Wednesday, May 10, 2017

[Electric Boats] Re: Replacing A4 with Electric

 

I think even for a turnkey setup you ought to be able to do better thn that. Shop around some more before you commit. It sounds a bit high to me. Of course they could be using higher priced components. I just priced some motors that are like 3x the price of the popular Motenergy line of 5 to 12kw motors. There are controllers that are considerably more expensive than the Kelly controllers that I use. To a certain degree you do get what you pay for, I am sure, but if they are using the common components that most of us use, that is overpriced, in my view. Are you in the US?

I am going through some changes right now but it might come to pass that I have a spare motor and controller that I can sell for significantly less than new, with not too many hours on them. I am not sure about that just now. That is the heart of the system. Then you will need to buy or build a reduction gear setup, do some hookup, buy batteries, charger, and so if you don't mind getting your hands dirty you cn beat that price like a bad stepchild.

AGM offers a lot of advantages over flooded cell, but if you got to go cheap, need a bigger bank, and don't mind the weight, golf cart batteries give a good bang for the buck. Even if you go with Trojans, which are significantly more expensive than the cheapie Sams Club specials I am using. Consider your battery technology carefully, because you will be stuck with them for (hopefully) many years.

Worst Marine sells a line of 4 bank 12v chargers that work okay for a 48v bank. Just hook each pair of charge cables to a pair of the golf cart batteries, or one 12v battery, whatever. The price isnt bad especially if it is on sale, and unlike most cheap "smart" chargers, it can be repaired. Avoid the single bank cheap 48v ebay chargers from China, is my advice. Had one. Dont have one now. My backup charger is just a big Variac and a rectifier from an old stick welder, with appropriate meters for monitoring. With this manual setup I can charge them one at a time, all together, or I can equalize. Some smart chargers are supposed to do an equalizing charge but I have not seen any that actually go up to a proper equalizing voltage. That is 62v on a 48v bank, btw.

So, that's a cheap motor and controller, cheap batteries, cheap charger, all of unspectacular but usable quality and utility. You will want a hall effect tachometer on the shaft, an ammeter and voltmeter, maybe a wattmeter too. This stuff you can get cheap on ebay. Cheap enough that if you fry it by wiring wrongly, no big deal. My cable is 2/0 welding cable. Tinned copper would be better yeah, but this stuff is super easy to handle and not too expensive, less than $2/foot. Ethernet cable or telephone cable works for wiring all the sensors and instrumentation. You will need a contactor and a fuse, and a nice heat sink if you will be running over about 10a for long periods. A simple 1/4" aluminum plate for mounting controller and the peripherals will work as a heat sink for moderate power levels. You can get a fancy pants hall throttle, or use a simple $1 potentiometer.

I pulled my A4 by myself, no help. It can be done. 

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