I’ve been doing a major upgrade and refit on my 2004 41’ catamaran Electra Glide (EG) due to a lightning strike back in June. We were on board at the Dock at the time, no one was hurt but we lost all electronics as well as motors, controllers, and such. It required removing just about anything that had a circuit in it. So this gave us an insurance check to go all the way with some stuff along with money out of pocket. Besides a full upgrade to the Navigation system that included a complete B&G chart plotter, 4G Radar, and VHF radio we added Forward Looking Sonar and a new FM Radio to boot. Still on the list is the Structure Scan but not this go around.
Now for the Electric Drive system.
Our original Homewood (Westinghouse) ST74 Motors (These are 2 motors coupled together x 2 (1 set each side).
144V Max. 64A, 74 lb-ft Torque, 12HP each side @1,100 rpm
3P Perm. Magnet, brushless, weight around 140lb each side.
Completely rebuilt. Haven’t seen the build sheet but think the internal diodes, HALL sensors, and bearings were rebuilt or replaced.
4 AMC (Advanced Motor Controls) Controllers AVB100B200. The older ones were shot and not available any longer so the newer model replaced these. More efficient, smaller, run cooler.
The Props are 18” 3 blade (No damage) connected to the motors with a straight shaft.
Batteries
Time to go big here.
We removed 12 AGM Northstar batteries (Still have 3 for sale) and are replacing them with 48 CALB 180AH LiFePo4’s. This was no small upgrade. In doing this we lost over 1000 lbs in weight off the boat along with almost doubling our run times and decreasing the charge times. This should be the last set of batteries we will buy since the life expectancy should be in the 5000 cycle+ range.
To control this bank we have purchased a BMS system by Orion.
http://www.orionbms.com/products/orion-bms-standard/
This is considered the latest and greatest in BMS’s and from what I’ve read address a number of concerns I’ve had with such systems however the number of redundant safety features has put those concerns to rest. I’m not a fan of Battery balancing and will bottom balance the pack. The Orion does some passive cell balancing.
I was running the PakTrakr Monitoring system which is no longer available. To replace this system I went with the EVIC system from Andromeda.
This is one slick setup and the guys there have been working with me to produce an incredible display system for boats. I’ll have more on this once I actually get the finished product in a few weeks. They didn’t offer one at the start of this project 4 months ago but felt it was worth the design time to add the software to their product line.
All of the above operates on a CAN buss system which has been added and pretty much a standard for larger systems.
Completion of the systems is set for the end of March 2016.
A few comments on some recent posts.
I’m quite amazed that people are limiting their systems to 74V. I’m not crazy or suicidal operating a 144V system and have several safety features in place such as a pack splitter to 2 packs at 72V (for working on the batteries) and main disconnects to the systems. Yes it’s deadly but well protected from 12 year olds getting their fingers on the system. My point is would any of you let someone get near any pack of batteries? Accidents happen, we will minimize the chances of that occurring but on a system of this size 144V is the way to go. MANY boats are out there operating at this and higher voltages with highbred systems.
This site tends to involve many more “small” boats than “large”. I’m limited to here and the Electric Car DIY sites to getting info on the latest and greatest know how and ideas. If you think 144V is high go to some of the car sites and see what the normal is. EG was built in 2004, well before ABYC started to address Electric Propulsion in 2009 with the TE-30 standards. Nigel Caldor has been on my boat. Word has it (hearsay)Tesla may be interested in an Electric Boat to satisfy the European requirements for canal boating.
I had a contact with a retired Prop Designer that was designing Props for the Navy Subs here in the DC area. He was interested in my layout and the design of Electric systems in general on smaller boats. I’ll see if I can make contact with him again and, with a CNC possibly available for the “proof in concept”, see if he’s interested in playing with us.
Steve in Solomons MD
Lagoon 410 SE
Posted by: "Sdolan" <sdolan@scannersllc.com>
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