Thank you I just came across your channel. I am doing research now will start conversion on my 23 foot bayfield. We got the old inboard out everything cleaned up and painted bilge and engine bay and now are ready to go your information has been the best I have come across so far will be going back and watching all your vids. Excellent very good
appreciate the note. its still a learning experience and i am trying to document the journey here on the channel. my only suggestion is make sure to go with LiPo4 batteries as my conventional batteries are not powerful enough for charge and discharge rates. best of luck to you on your journey i would love to see pics if you are posting somewhere.
@@TheNeds not sure if you have seen Will Prowse on the tube. He does testing and rates batteries among other things electrical engineeringish. just watched one of his latest vids on a 500 dollar 100 amp hour lithium from the amazon the kid is a genius so if you have not checked him out defiantly go there he is an amazing resource
Helpful video! Also, I have a question (forgive me if you've answered it on another comment already). I'm wondering what a cost estimate would be to purchase similar motor _and_ top to bottom electric setup in my 30' sailboat? That would include everything including solar panels, and all of the cockpit stuff I'd need like the throttle, etc. Any cost estimate range would be helpful. Also, could you "heart" the comment (so I'll get a notification that you've responded).
this actually isnt easy to answer. i am working from a tight budget. Always looking for deals and DIY saves a lot. Your question isn’t simple to answer as i bought parts over 4 years now as well. I will summarize over the winter and put into a video and all details on the Patreon site. Going electric is cheaper than replacing a 1:1 diesel motor but you are right to point out that you have to factor in all the ancillary items like solar etc. the current costs are on golden motors site, the Canadian one is who i bought from. the links in the description are to the parts. I self installed over a number of years so labour was my time. Add 20% for mount, wires, clamps etc. the solar setup i grew over 4 years but for example the arch to hold the panels took me 4 months to make but i got the raw materials from a local supplier. If i bought it i would have spent 10x the costs. Solar is also priced on the Renogy site. the only $ number i think relevant to share was that the previous owner spent $7000 on a refurbished Atomic 4 and they installed in without a water lift resulting in a dead motor 5 years later (backwash). I’d imagine it was a few thousand to put it in and wire it to the existing fuel tanks etc. If you factor in the fuel tanks, thru hulls etc it might be another couple thousand bringing a rough estimate of gas/diesel engine of $12 to $15k installed. Going electric i had to wait for the cost of LiFoPO4 to come down as originally i could have spent that on batteries. As i started this reply i am less than the gas/diesel replacement but i have been very financial prudent and took the time to find deals. Off the shelf can be more for just the motor if an oceanvolt etc was used. i didn’t look at it from a cost decision to do this, the lack of noise, smell and pollution are the benefits. Very low operating costs are a huge benefit. No winterization annual costs. best of luck to you.
@@TheNeds absolutely. I feel the same way. I remember at the Marina one day I showed you pictures of my chain drive electric conversion. From what I'm seeing here, I think I'd be well served to just go direct drive instead. I have time. Won't splash until next season at the earliest.
Really informative video Ned packed with useful details, thanks for sharing. Considering doing the same conversion on a 10m canal cruiser. Its amazing to think that a 5-10kW motor could replace the 60 hp diesel that gets horrendous fuel efficiency, 25 litres per 100km if your lucky, and use only 20kW per 100km instead. You don't have to sail very far at todays fuel prices for the conversion to pay for itself.
thx that was one cost factor i didn’t anticipate, fuel costs have gone up here double per litre 😕 out of control! I doubled up my panels and switched to LiFoPO4 and charge/discharge rates make it much more useful. appreciate the comments and good luck with your project!
@@TheNeds what’s your battery bank size now? And how much solar? And your range ? I would like to add a 5kw motor on a belt as to my prop shaft keeping my diesel motors attached as auxiliary
@@vlogcity1111 that sounds interesting, I would be curious - During the day with 800 watts solar I can run at 2 knots while the sun is out. 750 watts gets me about 2 knots in cross wind or 3.5 knots running with the wind (depends how windy). Going into the wind it's pretty slow, I need about 1500 watts to maintain 3 knots into a 10 knot headwind. With the liquid cooling installed I can run as long as my batteries hold out. I tested recently I use up about 15% of my battery capacity at 1800 watts with some solar helping out (200 to 500 watts during my test). 1800 watts gets me about 3.5 knots in a 10 knot headwind. I guess at that speed I'd use up 30% of my battery per hour, I'd have to bring out the generator at 2.5 hours in my 100Ah LiFoPO4 batteries (80% usable).
there is a fair amount of loss on any inverter for sure but if we are out of batteries and have no sun we’re running out of options. i haven’t looked at the energy loss too closely but if i can get 15 amps at 120v thats more than enough to keep the boat moving. lots of good things to debate there. thx for the note!
Just a few changes/upgrades since this 3 year old vid. A comparison update might be good, incl what you might do differently today, if not already inve$ted in what you have. So much has changed/advanced in the industry.
hello from hamilton i will be passing through quebec likely next year, remote chance this year. my boat specs are in the comments a link to sailboat data. its a hughes 35/1500 1975 about 12,000 lbs displacement. was running a 2 blade michigan sailor 16rh14 but this year testing a 3 blade michigan 16rh12. i will post some info once i have some comparison data. this 10kw dc motor replaced my old atomic 4 gas.
@@TheNeds I'm in Matane along the Fleuve Saint-Laurent... Building a 40feet Cat, I will have 2x ME1616 10KW probably with 2 props : 18x14... no idea of what's going to get out of that :)
Looking good! Thanks for the videos. I’ve got 3kw version in my 27 footer. Do you happen to have any energy consumption figures with different speeds? It would be very interesting to compare. The info I’ve got from different sources is that regardless the boat size, the good speed to go with (as energy consumption point) is around 3-3,5kn. But not faster. For that over that speed, consumption rises rapidly without any reasonable speed gain.
I will run some more tests and post some watt/knot results. I will try and maintain 1 knot, 2 knot, 3 knot, 4 knot and 5 knot. You are right the energy consumed is exponential to the boat speed; for me to run 5 knots I was at 70 amps. I also want to turn off all my charging as I think so far my varied results have been that the victron mppt solar controller has also been trying to top up. Technically I can cruise off the solar panels in high sun at almost 2 knots.thanks for the comments!
If you need to draw more current, just add a second set of series connected batteries, wired parallel to the first set. Repeat as required until you get to your desired current. You could also increase your voltage by adding more natteries on series if you want higher rpm. Current is your acceleration, voltage is your shaft speed. Electric motors woll tolerate quite a bit of overvoltage, and yiur controller is only going to apply voltage based on your throttle position, so for the cost of two batteries, you could give yourself an "ahead emergency" capability that would bump max voltage from 48v to 60v.
thx for the comments. adding batteries in parallel is a good way to increase the capacity and keep the voltage the same. the motor has some tolerance as 48 v fully charged is actually 56 volts peak so i wouldn’t add any more in series. but another 4 in series then wired in parallel would double my range. right now i have 4 in series. so another 4 in series wired as another 48v bank in parallel would be how i would increase my capacity
Awesome vid. Thanks! I am trying to source some pulleys. Having trouble finding for 7/8" shaft. Also, have a me-1306, 12kw motor rated for 5000 max rpm, with a 48V battery bank, and need 1700 rpm on the prop to get 4kts. So... would you recommend direct or belt/pulley?
thx! i got my pulleys at torontogear they have some good calculators that spit out a parts list. my boat is 12000 lbs and i don’t have enough long distance testing yet as i just switched to lithium lifopo4 batteries. i need to run some tests. the harder to turn the hotter the controller goes. most i could read recommended some sort of gear reduction 2:1 which i did originally. my goal is least energy to move my boat which is why i decided to try direct drive. so far less energy but it does run hotter. implementing cooling now and will post more test data including controller temps. good luck with your project!
