96v boat upgrade

[curiouscarbon]

Finished and tested boat. 96v 28kwh lifepo4 battery. Everything went very well except the motor. It is a 12kw hub motor and when I used over 3kw it would overheat. China is not making good on it. So have to look for another motor. Any suggestions?
You can watch some of my test runs here.

holy heck happiest person on planet earth seen in this video ?

nice RC boat LOL
???

cheers for sharing the test run

 

[curiouscarbon]

Can you add some cooling to keep temps down?

i too am curious what the motor looks like

assuming it’s air cooled?

 

[curiouscarbon]

this project is so fricking cool, i can’t even

 

[zstine]

Use a 20hp outboard $4,800, which is 48V and allows standard 48V inverter chargers which are cheap. like the ~$750 EG4 6500W unit. You really don't need 96V for such a low power application. It's going to drive price up with very little gain.

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[zstine]

Finished and tested boat. 96v 28kwh lifepo4 battery. Everything went very well except the motor. It is a 12kw hub motor and when I used over 3kw it would overheat. China is not making good on it. So have to look for another motor. Any suggestions?
You can watch some of my test runs here.

Disregard my above comment. I didn't get through the whole thread before I posted.

I am curious why you went with 96V with such a low power output of 12kW motor? I am looking to do a very similar thing and finding 96V battery packs expensive and/or from China, compared to the 48V packs. Also, I can't find a 96V MPPT charger with inverter. And again, 96VDC to 120VAC inverters are hard to find outside Alibaba. Where did you source your charge controller, inverter, and batteries?

It seems 48V systems are cheaper, but how much do you really loose in efficiency? I would still run a 96V motor, but use two 48V packs, I may need to add a 96V BMS though. So its just the charger/inverter running at the lower 48V, but I can get 48V MPPT charger/inverter all-in-one box.

I'm looking to run a 65Hp AC-20, 96V motor. Consume 15kWh at cruise of 9knt and have 80kWh battery pack for 5 hour endurance.

 

[Warpspeed]

I have successfully run a 96v system at home for about four years. Never had as much as a tingle from it either, but then I am an old fart with very dry skin.
On the other hand, I once helped a mate launch his aluminium power boat from the beach. I was up to my knees in salt water and had wet hands.
With one hand clutching the gunnel, I accidentally came into direct contact with the twelve volt battery with my second hand. That was quite a belt I will never forget.

So its not so much the voltage as the current that can flow that gets you.

Anyhow, back to 96 volts. It has advantages from the wiring and efficiency point of view, but there are a lot of extra battery cells to keep an eye on.
As already stated, there is very little equipment out there designed to run directly with 96 volts dc.

While I am quite happy with my own 96v system, If I was building a boat I would go for 48 volts, and be pretty afraid of it, given my past experience with only 12v. But you asked the question, and those are my feelings on the subject.

Positive ground will corrode your hull. Negative ground will corrode your wiring. Up to you to decide, but most things are designed for negative ground these days, especially with an inboard engine.

 

[jberger]

That is a fun freaking project, thank you for posting!

 

[OzSolar]

That is a fun freaking project, thank you for posting!

Same here. I've day dreamed about converting a pontoon boat for years.

 

[RightLeft]

Finished and tested boat. 96v 28kwh lifepo4 battery. Everything went very well except the motor. It is a 12kw hub motor and when I used over 3kw it would overheat. China is not making good on it. So have to look for another motor. Any suggestions?
You can watch some of my test runs here.

Looks amazing. Very interested in what charge controller you used. I am trying to do the same thing as you (though I am not going to build my own motor!). So many 96vdc charge controllers available out of china and so hard to know if any are any good. Also what convertor to 12VDC did you get? I've got my shopping cart on Ali-express ready but thought I should see if you could give me some feedback before I pull the trigger. Thanks.