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Sorcerer II - Hybrid Electric Boat Conversion Project |
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For parts information - click the photo's
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For Solar panels visit solarpanel-sales.co.uk
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For parts information - click the photo's
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Owning and operating an old petrol boat like this these days may not sound particularly appealing, let alone the fact that I live on this particular boat! Well,,, I decided over 6 years ago when I bought the boat and made it my home, that I would somehow, one day, turn it into a more practical machine that would utilise electric propulsion as an auxiliary alternative to her main, very thirsty V8 big block chevy engines. Anybody in the know will tell you that running two 330+ horsepower motors is a very quick way to drain the wallet of any surplus cash.. The boat is 34 foot (moorings declared overall length thanks to her davits and dingy stowed on the stern!). She's 11 foot 6 inches across the beam and has ample head room throughout. She boasts hot water, a shower, wc, fridge/freezer, microwave, 2-burner hob, oven, satellite TV, hi-fi etc and used to able to sleep seven people. Nowadays, having lived onboard for more than 6 years, space is limited - but that's an entirely different story. The hybrid conversion started about three years ago when I bought my first solar panel array, set up on the foredeck. The array consists of ten BP 30 watt walk-proof panels. I added two AirX marine wind turbines to the stern, a powerful inverter that can run peak 4kw with a 1.6kw constant work rating. I also put in a 2.8kw petrol generator installation. I am currently in the process of completing the installation of a second more powerful solar array which replaces the canvass roof with Eight Uni-Solar 62 watt triple junction panels. I have four regulators - two are Aeca which I bought for the original
300 watt array and lately two Morningstar ProStar 15 to support the
(see wiring schematic) Between the domestic 12 volt battery banks and the electric motor 48
volt battery array I run two 12 to 24 volt DC to DC four stage 10
amp chargers (10amp @ 24 volt). To those of you in the know, you will
quite correctly be wondering how I charge a 48 volt battery bank with
two 24 volt chargers without creating a positive - ground short. What I
did there was split my domestic bank down the middle - both banks have
two 100 amp hour AGM batteries (ie 200 amp 12 volt each bank). I have
designated one bank as an 'isolated ground' power source which means
that it's ground/negative does not interact with the ground from the
second bank. This way you can get round the problem of eventually
charging a 48 volt bank with two separate chargers because the grounds
at source remain separate and therefore cannot cause a short between the
24 volt segments of the 48 volt bank. Problem with this setup though is
that if you make a mistake and try to hook into the wrong ground system
with some new appliance, you'll get a nasty 24 volt ground short. One
interesting anomaly is that you get 12 volts between each ground system
if you care to put a meter across them. Anyway, to ensure that I don't
get mixed up. The Isolated ground battery bank is charged independently
with one of the AirX marine turbines in addition to four of the original
30 watt panels. No other charging source is applied to that bank which
is hooked up to one of the 24 volt DC to DC chargers which then chargers
the lower half 24 volt (for want of a better expression) of the 48 volt
drive system battery bank. Also driving that lower half of the drive
system bank is one of the morningstar regulators, which itself has two
sets of 24 volt configured solar arrays from the new roof. Now if you
remember I mentioned I had a couple of 24 volt to 14.4 volt switchmode
convertors, well the one hooked into the isolated ground systems'
morningstar outputs to a standard triple jack cigar light / plug system.