With your solar. You will find that it's no benefit to lower the PV array voltage in series parallele. The mppt controllers will act as a DC converter and squish down the 80v and increase amps. Do amps X voltage. You will find it is pretty close to 400w of PV output
Thanks for the comment! I admit I am not sure I fully understand your point, but I do know I erroneously sometime refer to amps when I mean watts. I do try to correct my videos when I catch myself. This year I added another 400 watts, my controller is rated for 150v/35 amps so I have one series array of 4 panels, a second series of 4 (80 volts each) and I now have these 2 series in parallel. This increased my amps, and kept voltage under 100 volts (usually volts in the 80s). I was worried that my peak voltage would be too high to the peak capabilities of the MPPT controller if I wired all 8 in series and that it was better to wire 4S2P. I think my other concern is that I need at least 10 volts more than battery voltage for the MPPT controller to work so a minimum of 4 is recommended. If I missed the mark on your point, apologies - not intentional. I am wondering if your points on loss of power by keeping these panels at 4-S-2-P? Is it better to have them all in series? I think that wattage is wattage. I routinely see 600+ watts now in summer months, under full sun almost as high as 850+ watts. I do actually have room to squeeze 2 more panels in so I could do 5S2P with 10 panels to get to 1KW but so far the additional 4 panels made an enormous difference. But if there is a better way to wire, please share. Thanx!
Answer your comment on the victron controller and resetting the base battery battery voltage you should take a look in your settings either from a laptop or from a Bluetooth dongle I have personally my own for of the Vic tron's 130s and 150 is and then also a couple of the 75 and 115th and 20th and every single one of them has the option to choose the battery voltage in the battery drop down menu I don't have a 150 volt / 35 amp but I would be very suspicious that it doesn't have the same option and as long as you're getting into it via a laptop or the cell phone app with the Bluetooth you should be able to make that adjustment not that you need to cuz you're staying at 48 volts but kind of just mentioning this so that other people that are seeing this don't I think that the victron is lacking
yes you are right the options are there on the 150/35 to be more specific for charging setup of the battery type and expert mode for values. I wish I understood that more. I have the external victron dongle and when I stop pressing on the button to reset the pin code it works great ^^
Hi I wonder if you can help me? I’m in the situation of needing to change my engine and I’m thinking about going electric but I have my concerns. I’m a disabled sailor in the south of the UK 🇬🇧 we have large constant tides and at times we have to use the motor for long periods of time. I like to sail as much as I can and plan for it but I know you need to have that back up. Can a electric motor be that back up, and how much did you pay for the system, batteries separate? I’m looking at £1500 for reconditioned not old Yanmar 20hp. And I’m hoping around £500 to get it installed with no problems. I’m going to do as much as I can , like trying to disconnect the motor ready to be lifted. Thank you so much for your time.
my costs were in Canadian and you get get them from the links in my video to the online store for most of the parts. My refurb Atomic 4 (that was dead on the boat when I bought it) was a refurb at $6500 CDN and my electric motor costs are at about the same when you consider batteries, throttle, solar panels, wiring, Victron equipment etc. I know that most sailors have different needs and not all boats fit every sailor. If you are going to motor long distances then the challenges lie within the battery storage. The faster you drive the boat the faster you consume the energy. I find 3 knots a good cruising speed that maximizes battery life, but I can only go about 5 hours on 100 useful amps (225 amp lead acid batteries) on batteries at about 3 knots. I am switching to lithium to be able to charge and discharge at quicker rates. My concern is storms and I might want to run at faster speeds upwards if 5 knots periodically and I need 50 to 90 amps for that. In my opinion there isn't much difference if you properly size the electric motor as compared to a diesel. In my opinion way less maintenance going electric. But if you want to go a long distance, then you are going to need a generator of some sort and right now I am putting in a Victron Energy Quattro 48v 3000watt inverter charger. The Quattro has 2 inputs, one for shore power and one for a generator set. It charges at 35 amps. At 35 amps I can almost hit 4 knots. So if I run a generator you can go as long as you can keep gas in the generator. I know a lot of people will swear by diesels, but I watched a lot of cruiser videos that get stalled because they have to fix their diesel motors, impellers etc due to corrosion. I think there is a place for both. For me, I like sailing, and I'll sail it right up to my destination I am not in a hurry. Whatever floats your boat right? Best of luck to you!
Hi I am looking at coverting my Yanmar Diesel to electric. I hav a Oceanis 45 boat with 4JH57 and SD60 saildrive. She weight 21 K Lbs and is 45 feet lond. Do you think that is is a feasible project? I already have Solar panels with Victron Solar Charge Controller and Lithium batteries. What do you think?
sail drive is nice, i know that a 52 foot catamaran has 2 diesels and 2 electric motors so i don’t see why any sized boat can’t be electric. as your boat is larger you have a lot more room than I for a decent battery bank. if you have room for a diesel gen set then you have some backup power generation too. ive run my batteries dry a couple times now, once by accident once for longevity tests; but during the day i have 800 watts solar that i can move along at a couple knots purely on sun power. i am trying to keep my energy consumption the least with necessary systems and my only issue right now is that with fridge etc running 24x7 after 2.5 days of rain i run out of power. i need more batteries to add more margin as a couple times a year its easy to get a storm system that stretches past 3 days. good luck with your decision and i would reach out to a reputable electric motor company (name brand) to get the right sized recommendation installation for your boat. thx so much for watching !
@@opouille i believe so. if you go the DIY route you will likely need to custom make a bracket to attach it to the shaft. thunderstruck makes a reduction belt drive as well. im using a spider jar coupler and direct drive but i used a custom made belt drive prior. some people use chain and sprocket. my motor is 13hp and replaced the old atomic 4. As your engine is rated 57hp/41kw so you would need something more powerful. your displacement is almost double mine. sounds like a cool project you are thinking about.
might be a bigger question. someone needs to calculate the expected prop rotation and then pair it to the motor - to see what reduction you need. if you directly connect with a coupler then its 1:1 ratio and likely an electric motor might turn too fast for the prop. my RPM max is 5000 rpm which is probably 3 times too fast. that is why you might need to calculate the right ratio to get both the motor and prop spinning at optimal rpm. my motor was able to be slowed down with programming changes for my 1:1 otherwise i was over spinning my prop. i had to slow it down when i went 1:1. i think a safe answer is do some calculations and if you need gear reduction then you should consider a pulley system like my original setup. so yes with conditions would be my thoughts. sorry its not black and white. lots of variables.
thx and good luck! i bought mine from Princess Auto www.princessauto.com/en/searchresults?Ntt=flex%20coupler they had some on hand during lockdown which is why i bought from them.
turning off my charger, and reading my battery monitor i need about 200 watts to initially get the shaft to turn and then the lowest i can go dropping the power down is 75watts. it sounds terrible. the controller needs slightly more power to go in reverse, say 15% but that is likely how i have the throttle settings set. the motor is fighting to keep turning at 75 watts. really 140 watts is the minim. batteries are 53.6 volts at time of test and drop to 51.7 during 200watt tests.
