T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Conversion of 34' 10T sailboat to electric.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Re: [Electric Boats] Conversion of 34' 10T sailboat to electric.

Check out nominal 30V panels for commercial use. Two in series gives you about 60V and that's just what you want with an mppt charge controller. If you're going to use the less expensive PWM charge controller you can get similar commerical panels in nominal 24V configuration. These are a lot cheaper than 12V panels and can found for as low as a $1/watt before shipping. 12V panels can be as high as $5/Watt and they are hard to find for anyt;hing less than $3/Watt. See www.sunelectric.com or one of many other solar suppliers.

From: Paul Hannah <pkhannah@gmail.com>
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, August 9, 2012 1:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Conversion of 34' 10T sailboat to electric.

Roland,

Re battery management, The mob I'm looking at for the batteries sells matching kit at about $20-20 per cell.

As far as solar is concerned, I suppose I jsut figured since I can physically fit 4, it made sense to go with something that was readily available anywhere (i.e. 12v) but will look around at 48v panels.

For the house bank, my plan is to get hold of a 48-12volt dc-dc converter and use that to charge the 12v house bank from the 48v bank.

And lastly, thanks to everyone for the recommendation against Air-X in farour of the D400.

On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Roland Rodriguez <rolandrodriguez@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Paul,

Just a couple of things:

In your proposed architectures you mention your lithium banks but I don't see a plan for battery management which is more important with lithium to prevent over charge and over discharges and will affect your budget. What units are you considering for this? What's the thinking behind using 4 12v panels instead of 48v panels? Do you have a plan for coupling or segregating your 12 house circuits to your 48v bank? Also, if you intend to sleep on the boat I haven't heard great things about the Air-X units sound levels while spinning. I second the idea to investigate the D400. In your case, the 48v model specifically.

Regards,

Roland
s/v Miss Teak

On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 9:16 AM, Ron <rlgravel@swbell.net> wrote:

I'm surprised (maybe have not looked hard enough) that there seems to be no product offered that makes use of magnetic couplings, a pod with no seals needed. Almost every fish tank pump uses this type of coupling, also sewerage process plants use quite small units that can transfer power in range up to 200-300 horsepower.

Three phase brush-less motor in a oil filled pod, cooling through the pod shell. I think I remember this setup (or similar system) being used in under water submersibles.

--- In mailto:electricboats%40yahoogroups.com, "Capt. Mike" <biankablog@...> wrote:
>
> Paul
>
> Personally I was never keen on pod systems. I would worry about seals leaking and having to pull the boat $$ to repair them.
>
> Capt. Mike
> Sent from on board BIANKA
> http://biankablog.blogspot.com
>

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Hannah <pkhannah@...>
> Sender: mailto:electricboats%40yahoogroups.com
> Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:44:40

> To: <mailto:electricboats%40yahoogroups.com>
> Reply-to: mailto:electricboats%40yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Electric Boats] Conversion of 34' 10T sailboat to electric.
>
> Hi,
>
> As the subject say, I'm about to rip out the old deisel and convert my 34'
> 10T sailboat to electric.
>
> I'm on the north east coast of australia so if anyone can recommend a
> dealer to talk to nearby, I'd appreciate a link/name.
>
> The 2 options I'm working on at the moment are:
>
> *Propulsion*
>
> *Option 1: Internal*

>
> * 2 x 5-15kw motor (thinking about Motenergy
> ME0909<http://www.evworks.com.au/index.php?product=MOT-MARS-ME0909>

> )
> * 2 x matching controllers (Alltrax
> AXE4844<http://www.evworks.com.au/index.php?product=CTL-AXE4844>

> )
> * 2 x bank of 15 (16 for easier mounting?) LiFePO4 Cell 3.2V 200Ah (Thunder
> Sky LFP200AHA <http://www.evworks.com.au/index.php?product=BAT-LFP200AHA>)

>
> We'll build the mounting system ourselves, the plan is to set it up to be
> able to handle another 1-2 motors in a similar range.
>
> *Option 2: Pod*

>
> * 2 x MasterVolt PodMaster 6.5 (I'm assuming this is steady-state power and
> they will burst above that if required?)
> * 2 x controller as appropriate (it looks like they come with a matched
> controller.)
> * 2 x battery banks as above.
>
> Can't get a good price on the pods, but the bare motors/controller pairs
> are about $1,000 and the batteries about $10,000.
>
> *Charging*
>
> *Wind*

>
> * 1(/2?) x 48v 400W Air-X Marine (might initially install one, see how that
> goes.)
>
> *Solar*

>
> * 4 x 12v 120W Solar.
>
> *Deisel*
>
> * 2.2KVA generator.
>
> *Marina*

>
> * 240v -> 48v charger.
>
> That will come to $1,500 per Air-X and about the same for the panels and
> about $3,500 for the generator and $800 for the charger.
>
> So in my mind I'm counting on around $20,000, but might creep higher.
>
> Very interested in everyone's opinion before I jump in with both feet and
> all our savings.
>
> Thanks,
> Paul.
>