from there I have a multimode switchable dc regulator adapter which can
feed laptops etc up to OK now to the complicated bit, the electric motor drive system itself! I have to say it still has me scratching my head. Fortunately this boat is equipped with drive shafts via Borg Warner velvet drive clutches. According to the manufacturer, those gearboxes can be turned by the shaft up to 1200 rpm without damage to the gearbox. They suggested 1000rpm keeps things nice and safe. So, what I did - by the way I do have pictures of all of this stuff, if not posted now, they soon will be - anyway, the design simply inserts a toothed belt sprockets machined to fit in between the gearbox flanges and the drive shaft flanges. So that the drive shafts would not push the propellers back into the rudders the toothed belt sprocket is a larger circumference and hollowed out so that only a 1/4 inch space is actually taken up between the flanges. A 25mm wide toothed belt connects the drive shafts to the electric-drive system. The reciprocal sprocket on the drive system free-wheels on a bearing if the main engines are in use. Attached to the free-wheeling sprocket is the face-plate of an electro-magnetic 120nm 24 volt Warner clutch. That clutch sits on a stainless steel shaft to which is attached another sprocket which is driven via a second belt by the electric motor (Perm Motor PMG 132) running at 48 volt controlled by 4QDs flagship motor controller the 4QD 300. To say that I have had a few problems along the way is an understatement. First of all I was disappointed with the solar and wind turbine outputs. When manufacturers quote 'peak power' they mean - rarely seen almost impossible to get power! Secondly, I completely underestimated how much horsepower was needed to push this boat along. So my first set of motors and controllers with all the accompanying machine-shop work, control cables and electrics simply were not man enough and consequently a complete waste of time and money. Then when I bought these lovely PMG 132s, I needed bigger controllers, then when I hooked up the test system, all the gearing was wrong and the original clutches were too small so it all had to be re- machined. Then when I set it up again, the 24 volt supply ran at too high an amperage and hence I had to reconfigure the entire charging system so that I could run at 48 volt - which is where I am now - faced with belts that are not manly enough and I'm not happy that the gearing is right so I still might need to change sprockets again. Also I need more batteries... But... it's nearly there... As soon as I get back into employment (having lost my job at Christmas 2006) I'll be back buying the parts I need to finish the job!! Update - The new Solar roof has been installed under the canvass on the original frames. Modifications have been made to accommodate the weight. The front section of the roof is designed to slide open and the rear section can fold backwards. I have a few water-sealing issues on the opening sections, but as soon as that's done the old canvass will be removed. New canvass side panels of course have to be tailored so there will be a delay for new pictures until I finance that. 24th March 2007 update The old canvass roof has been stripped away and the new solar roof has been revealed this week. I have to make a few adjustments for reserve power switch-over between battery banks due to the hot water immersion heater electrical consumption, but it looks like all of my standard electrical requirements for will be met by the combination of renewable energy systems now in operation. OK deep winter will still be a problem, but I'm pleased to be disconnected from shore power already and we are only in March! I'm still using the old canvass for the sides (bit untidy but its temporary) and the trimming needs to be done to complete the 'look' of the new roof. Yes it leaks!!! but not too badly. I'll deal with that eventually. Still have not had a chance to re-gear the electric drive system, however I am helping out a little in the engineering shop that did the machined-parts fabrication so I should be in a position to machine the bits I need fairly soon (need patience).
31st March 2007 update Now that I have inserted a 2 way double pole switch between the 12 volt battery bank along with a set of automatic reset fuses which prevent more than 20 amp current flow damaging the switch - charging the domestic bank is more consistent. The switch disconnects (on both positive and negative poles) the isolated ground 12 volt battery array and connects it in parallel to the existing 12 volt domestic bank. Hence the isolated wind turbine, four additional 30 watt panels add to the charging capacity of the domestic bank. If I want to use the 24 volt DC to DC charger, all I have to do is throw the switch which recreates the isolated ground system. I also found that since I disconnected from shore power a couple of weeks back, one of my circuits was running on an older wiring loom connected to a starter battery. It was not joined to the new charging regime and consequently went flat. That was annoying because I had overlooked that the water pump was still using this circuit. To solve the problem without messing around, I switched on my starter battery bridging switch and also wired in a switchable fused bridge with diodes to the 12 volt solar charging circuit. This way those starter motor batteries can be topped up without being able to feed backwards into my solar circuit under any circumstances unless I deliberately engage another fused bypass circuit I wired in to allow the main engines to be used for charging if necessary. The diodes also mean that I can run the domestic battery circuits right down without affecting the starter motor batteries which remain usable as the domestic water pump supply. just a bit of load balancing really. I have decided the immersion heater is too big a drain on the system so I turned it off last week. Cloudy days (of which there are many) can run the fridge/deep-freezer, all the lights, TV, stereo etc., but not the hot water system! What I'm thinking of doing is using the isolated ground 24 volt segment of the 48 volt electric motor drive system battery supply to power an independent dc 24v - AC 1000watt 240volt inverter which will only be used for the water heater. There is no point having those batteries and respective charging arrays sat there doing nothing (mostly in charge regulation mode - wasting power!!). So, another gizmo for my shopping list. Anyway, enough of the update for now. I've had the 4:1 reduction gear machined that I need for the electric drive system and I'm just about start installing it this afternoon. 