I plan to do this next year, maybe, but first want to do a little theory crafting to see if it's even feasible.
I own a 1980 36' Hunter, displacement 13,500. It's currently powered by a 20HP 2QM20 Yanmar, which pushes it along at around 6 knots.
I currently have a lead acid starter and a lead acid house battery, all my electrics are on 12volts and I just replaced every single piece of wiring with new cable, new panel etc.
Now, my idea is with a combination of large solar panels (such as http://www.emarineinc.com/products/Kyocera-325-Watt-Solar-Panel-Fixed-Frame-KD325GX%2dLFB.html) mounted above the cockpit (with a custom bimini frame) and 1 or 2 wind gens is to have about 1500/2000 watts of renewable standalone electricity generation.
Elco Motor EP-2000 is the engine I am looking at (AC motor) or the AC20 https://www.electricautosports.com/node/229 (72Volt)
Does anyone have any experience with these motors or have another suggestion?
For batteries, is it essential to go lithium? Or can I go AGMs, which are literally 1/5 of the price. I think the runtime of both engines is calculated on 220AH of batteries at 72volts, or 1320AH at 12v. This bank would take around 10-20 hours (allowing in a large fudge factor) to fully charge from depleted to full using (obviously, not how I am going to run them). The runtime of the first engine at hull speed on 220AH of batteries is around 3 hours at 80% hull speed, going up to 6 hours at 60%. If the battery bank takes 5-10 hours to charge up halfway then in theory I should be able to run for most of a day.
Another question I have is for the house bank - would I be able to link it up to the charging as well without damaging the batteries? I heard going above 1000watts on 12volts is a pretty big no-no. What would be the best way to link the engine bank and the house bank? Would running them off the same large bank be ok (I am guessing no)
I'd be interested to see if anyone else has had such a large amount of solar/wind in conjunction with an electric engine and how it worked out for them.
Thoughts/Comments/Insults?
I own a 1980 36' Hunter, displacement 13,500. It's currently powered by a 20HP 2QM20 Yanmar, which pushes it along at around 6 knots.
I currently have a lead acid starter and a lead acid house battery, all my electrics are on 12volts and I just replaced every single piece of wiring with new cable, new panel etc.
Now, my idea is with a combination of large solar panels (such as http://www.emarineinc.com/products/Kyocera-325-Watt-Solar-Panel-Fixed-Frame-KD325GX%2dLFB.html) mounted above the cockpit (with a custom bimini frame) and 1 or 2 wind gens is to have about 1500/2000 watts of renewable standalone electricity generation.
Elco Motor EP-2000 is the engine I am looking at (AC motor) or the AC20 https://www.electricautosports.com/node/229 (72Volt)
Does anyone have any experience with these motors or have another suggestion?
For batteries, is it essential to go lithium? Or can I go AGMs, which are literally 1/5 of the price. I think the runtime of both engines is calculated on 220AH of batteries at 72volts, or 1320AH at 12v. This bank would take around 10-20 hours (allowing in a large fudge factor) to fully charge from depleted to full using (obviously, not how I am going to run them). The runtime of the first engine at hull speed on 220AH of batteries is around 3 hours at 80% hull speed, going up to 6 hours at 60%. If the battery bank takes 5-10 hours to charge up halfway then in theory I should be able to run for most of a day.
Another question I have is for the house bank - would I be able to link it up to the charging as well without damaging the batteries? I heard going above 1000watts on 12volts is a pretty big no-no. What would be the best way to link the engine bank and the house bank? Would running them off the same large bank be ok (I am guessing no)
I'd be interested to see if anyone else has had such a large amount of solar/wind in conjunction with an electric engine and how it worked out for them.
Thoughts/Comments/Insults?