Good stuff! I'm about to ditch the old BMC 1500 diesel from my 40-ish year old Colvic Sailer 29'6" so this is all very interesting to me. One big question I've got about the Golden Motor kit - Does it do re-gen? Will it re-charge the batteries when you are under sail?
there is a regen section in the vector 500 controller, and I have it enabled but I have not been able to figure out exactly. I was sailing last week and reached 7 knots. I turned on the vector controller and I thought it was doing regen as I felt the prop have resistance but when I checked the voltage my solar was pumping in 5 amps at the same time. I am not 100% certain. What I need to do is turn off my solar charging and ru some tests in Lake Ontario over a longer distance in some good sailing winds. My advice on batteries is Lithium. I have hit a few ceilings now with the lead acid so I have bumped up the priority on the Lithium Batteries. Best of luck on your project!
@@TheNeds Thanks for that. I’ve been having online-chat ‘conversations’ with Golden Motor via Alibaba and they insist that they don’t make a motor that does regen, which seems very strange when ANY permanent magnet motor should act as a generator when spun and it would be a bit perverse for the controller to prevent it. I think the person on the other end just couldn’t be bothered with the ‘conversation’. Are you able to share any documentation? Thanks Paul
i only dealt with golden motor canada. if you watch the vector-500 vid I posted i am fairly certain i covered the regen settings in there. documents are weak, made by engineers that don’t speak english as a first language so after translating some docs are pointless. the ones from golden motor .com site are what i used with exception i have a PDF about the vector controller that was pretty close to the wording on the software itself. you can also download the software and install it on your PC Laptop to see all the settings
@@TheNeds Yes, I've just found the .pdf, and it is quite definitive that it offers regenerative braking. Just had an email today from Golden motor in China, and I think it is a good demonstration of tunnel vision! The writer says that for regeneration you have to squeeze the brake levers, and it doesn't generate much energy. I suppose that might be reasonable if I was converting a motor bike, which is their main target market. I explained that you don't get brake-levers on boats, but if they were replaced with a switch then once I was under sail I would switch re-gen on and it would stay on for several hours if not days! Hope the message gets through. Anyway, in the meantime I've emailed Golden Motor Canada and asked them to confirm regen when used in a boat, and their prices for everything I need, shipped to the UK. I'd rather deal with native english speakers who've dealt with boat installs if something goes wrong than with China Golden Motor people who don't seem able to tell the difference between a boat and a bike.
i am going to test again but when i put a switch on and used the brake the vector controller ended up beeping. i thought it was erroneously in some sort of fault. i will test this under sail and get back to you.
You need a speed reduction, 2:1 or 3:1. The prop runs at 1200 RPM max, but electric motors need to run twice that 2400 RPM or more to generate full power. This is usually done with a belt reduction. You'll also get much more regen.
I appreciate that feedback. Last season I had a 1.92:1 ratio with my belt system, and I found that I was using more energy than I expected to move the boat to 3.5 knots. After a lot of reflection I decided that the torque rating on this motor is so strong that I wanted to try testing 1:1 this year. With the motor MAX-RPM set to 2400 I am getting good throttle action and at about 1300 watts I am moving the boat 3.5 knots. I think the motor isn't as efficient, but my power draw is less I have increased my range almost 60%. I am trying to figure out what a prop change can do. Thanks for watching and the comment. More to learn!
i was just wondering on your reference to 1200 rpm, i just wanted to know where that stat comes from. everything i read on my old atomic 4 referenced a 2000rpm optimal cruising RPM. i never did an exhausting review of the prop maybe i made too many assumptions there. i had thought that as original manufacturer equipment it would have been paired appropriately. maybe not? i am looking into how to calculate the max prop RPM which i would guess as some sort of efficiency calculation on peak thrust with as little cavitation and energy loss as possible?
@@TheNeds I think the 2:1 reduction idea is to allow the electric motor to deliver maximum power at high speed. But you want to run your motor slow and save power for longer range. Your 1:1 works fine because the electric motor is barely using power at your target speed. You could have done that with a 3-5KW motor easily; the 10KW is overkill for how you want to use it. If you run the motor really fast, it will overspeed the 2 blade prop and cavitate, losing a lot of power due to cavitation, but you won't do that. You want to run slow for long distance, where the motor sips power. That's a valid choice and may work best for you. Actually, you opened my eyes to the tradeoffs with 1:1 and your existing 2 blade prop. I was locked in to the conventional wisdom of needing 2:1 reduction. I'm thinking with a different prop everything changes though.
appreciate your feedback. i originally picked the 10kw over the 5kw due to the amount of energy required to turn the motor at the same rpm, especially at lower rpms. i only needed 5kw for my boat but i would have had to run it at higher rpm using more energy. so i’m happy with my choice given my goals of sipping energy and rolling along at 3.5 knots: but my stop and start is like a turtle compared to other boats. i am still figuring out the prop i need to run slowly but start and stop the boat on a dime. tradeoffs!
@@TheNeds I’m wondering the same thing as you but I think the 5kw May be more efficient because of less losses. The 5kw should price the same torque at the desired rpm as long as it’s below 2.5kw
it's a combination of parts, I bought from Princess Auto, I used 4 shaft couplers (2 on each side) and the bearing was a flange mount bearing. The bearing is attached to the metal plate and the 2 shaft collars on each side take the thrust loading. Thanks for the note!
Amazing video! I'm from Barcelona and I'm on the process to convert my Furia33 to electric with a 10KW Golden Motor engine. Until now I consider to put a 2:1 reduction with gears but now I see that you've connected directly. My boat has 4tons and the RPM in the propeller right now is 1600 RPM max. Do you recommend to connect the engine directly or with a reduction? Thanks a lot!
i think that with the direct drive im a touch heavier on the torque than ideal prop cavitation is easily reached too quickly with direct drive so i’ve lowered the max rpm setting to 2500rpm but i can still hear the prop screaming. the 10kw is very torque heavy as compared to the 5kw, about 30% more. for me 2:1 was too much and 1:1 to little i think its got to be in the middle of those ratios to reach the highest efficiency of the motor quicker. i found 2:1 just not enough. at 600 watts its up there about 80+ efficient but any less (trolling speeds) is not so i try to bring it to 750 watts to 1700 watts is my range. anywhere less is creating more heat than necessary and any more and thing really start becoming too inefficient and creating cavitation. sorry not a straight forward answer more like it depends but keeping the motor rpm in an efficient space means it will run cooler. also the lower the rpm the longer your batteries last so there is an argument to have a lower gear ratio when considering energy consumption. i am not in a hurry and 100 amps lifepo4 batteries get me about 20 nautical mile range at 3 to 3.5 knots so i’m happy with that. im a sailor not a power boater. i suppose lifestyle matters too in the thinking. i sail almost in and out of dock and i’m not in a hurry to get there.
