because they are not as hard as I thought they would or should be. 
https://www.harborfreight.com/hydraulic-wire-crimping-tool-66150.html

And I used plenty of electrical grease on all the lugs/connectors.  I use this stuff that I got from Sailors Solutions - one of my favorite vendors (they are proper cruising sailors and test all the stuff they sell):
https://www.sailorssolutions.com/?page=ProductDetails&Item=NO-OX-ID

They also have Tef-Gel for SS fasteners and I use it anywhere there is SS/Aluminum contact.  I have used it for 20 years now and it has been excellent.  Note though that I am not in a challenging corrosion environment. 
https://www.sailorssolutions.com/?page=ProductDetails&Item=TG01


The cable length was as short as I could manage.  Worked out to about 5 feet total.  About 2.5 from battery to buss bar and another 2.5 from buss bar to controller.  Plus a little more on the positive to reach the battery switch.  And I suppose a little extra on the negative to reach the shunt for the Victron 712 monitor but that is very close to the battery (1 foot). 

By the way, if your building a battery and a battery box I would plan from the start to have room for the BMS and for a shunt for a monitor like the Victron 712.  That's easier than trying to squeeze it in later. 


Dan Pfeiffer

On 2021-12-31 2:21 pm, Jorge Anchia wrote:

Dan, thanks for the post. The details are very helpful indeed. I'm in the process of doing a diesel to electric conversion using the 10kw Thunderstruck sail boat kit.

I have a question for you what length and gage wire are you using for the connection from batteries to controller. 

Thanks,  Jorge 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-------- Original message --------

From: Dan Pfeiffer <dan@pfeiffer.net>

Date: 12/31/21 01:37 (GMT-05:00)

To: electricboats@groups.io

Subject: Re: [electricboats] Electric Drive Update - end of season inspection

 

Thanks for the comments.  Happy to give back a little of what I have gotten from this group. 

I spent some time this evening adding more info and photos.  I'll likely split this all into smaller pages but for now it all starts here:
http://dan.pfeiffer.net/10m/electric_drive.htm



Dan Pfeiffer

On 2021-12-30 4:58 pm, Günter Wöckener wrote:

Dan, thank you very much for information and data.

 

--   Jeff LaCoursiere  StratusTalk, Inc.  703 496 4990 x108  815 546 6599 cell