The "best" system is definitely a matter of opinion and experience with different components.
I am an ABYC marine electrical technician and have been building electric drives for sailboats for 5 years.
My company is called Above the Waterline which has a subsidiary called Propulsion Marine. We are located in Santa Barbara, California.
In order to give an accurate estimate more details of your boat are required.
We chose the gearbox as the method of gear reduction because of the simplicity, integrated thrust bearing and ultra low maintenance. The Helical Gears are 97 percent efficient.
We use the Motenergy Double Stator Brushless Permanent Magnet 3 phase AC Motor coupled to a 110 amp continuous Sevcon Controller for the 5.5KW electric drive. The 7 KW electric drive uses a larger gearbox, larger controller and a water cooling coil. We will be introducing a 10 KW electric drive using a Perm Motor in the next couple of months. Water cooling and fans are turned on by the controller at a preset motor temperature.
The Sevcon Gen 4 controller is a very efficient and reliable controller. To date, there have been no failures of this controller. It is fully CANBUS compliant and we include a monitor on the Canbus to monitor all vital functions. The Clearview Display also has extensive programming capabilities allowing you to tailor the drive to your boat. The Clearview display allows for accurate setup of the throttle.
We include a coupling with a flexible coupling. The flexible coupling provides for easy alignment of the drive, plus compensates for any left over misalignment, which protects the bearings in the gearbox.
The electronic throttle features friction hold with a neutral center detente.
Both the drop pan mount and the wiring harness are custom made for your boat.
AGM batteries are the best value for Monohulls unless you have a lot of money, and then Lithium would be your best choice. Lithium would be a better choice for a multihull, because multihulls are very weight sensitive.
Outback makes the best Inverter Charger. We are recommending the Zivan and Elcon Chargers for 48 volt charging. Battery balancing is important when the batteries first go into a string, and voltage of individual batteries should be monitored occasionally. We recommend Lifeline and Odyssey AGM batteries which stay balanced in a string. We recommend Torqueedo Lithium batteries and will be introducing a new Lithium vendor in the near future. It is important that Lithium batteries are cell balanced, and it is better if they are balanced within the battery.
We keep our 48 volt drives above ground potential. EMI is not an issue with brushless motors, though it is advisable to run the motor leads in the same conduit and to keep information lines away from all AC.
The correct gear ratio is very important to get the right power for the propeller. Using a large propeller, with a large pitch and high diameter to area ratio adds enormously to the efficiency and power of a system. Most of our customers purchase a propeller as part of a balanced drive system.
More information can be found at
and
A picture of all the components of the drive is attached, and can also be viewed at http://www.propulsionmarine.com/electric/5kw
Best Regards,
James
James Lambden
Propulsion Marine Products by
Above the Waterline, Ltd.
6 Harbor Way # 226,
Santa Barbara, CA
93109
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