@@TheNedsmaybe a larger prop would get you to the sweet spot for your motor? Than you can put more torque into the water at lower rpm. Also recuperation should work better/at lower speeds. Downside of course is, it's more water resistance when sailing.
this year i installed a Michigan sailor 3 to replace the michigan sailor 2 that was originally on the boat. i kept the same size (16) but lowered the pitch from 14 to 12. my boat speed is fairly close to the old prop but i have more torque starting and stopping. Also under sail i used to need at least 5 knot to spin the prop but now need just over 2 knots. i had to install a shaft brake to control the free spinning regen as it spins at much lower speeds now. you are right about more drag it feels the same as towing a bucket behind me…. more testing to compare notes but the added torque is getting me in and out of the dock easier.
best viewed in video 83 ua-cam.com/video/uX8b4-F9lTk/v-deo.htmlsi=3AsElhsTGTQMS52z this is how i built it and fastened it to the 1/4 inch stiffened aluminum panel. it was all hand made.
I absolutely love your videos and inspiration. I have been in touch with golden motor and hoping to do the switch from diesel to electric. I have a 43 ft privilege catamaran and would love to hear your thoughts if you think 2 of the 10kw motor will allow me to propel and navigate around Boston harbor. In your opinion do you think having 4 48V lithium batteries per motor will suffice? Thank you !!
thx for the nice comments. id think that the weight of your cat might need more than 10. id make sure you get some engineering help. my displacement is 12k lbs. have you considered a hybrid? some people with cat conversions are putting a diesel and electric in so they have the benefits of both. they run both together and the diesel alternator powers the second electric motor. for batteries i am definitely glad i went lithium i can’t believe the difference. its all about amps so the more you have the more long term stability you have. wish you the best however you decide to go make sure to send me a link to some photos of your setup if you can! cheers
great videos. I'm just about to purchase my motor for my grampian 28. golden motor tells me that the 5 kw will be more than enough for my boat. Just curious what you think. I'm not to far away from you in Port Dover.
good luck on your project i almost bought a grampian nice boat. 5kw would have been ok for my 35’ bit i went for 10 due to the torque rating at the same wattage. i am cruising at 30amps almost 4.5 knots or 15amps about 3knots. another way to say it i am using 700watts for 3knots. so less than 10% capacity and the motor is not very efficient at that RPM.
@@TheNeds i think ill go with the 5kw. mainly the cost. Since the diesel went last summer i have been using a 6hp 4stroke and it pushes it at 5.3 kts at 2/3 throttle. and like you said in the video, i have a sailboat , speed is not much of a factor. my boat only had a 13hp volvo penta
sounds like a good size - send a pic of your boat, love to follow and hear of your progress. @danned1 on instagram if you are there. Port Dover is a great spot.
I'm having trouble with my controllers over heating. It runs for about 5 min then they start beeping and I have to shut them down. I thought it was because I went direct drive or my props were to big. Or maybe my throttles don't give me much control. Please let me know your thoughts. Also what throttle are you using. Do you have a link. You can check out my channel cruising plan B. Thanks
hey bryan did you sort it out? sorry i am so late commenting back, YT stuck this as spam for some reason. the beeps are the error codes, how many beeps?
Great video , first economical electric conversation ! Is their a way to how 2 engines on 2 S drives ? Motor controls ? Is ther a throttle control for 2 motores ? And in theory have 2 motores in regen while sailing
Thanks! I think you are asking if there a way to connect 2 motors onto 2 sail drives controlled with one throttle? I am fairly certain in my searching that I came across an electric motor throttle that had 2 independent levers on it, I think designed to connect to 2 controllers. For redundancy sake I think independent controllers could control the boat like a tank. Both controllers could be hooked up to a single power bank I would think. One drawback is that the keel protects the prop when it is inline. Saildrives mounted off centre would be exposed to objects in the water. Re: regen I have tried regen but have not been able to get enough boat speed over a long period to record results. I hope to get a day in the next few weeks to test this. I haul out at the end of the month so I'm running out of time :( work is getting in the way. Need to pay the bills!
The German channel "Die Bootsprofis" had (maybe still has, not sure) a Saildrive with two motors connected to the same shaft and prop. Apparently that worked fine. For the throttle I guess with a hall sensor it should be fine to just make a Y connection of the output line to two motor controllers. Other than that, a throttle on a microcontroller that then drives two "electronic potentiometers" should not be too hard either. Important is that the motors and controllers are even matched and output the same power at the same throttle setting.. otherwise just one motor will take the whole load and the other will just spin along or worse, work as a brake.
Wait, so at 50V 10A you're consuming 500W of power but your motor is rated for 10kW? Aren't there massive gains (20x) to be had or is that only for when you floor it?
My performance goals are to be able to move along at 3.5 knots using the least amount of energy possible -> when I compared the torque vs. power draw on the 5KW vs 10Kw, the 10Kw off of spec, used less energy (about 40% if I recall) than the 5KW. 5KW would likely have been enough motor for my particular boat. So yes I have way more power than I need but the power curve at the same speed used less energy which is why I choose that model. Yes, I easily can create cavitation on the prop when I power up fast...
@@rever4217 my current challenge is that my batteries only have a working peak rating of 25 amps so they cannot sustain the load. i hope to be moved over to lithium this spring so when i do i will publish.
Hard to watch, you seem to do a whole lot of work without positive results. Sometimes it’s better to sit down and think it through unless of course it’s all for entertainment purposes.
Great video, very helpful, please post more😊
thx Ep141 has similar content more recent
Very informitive video. I too am using Vectron. So wish me luck. Im just starting my install.
best to you on your install - hope it goes well!
Thanks for sharing, very instructive video.
Thanks appreciate your taking the time to watch it and your comments!
Thank you I just came across your channel. I am doing research now will start conversion on my 23 foot bayfield. We got the old inboard out everything cleaned up and painted bilge and engine bay and now are ready to go your information has been the best I have come across so far will be going back and watching all your vids. Excellent very good
appreciate the note. its still a learning experience and i am trying to document the journey here on the channel. my only suggestion is make sure to go with LiPo4 batteries as my conventional batteries are not powerful enough for charge and discharge rates. best of luck to you on your journey i would love to see pics if you are posting somewhere.
@@TheNeds
not sure if you have seen Will Prowse on the tube. He does testing and rates batteries among other things electrical engineeringish. just watched one of his latest vids on a 500 dollar 100 amp hour lithium from the amazon the kid is a genius so if you have not checked him out defiantly go there he is an amazing resource
there are a lot of similarities of off grid homes and solar installations and boats. i have watched his channel its pretty hood info for sure.
I am switching the Torqeedo 4.0 to an inboard on my Bayfield 23. Did you convert your boat?
Helpful video! Also, I have a question (forgive me if you've answered it on another comment already). I'm wondering what a cost estimate would be to purchase similar motor _and_ top to bottom electric setup in my 30' sailboat? That would include everything including solar panels, and all of the cockpit stuff I'd need like the throttle, etc. Any cost estimate range would be helpful. Also, could you "heart" the comment (so I'll get a notification that you've responded).
this actually isnt easy to answer. i am working from a tight budget. Always looking for deals and DIY saves a lot. Your question isn’t simple to answer as i bought parts over 4 years now as well. I will summarize over the winter and put into a video and all details on the Patreon site.