1st April 2007 update The 4:1 reduction gear has solved the problem of motor overheating. While installing the gear, I made a couple of belt alignment adjustments. The system works much better, but there is still too much torque for the belts so I'm going to have to find a bigger, stronger set of drive belts for this system. Overall I'm pretty happy today, I can see the system is nearly complete. Of course I still have to invest in a better battery array, but I already have that in mind to do later this year hopefully. Just a question of funds as usual. 10th May 2007 Update Well,,, the whole electric-drive thing is on hold. For no better reason than I have been sidetracked by attempting to make a living and restore some sense of commercial normality. The good news is that I still have not needed to plug in to shore power at all. Surprising seeing as the boat has turned into a mini-machine shop! To say I am stunned by the way the system holds up to the use of electric saws and the engraving machine, sometime all day,,, is an understatement! One day, businesses, homes and public utilities will find the investment necessary to take advantage of the solar and wind technology that is readily available to buy and use. The sense of satisfaction in driving equipment powered by the sun and wind is simply incredible. Most of the time the system works faultlessly, churning out the wattage needed to power everything I need. When it fails to deliver more,,, I just have to wait till the next day! No big deal at all when I think that it's only happened a couple of times after a series of very cloudy days combined with excessive use of machines and late night TV. I almost envy the ignorance of authorities and folk who don't 'see' that renewable energy is worth the implementation costs. OK,, it's certainly cheaper to just 'plug-in' but... long term it will cost the planet! That's my soap-opera bit.. sorry! 19th July 2007 Update The last couple of months have been a little turbulent, however, there is a little light at the end of the tunnel. First of all, these long summer days are providing so much electricity I've got regular hot water, which is great. Also I am trying out a new job which if it works will provide more than enough finance to finish off the project. Either way, I'm still enthusiastic that one day this project will be finished. 23th February 2008 Update
The buoyancy added should according to my
calculations displace close on 300kg. I'm
pleased to say, the water line is exactly where I predicted it should be
and the swim platform is delightfully dry now! Just in case you are
wondering, what I did was build a marine ply form, with ribbing as
appropriate which I glassed in with super strong woven-chopped-mat
combination fibreglass. I used the highest specification marine
grade polyester resin and then epoxy resin over the top to seal it. Then
I filled the cavities completely with expanding foam. The whole lot was
then undercoated and anti-fouled as normal. To the left you can see all the marine ply pieces I had cut to do the job, all individually fibre glassed before assembly.
To the right, picture shows the transom before the modification, but after I had cut through the anti-foul and gel coat to create the bonding surfaces. All pretty straightforward work really. Had just one cockpit drain to extend through, but that was about it. Overall, its quite a significant modification. Any extending of below-waterline length affects the performance of a boat. This hybrid modification had to accommodate my two primary requirements without affecting the boat's normal performance when on the plane. You can clearly see that when on the plane, this simple modification will not interfere with the original performance of the hull. But when not on the plane and slowly cruising through the water, the transom modification will massively reduce turbulence and it also increased the overall buoyancy of the boat so it can handle the extra weight in batteries.
Something else which always bugged me about this boat was the lack of safety handles when walking along the gunnels. As you can see, I've solved that problem as well. Hurrah! In this picture you can also just about see that my wind turbine mounts also support the davits for my dingy. I'm particularly proud of that rig as it really has proven to be very strong as well as practical. The black blob in the picture is my satellite dish perched between the turbines. You can also just about see an emergency spare outboard motor that also lives out the back there. Back to the electric drive belt slip problem I encountered last year. I have recently decided on an idea which should solve the problem. Won't cost anything except time as I already have all the bits I need onboard scavenged from various projects, so' I'll be getting on with that within a few weeks. Currently I'm just trying to sort out the interior as it's all got a bit out of hand inside the boat. This year, I intend to use this boat alot and hopefully will have a proper battery bank installed as well. More on that later! In association with and web pages by www.elearn-university.org - For the engineering shop (accounts applicable) and publishing Contact us rss feed http://www.rsspad.com/rss2/15906.xml |
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120 watts, I also have a 150 watt AC inverter for
convenience plus a Ni-CAD AA faster charger for torch batteries -
which is nice because that way it reduced the chance of hooking
something into the isolated ground system that might create a ground
fault-short with the main wiring distribution of the boat. The second morningstar is easy because it's accompanying 24 to 14.4 volt converter
simply loops via a diode circuit back into the main domestic 12 volt
system and hey voila, I got plenty of domestic electricity if I need it
from the drive system battery bank and solar arrays!
Alot
has happened since my last update. Among other things I spent 2 1/2
months out of the water living in the marina car park. I took the
opportunity to extend the water-line of the boat by building under the
swim platform. Couple of reasons for doing this 1) the weight of
batteries etc had resulted in the swim platform being permanently in
contact with the water. OK its teak, but it
was annoying me. 2) I wanted to smooth out the turbulence when underway
because as you know, the transom of a motor boat isn't exactly designed
for slip streaming. That's alot of wasted energy when it comes to
electric motoring so it needed to be smoothed out. You can also see I
have incorporated a stern thruster (dismantled 101 lb salt water
trolling outboard) at the same time. Just something I've been meaning to
do for a while.
I
have finally got round to rebuilding the cockpit sides and it looks very
pleasing to the eye I think. The solar panels that make up the roof
itself, blend in nicely. The rear to panels will fold down once I setup
an electric or manual winch to lower and retrieve the section back up to
position. Not something I'll tackle doing manually because of the
awkward width (8ft at the top).