Hi all! Newbie here so forgive me for my inevitable mistakes. I have searched the forum for similar threads but might have missed them so I am taking the plunge and posting my own question.
I am converting a 1953 wood boat (42' long, 25,000lbs) into an all electric boat. Don't ask me why. I got the idea and before I knew it I was in too far to quit.
Propulsion is 2x Elco EP-70s. They require 108V power. My goal is to have a nice 6-8 hour cruising day without having to fire up the genset. My basic math (could be wrong!) is that I will need about 1000Ah of battery power at 108V to accomplish this. I figured I could get to 900Ah with three sets of 36 LIFEPO4 302Ah cells. Rough cost for just the cells shipped to me = 25K.
It seems like the BMS is the sticking point. Of course I don't mind paying up for a premium BMS because I want the ship to be safe and I'd like the bells and whistles of being able to monitor every last cell from my iphone or something. The problem is that the BMSs that I have been able to find which are marine-focused (and ideally have NMEA2000 compatibility) seem to only work with their own vertically integrated brands like Lithionics. Those systems are appealing for their high quality but the price premium for the integrated batteries system is ENORMOUS. In a system this large it seems worth it to consider other options.
Can anyone point me in the right direction or just give friendly advice?
Thanks!
Matt
I am converting a 1953 wood boat (42' long, 25,000lbs) into an all electric boat. Don't ask me why. I got the idea and before I knew it I was in too far to quit.
Propulsion is 2x Elco EP-70s. They require 108V power. My goal is to have a nice 6-8 hour cruising day without having to fire up the genset. My basic math (could be wrong!) is that I will need about 1000Ah of battery power at 108V to accomplish this. I figured I could get to 900Ah with three sets of 36 LIFEPO4 302Ah cells. Rough cost for just the cells shipped to me = 25K.
It seems like the BMS is the sticking point. Of course I don't mind paying up for a premium BMS because I want the ship to be safe and I'd like the bells and whistles of being able to monitor every last cell from my iphone or something. The problem is that the BMSs that I have been able to find which are marine-focused (and ideally have NMEA2000 compatibility) seem to only work with their own vertically integrated brands like Lithionics. Those systems are appealing for their high quality but the price premium for the integrated batteries system is ENORMOUS. In a system this large it seems worth it to consider other options.
Can anyone point me in the right direction or just give friendly advice?
Thanks!
Matt