Going electric is cheaper than replacing a 1:1 diesel motor but you are right to point out that you have to factor in all the ancillary items like solar etc.
the current costs are on golden motors site, the Canadian one is who i bought from. the links in the description are to the parts. I self installed over a number of years so labour was my time. Add 20% for mount, wires, clamps etc.
the solar setup i grew over 4 years but for example the arch to hold the panels took me 4 months to make but i got the raw materials from a local supplier. If i bought it i would have spent 10x the costs. Solar is also priced on the Renogy site.
the only $ number i think relevant to share was that the previous owner spent $7000 on a refurbished Atomic 4 and they installed in without a water lift resulting in a dead motor 5 years later (backwash). I’d imagine it was a few thousand to put it in and wire it to the existing fuel tanks etc. If you factor in the fuel tanks, thru hulls etc it might be another couple thousand bringing a rough estimate of gas/diesel engine of $12 to $15k installed. Going electric i had to wait for the cost of LiFoPO4 to come down as originally i could have spent that on batteries. As i started this reply i am less than the gas/diesel replacement but i have been very financial prudent and took the time to find deals. Off the shelf can be more for just the motor if an oceanvolt etc was used.
i didn’t look at it from a cost decision to do this, the lack of noise, smell and pollution are the benefits. Very low operating costs are a huge benefit. No winterization annual costs.
best of luck to you.
@@TheNeds Thank you!
Great video. Thanks for posting. I’m converting a 30ft hunter to electric.
best of luck to you on the conversion hope it goes well. appreciate the note.
Awesome setup. I've enjoyed watching the progress on the motor mounts etc. Keep it up!
thx so much. the more i fail the more i learn!
@@TheNeds absolutely. I feel the same way.
I remember at the Marina one day I showed you pictures of my chain drive electric conversion. From what I'm seeing here, I think I'd be well served to just go direct drive instead.
I have time. Won't splash until next season at the earliest.
Also, from what I can see you aren't failing you're refining. The original conversion worked, it just wasn't as quiet as you'd have liked.
best of luck!
appreciate the perspective!
Really informative video Ned packed with useful details, thanks for sharing. Considering doing the same conversion on a 10m canal cruiser. Its amazing to think that a 5-10kW motor could replace the 60 hp diesel that gets horrendous fuel efficiency, 25 litres per 100km if your lucky, and use only 20kW per 100km instead. You don't have to sail very far at todays fuel prices for the conversion to pay for itself.
thx that was one cost factor i didn’t anticipate, fuel costs have gone up here double per litre 😕 out of control! I doubled up my panels and switched to LiFoPO4 and charge/discharge rates make it much more useful. appreciate the comments and good luck with your project!
@@TheNeds what’s your battery bank size now? And how much solar? And your range ? I would like to add a 5kw motor on a belt as to my prop shaft keeping my diesel motors attached as auxiliary
@@vlogcity1111 that sounds interesting, I would be curious - During the day with 800 watts solar I can run at 2 knots while the sun is out. 750 watts gets me about 2 knots in cross wind or 3.5 knots running with the wind (depends how windy). Going into the wind it's pretty slow, I need about 1500 watts to maintain 3 knots into a 10 knot headwind. With the liquid cooling installed I can run as long as my batteries hold out.
I tested recently I use up about 15% of my battery capacity at 1800 watts with some solar helping out (200 to 500 watts during my test).
1800 watts gets me about 3.5 knots in a 10 knot headwind.
I guess at that speed I'd use up 30% of my battery per hour, I'd have to bring out the generator at 2.5 hours in my 100Ah LiFoPO4 batteries (80% usable).
there is a fair amount of loss on any inverter for sure but if we are out of batteries and have no sun we’re running out of options. i haven’t looked at the energy loss too closely but if i can get 15 amps at 120v thats more than enough to keep the boat moving. lots of good things to debate there. thx for the note!
Just a few changes/upgrades since this 3 year old vid. A comparison update might be good, incl what you might do differently today, if not already inve$ted in what you have. So much has changed/advanced in the industry.
appreciate the advice will add that to my list of content ideas
Hi, from Quebec... it would be nice if you shared some boat spec, displacement, props spec, etc... I'm going electric too :)
thanks !!!
hello from hamilton i will be passing through quebec likely next year, remote chance this year. my boat specs are in the comments a link to sailboat data. its a hughes 35/1500 1975 about 12,000 lbs displacement. was running a 2 blade michigan sailor 16rh14 but this year testing a 3 blade michigan 16rh12. i will post some info once i have some comparison data. this 10kw dc motor replaced my old atomic 4 gas.
@@TheNeds I'm in Matane along the Fleuve Saint-Laurent... Building a 40feet Cat, I will have 2x ME1616 10KW probably with 2 props : 18x14... no idea of what's going to get out of that :)
Looking good! Thanks for the videos. I’ve got 3kw version in my 27 footer. Do you happen to have any energy consumption figures with different speeds? It would be very interesting to compare. The info I’ve got from different sources is that regardless the boat size, the good speed to go with (as energy consumption point) is around 3-3,5kn. But not faster. For that over that speed, consumption rises rapidly without any reasonable speed gain.
I will run some more tests and post some watt/knot results. I will try and maintain 1 knot, 2 knot, 3 knot, 4 knot and 5 knot. You are right the energy consumed is exponential to the boat speed; for me to run 5 knots I was at 70 amps. I also want to turn off all my charging as I think so far my varied results have been that the victron mppt solar controller has also been trying to top up. Technically I can cruise off the solar panels in high sun at almost 2 knots.thanks for the comments!
Really nice... Looking to make a similar setup.
best of luck on the project! thx for the comments!
If you need to draw more current, just add a second set of series connected batteries, wired parallel to the first set. Repeat as required until you get to your desired current.
You could also increase your voltage by adding more natteries on series if you want higher rpm.
Current is your acceleration, voltage is your shaft speed.
Electric motors woll tolerate quite a bit of overvoltage, and yiur controller is only going to apply voltage based on your throttle position, so for the cost of two batteries, you could give yourself an "ahead emergency" capability that would bump max voltage from 48v to 60v.
thx for the comments. adding batteries in parallel is a good way to increase the capacity and keep the voltage the same. the motor has some tolerance as 48 v fully charged is actually 56 volts peak so i wouldn’t add any more in series. but another 4 in series then wired in parallel would double my range. right now i have 4 in series. so another 4 in series wired as another 48v bank in parallel would be how i would increase my capacity
@@TheNeds Keep in mind that a voltage increase is also a capacity increase. Assuming you don't ride WFO on the throttle all the time.
Thank you
welcome!
Awesome vid. Thanks! I am trying to source some pulleys. Having trouble finding for 7/8" shaft.
