T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] running the motor on genset

Monday, December 29, 2014

Re: [Electric Boats] running the motor on genset

Hi Steve

I found pretty interesting batteries at http://corvus-energy.com/ at least they do appeal to me especially for weigh/KWAh ratio is excellent as well as 10 limited warranty makes them pretty good choice and they also have an Canbus software interface to talk to chargers and monitoring. There is an company that has the whole range batt. charger, controller, etc but I think they are awfully high priced still they are using chargers, controllers, and motors fro Siemens as many others are.

regards Stefan

2014-12-29 11:33 GMT+00:00 Steve Dolan sdolan@scannersllc.com [electricboats] <electricboats@yahoogroups.com>:

Martin,
The power from both the batteries and the Genset go through one distribution box. If the genset is running power is fed to both the motors and the batteries. As the power is charging the batteries I see an amp gauge decrease the output from the genset and know when it gets to 3 to 5 amps I have around a 90% full battery pack and can shut the genset off. I also have a relay system called LOGO that will trip the generator off if I exceed the output rating of around 100A. Mind you I haven't explored all the capabilities of this relay, I know I can use it for many other things but that's another story, however it's a simple push of a button to reset the generator and decrease the load to get it to continue to run. If I set the genset to output 160V I can't hurt the batteries (144V pack).
Typically I 'll start out under batteries alone. IF there is enough wind to get me sailing to around 6 to 8 knots the REGEN through the props is enough to charge the batteries, over say 8 hours, that when I come back in the batteries are close to when I left less the run time getting in.
Honestly I've never disconnected the batteries to see if the Genset would run the motors by themselves but see no reason that it couldn't as long as I didn't throw the throttles into full open exceeding the gensets amp output tripping the breaker.

My LA pack of AGM's is getting old at 9 years and I'm losing run time so have started to think hard about switching to Lithium's in another year or more (hopefully). I'll be asking questions about the use of contacts to control the charging of the pack, something I haven't been able to find clear answers for. All I need is the cash to do it! 8o)

Steve in Solomons MD
Lagoon 410 S2 E

Steve,

You need your batteries to start both of your motors...right? then your genset can do the job...

Martin