Also, have a me-1306, 12kw motor rated for 5000 max rpm, with a 48V battery bank, and need 1700 rpm on the prop to get 4kts. So... would you recommend direct or belt/pulley?
thx! i got my pulleys at torontogear they have some good calculators that spit out a parts list.
my boat is 12000 lbs and i don’t have enough long distance testing yet as i just switched to lithium lifopo4 batteries. i need to run some tests. the harder to turn the hotter the controller goes. most i could read recommended some sort of gear reduction 2:1 which i did originally. my goal is least energy to move my boat which is why i decided to try direct drive. so far less energy but it does run hotter. implementing cooling now and will post more test data including controller temps. good luck with your project!
With your solar. You will find that it's no benefit to lower the PV array voltage in series parallele. The mppt controllers will act as a DC converter and squish down the 80v and increase amps. Do amps X voltage. You will find it is pretty close to 400w of PV output
Thanks for the comment! I admit I am not sure I fully understand your point, but I do know I erroneously sometime refer to amps when I mean watts. I do try to correct my videos when I catch myself.
This year I added another 400 watts, my controller is rated for 150v/35 amps so I have one series array of 4 panels, a second series of 4 (80 volts each) and I now have these 2 series in parallel. This increased my amps, and kept voltage under 100 volts (usually volts in the 80s). I was worried that my peak voltage would be too high to the peak capabilities of the MPPT controller if I wired all 8 in series and that it was better to wire 4S2P.
I think my other concern is that I need at least 10 volts more than battery voltage for the MPPT controller to work so a minimum of 4 is recommended.
If I missed the mark on your point, apologies - not intentional. I am wondering if your points on loss of power by keeping these panels at 4-S-2-P? Is it better to have them all in series?
I think that wattage is wattage. I routinely see 600+ watts now in summer months, under full sun almost as high as 850+ watts. I do actually have room to squeeze 2 more panels in so I could do 5S2P with 10 panels to get to 1KW but so far the additional 4 panels made an enormous difference. But if there is a better way to wire, please share. Thanx!
Answer your comment on the victron controller and resetting the base battery battery voltage you should take a look in your settings either from a laptop or from a Bluetooth dongle I have personally my own for of the Vic tron's 130s and 150 is and then also a couple of the 75 and 115th and 20th and every single one of them has the option to choose the battery voltage in the battery drop down menu I don't have a 150 volt / 35 amp but I would be very suspicious that it doesn't have the same option and as long as you're getting into it via a laptop or the cell phone app with the Bluetooth you should be able to make that adjustment not that you need to cuz you're staying at 48 volts but kind of just mentioning this so that other people that are seeing this don't I think that the victron is lacking
yes you are right the options are there on the 150/35 to be more specific for charging setup of the battery type and expert mode for values. I wish I understood that more. I have the external victron dongle and when I stop pressing on the button to reset the pin code it works great ^^
Hi I wonder if you can help me? I’m in the situation of needing to change my engine and I’m thinking about going electric but I have my concerns. I’m a disabled sailor in the south of the UK 🇬🇧 we have large constant tides and at times we have to use the motor for long periods of time. I like to sail as much as I can and plan for it but I know you need to have that back up. Can a electric motor be that back up, and how much did you pay for the system, batteries separate? I’m looking at £1500 for reconditioned not old Yanmar 20hp. And I’m hoping around £500 to get it installed with no problems. I’m going to do as much as I can , like trying to disconnect the motor ready to be lifted. Thank you so much for your time.
my costs were in Canadian and you get get them from the links in my video to the online store for most of the parts. My refurb Atomic 4 (that was dead on the boat when I bought it) was a refurb at $6500 CDN and my electric motor costs are at about the same when you consider batteries, throttle, solar panels, wiring, Victron equipment etc.
I know that most sailors have different needs and not all boats fit every sailor. If you are going to motor long distances then the challenges lie within the battery storage. The faster you drive the boat the faster you consume the energy. I find 3 knots a good cruising speed that maximizes battery life, but I can only go about 5 hours on 100 useful amps (225 amp lead acid batteries) on batteries at about 3 knots. I am switching to lithium to be able to charge and discharge at quicker rates. My concern is storms and I might want to run at faster speeds upwards if 5 knots periodically and I need 50 to 90 amps for that.
In my opinion there isn't much difference if you properly size the electric motor as compared to a diesel. In my opinion way less maintenance going electric. But if you want to go a long distance, then you are going to need a generator of some sort and right now I am putting in a Victron Energy Quattro 48v 3000watt inverter charger. The Quattro has 2 inputs, one for shore power and one for a generator set. It charges at 35 amps. At 35 amps I can almost hit 4 knots. So if I run a generator you can go as long as you can keep gas in the generator.
I know a lot of people will swear by diesels, but I watched a lot of cruiser videos that get stalled because they have to fix their diesel motors, impellers etc due to corrosion. I think there is a place for both. For me, I like sailing, and I'll sail it right up to my destination I am not in a hurry. Whatever floats your boat right?
Best of luck to you!
Hi I am looking at coverting my Yanmar Diesel to electric. I hav a Oceanis 45 boat with 4JH57 and SD60 saildrive. She weight 21 K Lbs and is 45 feet lond. Do you think that is is a feasible project? I already have Solar panels with Victron Solar Charge Controller and Lithium batteries. What do you think?
sail drive is nice, i know that a 52 foot catamaran has 2 diesels and 2 electric motors so i don’t see why any sized boat can’t be electric. as your boat is larger you have a lot more room than I for a decent battery bank. if you have room for a diesel gen set then you have some backup power generation too. ive run my batteries dry a couple times now, once by accident once for longevity tests; but during the day i have 800 watts solar that i can move along at a couple knots purely on sun power. i am trying to keep my energy consumption the least with necessary systems and my only issue right now is that with fridge etc running 24x7 after 2.5 days of rain i run out of power. i need more batteries to add more margin as a couple times a year its easy to get a storm system that stretches past 3 days.
good luck with your decision and i would reach out to a reputable electric motor company (name brand) to get the right sized recommendation installation for your boat.
thx so much for watching !
@@TheNeds Thanks for responding so fast, do I connect directly to the saildrive with just a coupler?
@@opouille i believe so. if you go the DIY route you will likely need to custom make a bracket to attach it to the shaft. thunderstruck makes a reduction belt drive as well.
im using a spider jar coupler and direct drive but i used a custom made belt drive prior. some people use chain and sprocket. my motor is 13hp and replaced the old atomic 4. As your engine is rated 57hp/41kw so you would need something more powerful. your displacement is almost double mine. sounds like a cool project you are thinking about.
might be a bigger question. someone needs to calculate the expected prop rotation and then pair it to the motor - to see what reduction you need. if you directly connect with a coupler then its 1:1 ratio and likely an electric motor might turn too fast for the prop. my RPM max is 5000 rpm which is probably 3 times too fast. that is why you might need to calculate the right ratio to get both the motor and prop spinning at optimal rpm.
my motor was able to be slowed down with programming changes for my 1:1 otherwise i was over spinning my prop. i had to slow it down when i went 1:1.
i think a safe answer is do some calculations and if you need gear reduction then you should consider a pulley system like my original setup. so yes with conditions would be my thoughts. sorry its not black and white. lots of variables.
Hiya. Great video! I’m thinking of doing the same. Interested in the coupling you used, could you please send me a link. Fair winds :)
thx and good luck! i bought mine from Princess Auto www.princessauto.com/en/searchresults?Ntt=flex%20coupler they had some on hand during lockdown which is why i bought from them.
Hi, awesome video. Could you please tell me how much torque needs your prop shaft to turn?
turning off my charger, and reading my battery monitor i need about 200 watts to initially get the shaft to turn and then the lowest i can go dropping the power down is 75watts. it sounds terrible. the controller needs slightly more power to go in reverse, say 15% but that is likely how i have the throttle settings set. the motor is fighting to keep turning at 75 watts. really 140 watts is the minim. batteries are 53.6 volts at time of test and drop to 51.7 during 200watt tests.
Good stuff! I'm about to ditch the old BMC 1500 diesel from my 40-ish year old Colvic Sailer 29'6" so this is all very interesting to me. One big question I've got about the Golden Motor kit - Does it do re-gen? Will it re-charge the batteries when you are under sail?
there is a regen section in the vector 500 controller, and I have it enabled but I have not been able to figure out exactly. I was sailing last week and reached 7 knots. I turned on the vector controller and I thought it was doing regen as I felt the prop have resistance but when I checked the voltage my solar was pumping in 5 amps at the same time. I am not 100% certain. What I need to do is turn off my solar charging and ru some tests in Lake Ontario over a longer distance in some good sailing winds. My advice on batteries is Lithium. I have hit a few ceilings now with the lead acid so I have bumped up the priority on the Lithium Batteries. Best of luck on your project!
@@TheNeds Thanks for that. I’ve been having online-chat ‘conversations’ with Golden Motor via Alibaba and they insist that they don’t make a motor that does regen, which seems very strange when ANY permanent magnet motor should act as a generator when spun and it would be a bit perverse for the controller to prevent it. I think the person on the other end just couldn’t be bothered with the ‘conversation’. Are you able to share any documentation?
Thanks
Paul
i only dealt with golden motor canada. if you watch the vector-500 vid I posted i am fairly certain i covered the regen settings in there. documents are weak, made by engineers that don’t speak english as a first language so after translating some docs are pointless. the ones from golden motor .com site are what i used with exception i have a PDF about the vector controller that was pretty close to the wording on the software itself.
you can also download the software and install it on your PC Laptop to see all the settings
@@TheNeds Yes, I've just found the .pdf, and it is quite definitive that it offers regenerative braking. Just had an email today from Golden motor in China, and I think it is a good demonstration of tunnel vision! The writer says that for regeneration you have to squeeze the brake levers, and it doesn't generate much energy. I suppose that might be reasonable if I was converting a motor bike, which is their main target market. I explained that you don't get brake-levers on boats, but if they were replaced with a switch then once I was under sail I would switch re-gen on and it would stay on for several hours if not days! Hope the message gets through. Anyway, in the meantime I've emailed Golden Motor Canada and asked them to confirm regen when used in a boat, and their prices for everything I need, shipped to the UK. I'd rather deal with native english speakers who've dealt with boat installs if something goes wrong than with China Golden Motor people who don't seem able to tell the difference between a boat and a bike.
i am going to test again but when i put a switch on and used the brake the vector controller ended up beeping. i thought it was erroneously in some sort of fault. i will test this under sail and get back to you.
You need a speed reduction, 2:1 or 3:1. The prop runs at 1200 RPM max, but electric motors need to run twice that 2400 RPM or more to generate full power. This is usually done with a belt reduction. You'll also get much more regen.
I appreciate that feedback. Last season I had a 1.92:1 ratio with my belt system, and I found that I was using more energy than I expected to move the boat to 3.5 knots. After a lot of reflection I decided that the torque rating on this motor is so strong that I wanted to try testing 1:1 this year. With the motor MAX-RPM set to 2400 I am getting good throttle action and at about 1300 watts I am moving the boat 3.5 knots. I think the motor isn't as efficient, but my power draw is less I have increased my range almost 60%. I am trying to figure out what a prop change can do. Thanks for watching and the comment. More to learn!
i was just wondering on your reference to 1200 rpm, i just wanted to know where that stat comes from. everything i read on my old atomic 4 referenced a 2000rpm optimal cruising RPM. i never did an exhausting review of the prop maybe i made too many assumptions there. i had thought that as original manufacturer equipment it would have been paired appropriately. maybe not? i am looking into how to calculate the max prop RPM which i would guess as some sort of efficiency calculation on peak thrust with as little cavitation and energy loss as possible?
@@TheNeds I think the 2:1 reduction idea is to allow the electric motor to deliver maximum power at high speed. But you want to run your motor slow and save power for longer range. Your 1:1 works fine because the electric motor is barely using power at your target speed. You could have done that with a 3-5KW motor easily; the 10KW is overkill for how you want to use it. If you run the motor really fast, it will overspeed the 2 blade prop and cavitate, losing a lot of power due to cavitation, but you won't do that. You want to run slow for long distance, where the motor sips power. That's a valid choice and may work best for you. Actually, you opened my eyes to the tradeoffs with 1:1 and your existing 2 blade prop. I was locked in to the conventional wisdom of needing 2:1 reduction. I'm thinking with a different prop everything changes though.
appreciate your feedback. i originally picked the 10kw over the 5kw due to the amount of energy required to turn the motor at the same rpm, especially at lower rpms. i only needed 5kw for my boat but i would have had to run it at higher rpm using more energy. so i’m happy with my choice given my goals of sipping energy and rolling along at 3.5 knots: but my stop and start is like a turtle compared to other boats. i am still figuring out the prop i need to run slowly but start and stop the boat on a dime. tradeoffs!
@@TheNeds I’m wondering the same thing as you but I think the 5kw May be more efficient because of less losses. The 5kw should price the same torque at the desired rpm as long as it’s below 2.5kw
Where did you get the thrust bearing do you have a part # great show
it's a combination of parts, I bought from Princess Auto, I used 4 shaft couplers (2 on each side) and the bearing was a flange mount bearing. The bearing is attached to the metal plate and the 2 shaft collars on each side take the thrust loading. Thanks for the note!
Amazing video! I'm from Barcelona and I'm on the process to convert my Furia33 to electric with a 10KW Golden Motor engine. Until now I consider to put a 2:1 reduction with gears but now I see that you've connected directly. My boat has 4tons and the RPM in the propeller right now is 1600 RPM max. Do you recommend to connect the engine directly or with a reduction? Thanks a lot!
i think that with the direct drive im a touch heavier on the torque than ideal
prop cavitation is easily reached too quickly with direct drive so i’ve lowered the max rpm setting to 2500rpm but i can still hear the prop screaming. the 10kw is very torque heavy as compared to the 5kw, about 30% more. for me 2:1 was too much and 1:1 to little i think its got to be in the middle of those ratios to reach the highest efficiency of the motor quicker. i found 2:1 just not enough. at 600 watts its up there about 80+ efficient but any less (trolling speeds) is not so i try to bring it to 750 watts to 1700 watts is my range. anywhere less is creating more heat than necessary and any more and thing really start becoming too inefficient and creating cavitation.
sorry not a straight forward answer more like it depends but keeping the motor rpm in an efficient space means it will run cooler.
also the lower the rpm the longer your batteries last so there is an argument to have a lower gear ratio when considering energy consumption.
i am not in a hurry and 100 amps lifepo4 batteries get me about 20 nautical mile range at 3 to 3.5 knots so i’m happy with that. im a sailor not a power boater. i suppose lifestyle matters too in the thinking. i sail almost in and out of dock and i’m not in a hurry to get there.
@@TheNedsmaybe a larger prop would get you to the sweet spot for your motor? Than you can put more torque into the water at lower rpm. Also recuperation should work better/at lower speeds.
Downside of course is, it's more water resistance when sailing.
this year i installed a Michigan sailor 3 to replace the michigan sailor 2 that was originally on the boat. i kept the same size (16) but lowered the pitch from 14 to 12. my boat speed is fairly close to the old prop but i have more torque starting and stopping. Also under sail i used to need at least 5 knot to spin the prop but now need just over 2 knots.
i had to install a shaft brake to control the free spinning regen as it spins at much lower speeds now. you are right about more drag it feels the same as towing a bucket behind me…. more testing to compare notes but the added torque is getting me in and out of the dock easier.
@@TheNeds Hello! Finally I've installed the golden motor BDLC 10kw in my 33 feet boat. How can I share with you some videos?
@martinconstante if you are on youtube send me your URL
How did you attach the motor to that board?
best viewed in video 83 ua-cam.com/video/uX8b4-F9lTk/v-deo.htmlsi=3AsElhsTGTQMS52z this is how i built it and fastened it to the 1/4 inch stiffened aluminum panel. it was all hand made.
Why did you get rid of the pillow block bearing?
direct drive change i put a really big aluminum plate in to stiffen it up
I absolutely love your videos and inspiration. I have been in touch with golden motor and hoping to do the switch from diesel to electric. I have a 43 ft privilege catamaran and would love to hear your thoughts if you think 2 of the 10kw motor will allow me to propel and navigate around Boston harbor. In your opinion do you think having 4 48V lithium batteries per motor will suffice?
Thank you !!
thx for the nice comments. id think that the weight of your cat might need more than 10. id make sure you get some engineering help. my displacement is 12k lbs. have you considered a hybrid? some people with cat conversions are putting a diesel and electric in so they have the benefits of both. they run both together and the diesel alternator powers the second electric motor. for batteries i am definitely glad i went lithium i can’t believe the difference. its all about amps so the more you have the more long term stability you have. wish you the best however you decide to go make sure to send me a link to some photos of your setup if you can! cheers
Thank you very much for your feedback. I will give it a shot and let you know. Glad you are satisfied with the lithium batteries
absolutely and i look forward to hearing about your project
great videos. I'm just about to purchase my motor for my grampian 28. golden motor tells me that the 5 kw will be more than enough for my boat. Just curious what you think. I'm not to far away from you in Port Dover.
good luck on your project i almost bought a grampian nice boat.
5kw would have been ok for my 35’ bit i went for 10 due to the torque rating at the same wattage.
i am cruising at 30amps almost 4.5 knots or 15amps about 3knots. another way to say it i am using 700watts for 3knots. so less than 10% capacity and the motor is not very efficient at that RPM.
@@TheNeds i think ill go with the 5kw. mainly the cost. Since the diesel went last summer i have been using a 6hp 4stroke and it pushes it at 5.3 kts at 2/3 throttle. and like you said in the video, i have a sailboat , speed is not much of a factor. my boat only had a 13hp volvo penta
sounds like a good size - send a pic of your boat, love to follow and hear of your progress. @danned1 on instagram if you are there. Port Dover is a great spot.
@@TheNeds not on instagram. can you send pics through here? i am on telegram under wharfrat
@@wharfrat9707 I wanted to make note that 10KW is about 13 HP, so the 5KW will be 1/2 the current engine power.
What boat do you have? Trying to comparatively review against my application too.
sailboatdata.com/sailboat/north-star-150035
also known as hughes 35 from 1975
good luck on your project!
I'm having trouble with my controllers over heating. It runs for about 5 min then they start beeping and I have to shut them down. I thought it was because I went direct drive or my props were to big. Or maybe my throttles don't give me much control. Please let me know your thoughts. Also what throttle are you using. Do you have a link. You can check out my channel cruising plan B. Thanks
hey bryan did you sort it out? sorry i am so late commenting back, YT stuck this as spam for some reason.
the beeps are the error codes, how many beeps?
Great video , first economical electric conversation ! Is their a way to how 2 engines on 2 S drives ? Motor controls ? Is ther a throttle control for 2 motores ? And in theory have 2 motores in regen while sailing
Thanks!
I think you are asking if there a way to connect 2 motors onto 2 sail drives controlled with one throttle? I am fairly certain in my searching that I came across an electric motor throttle that had 2 independent levers on it, I think designed to connect to 2 controllers. For redundancy sake I think independent controllers could control the boat like a tank. Both controllers could be hooked up to a single power bank I would think.
One drawback is that the keel protects the prop when it is inline. Saildrives mounted off centre would be exposed to objects in the water.
Re: regen I have tried regen but have not been able to get enough boat speed over a long period to record results. I hope to get a day in the next few weeks to test this. I haul out at the end of the month so I'm running out of time :( work is getting in the way. Need to pay the bills!
The German channel "Die Bootsprofis" had (maybe still has, not sure) a Saildrive with two motors connected to the same shaft and prop. Apparently that worked fine.
For the throttle I guess with a hall sensor it should be fine to just make a Y connection of the output line to two motor controllers.
Other than that, a throttle on a microcontroller that then drives two "electronic potentiometers" should not be too hard either.
Important is that the motors and controllers are even matched and output the same power at the same throttle setting.. otherwise just one motor will take the whole load and the other will just spin along or worse, work as a brake.
thx for the note i will look for that channel. sounds like an interesting setup
Out of interest, what is your propeller type, diameter and pitch?
michigan sailor 2 16RH14
Wait, so at 50V 10A you're consuming 500W of power but your motor is rated for 10kW? Aren't there massive gains (20x) to be had or is that only for when you floor it?
My performance goals are to be able to move along at 3.5 knots using the least amount of energy possible -> when I compared the torque vs. power draw on the 5KW vs 10Kw, the 10Kw off of spec, used less energy (about 40% if I recall) than the 5KW. 5KW would likely have been enough motor for my particular boat. So yes I have way more power than I need but the power curve at the same speed used less energy which is why I choose that model. Yes, I easily can create cavitation on the prop when I power up fast...
@@TheNeds Oh ok. Would you be able to share a video of you trying to draw the max power? c:
@@rever4217 my current challenge is that my batteries only have a working peak rating of 25 amps so they cannot sustain the load. i hope to be moved over to lithium this spring so when i do i will publish.
@@TheNeds I see. Well good luck with it!
will do and thx!
Just spend 300 bucks on a pack of LFP batteries
this is an older video. at the time Lifopo4 was considerably more. appreciate the comment going lithium made a very large positive impact
Hard to watch, you seem to do a whole lot of work without positive results. Sometimes it’s better to sit down and think it through unless of course it’s all for entertainment purposes.
thx for keeping it real! its about the journey not the prize. appreciate the comments!