Converting CD30C from Diesel to Electric propulsion

[John Stone]

Hi John,

Thanks for asking. I'm feeling much better maybe 80% but my wife is still the same as yesterday. Hopefully she will perk up tomorrow.

The 70 watt panels that I have are 22x28 and they make the 22x23 that are the 55watts that I think you were referring to. They are called semi-flexible but are actually quite stiff. I'll see If I can come up with a way to demonstrate how stiff they are. If you wanted to go with a long and thin semi-ridged walk on panel (with aluminum backing) they have some new ones that aren't on the web site yet. I think that they are 13x33 and 13x48. They are around 55 or 60 watts.

As a side note they told me that walking on my semi-flexible panel that will be mounted on the sea hood would not be a problem.

Food for thought.

Keith

Keith I had looked at their high end panels but they are 14x41 and it won’t work for me. I also need the wires coming off in the same direction to better support using it as a single panel and not opposite directions which supports wiring in series. What I want is out there I just have to find it.

[Keith]

Just another quest! One more of many I'm sure.

Keith

[John Stone]

Anyone doing what you snd I are doing has done a ton of that...no doubt about it.

[ghockaday]

The motor is mounted, aligned and I had the prop spinning for a few second just to make sure everything was good before mounting the rest of the components and managing wires. The cardboard box represents the LiFePO4 battery that I am building. As you can see it will mount aft of the motor basically where the MD7A sat. I'll explain the battery decision in the next post.

motor installed.jpg

mockup for LiFePo4 battery placement.jpg

planning for wiring.jpg

Will you have to remove the battery to inspect the stuffing box and rudder shaft?

[ghockaday]

I got my first shot on March 26 and tested positive for covid on the 30th, It has not been a fun ride but I'll get over it. Seems when I went to the sterile environment of my eye doctor on the 24 the young lady had been exposed the preceding weekend. So with everyone wearing mask and wiping everything with alcohol I still got exposed.

I am particularly interested in your battery bank. My research cautioned me away from that market. I hope it works out very well and it could be an option for me when I replace my battery bank. Like you I, couldn't get the price tag below 8k, I keep checking though. The AGM bank has worked very well for us so far. good looking work on the install. dee

[tjr818]

. . . I am particularly interested in your battery bank. My research cautioned me away from that market. I hope it works out very well and it could be an option for me when I replace my battery bank. Like you I, couldn't get the price tag below 8k, I keep checking though. The AGM bank has worked very well for us so far. good looking work on the install. dee

What size AGMs duo you have for your bank and how many?

[ghockaday]

I have 8, 6 volt, 300 ah life line batteries. We have never used more than 10% of the bank.

[John Stone]

I found that you can build your own LiFePO4 batteries from 3.2V cells that you get from China. They are less then 25% the cost of new LiFePO4 and less then lead acid batteries as well. I purchased 16 3.2V 202Ah cells (48V in series) at $56 each for a total of $896 plus shipping from China $400. I also needed to buy the BMS (battery management system) for $220. So my total cost for 202Ah is $1516. 202Ah of Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries is around $8000. Note: I have to build the battery case, balance the cells and connect the BMS.

I did not know you could build your own LiFePO4 batteries. Fantastic. That sounds like a serious technical project. I’m impressed. Looking forward to seeing how this turn out and if the end result meets your expectations.

[Keith]

The motor is mounted, aligned and I had the prop spinning for a few second just to make sure everything was good before mounting the rest of the components and managing wires. The cardboard box represents the LiFePO4 battery that I am building. As you can see it will mount aft of the motor basically where the MD7A sat. I'll explain the battery decision in the next post.

motor installed.jpg

mockup for LiFePo4 battery placement.jpg

planning for wiring.jpg

Will you have to remove the battery to inspect the stuffing box and rudder shaft?

I ill have to remove the battery box to do any major work on the stuffing box and hose connection but not to inspect it. I think that I could change the packing without removing the battery but time will tell. The coupling is under the motor and can be accessed from both sides of the motor. The picture shows the box against the motor but in reality it will be mounted further aft almost to the compression post that is under the cockpit to support the mizzen if my CD30 were a ketch.

[Keith]

I got my first shot on March 26 and tested positive for covid on the 30th, It has not been a fun ride but I'll get over it. Seems when I went to the sterile environment of my eye doctor on the 24 the young lady had been exposed the preceding weekend. So with everyone wearing mask and wiping everything with alcohol I still got exposed.

I am particularly interested in your battery bank. My research cautioned me away from that market. I hope it works out very well and it could be an option for me when I replace my battery bank. Like you I, couldn't get the price tag below 8k, I keep checking though. The AGM bank has worked very well for us so far. good looking work on the install. dee

I too was/am nervous about the cells from China. I'm still waiting for their arrival although they are not late yet and will hopefully be here soon. My primary source of reference on the LiFePO4 cells is https://diysolarforum.com/search/search. This site is made up of people doing home, RV and marine solar projects all of which need battery storage. The people on this site are pretty happy with the sourcing of cells from China. It is still somewhat of a gamble but IMHO the cost vs benefit is worth the risk.

Stay tuned.

Keith

[Keith]

I found that you can build your own LiFePO4 batteries from 3.2V cells that you get from China. They are less then 25% the cost of new LiFePO4 and less then lead acid batteries as well. I purchased 16 3.2V 202Ah cells (48V in series) at $56 each for a total of $896 plus shipping from China $400. I also needed to buy the BMS (battery management system) for $220. So my total cost for 202Ah is $1516. 202Ah of Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries is around $8000. Note: I have to build the battery case, balance the cells and connect the BMS.

I did not know you could build your own LiFePO4 batteries. Fantastic. That sounds like a serious technical project. I’m impressed. Looking forward to seeing how this turn out and if the end result meets your expectations.

Here are a few pics of a 200Ah 24V battery box. He has 8 cells in the 24 V system and I will have 16 cells in my 48V system. I'll show a diagram of my 48V layout in the next post since we can only do 3 pic per post.

24V battery box.png (756.95 KiB) Viewed 787 times

24V battery box 1.png (694.17 KiB) Viewed 787 times

24V battery box2.png (857.73 KiB) Viewed 787 times

[Keith]

Here is what my layout will look like.

48V 202Ah configuration.png (83.47 KiB) Viewed 787 times

As I understand it one on the key issues is to keep the cells tight together so that there is no or minimal stress on all of the electrical connections during and shock or vibration loads. Some people have used two pieces of plywood on opposite ends connected by althread rods and nut to keep it clamped tight. I'm thinking of two panels on the inside of the box, one on the length and one on the width with jack screws on the outside. This will allow me to apply just enough force to keep them tight but also be able to back them off to remove a cell(s) if needed. I'm still considering my options and won't make the final decision until I have the cells in hand.

Yesterday I connected the solar panels and solar controller to the system. All seems to be working as planned. At this point I have a fully functional system but with only the 79Ah battery bank. Still need to do some wire management and general cleanup. Depending on when my 202Ah cells arrive from China and I get the battery box built and installed on the boat I may launch with just the 79Ah battery bank. For my daily sailing 79Ah should actually be fine but for the launch I have to motor down a river and a few more miles through two bays if there is no wind. At this point I have no actually data on how may miles I can go at what speed with the 79Ah bank. From the estimate it should be fine but I like actually data to make decissions. Just for fun here is my launch path.

MOONDANCE Launch 2021.png (456.72 KiB) Viewed 787 times

It's funny making this chart has actually given me more confidence because I realized that the river is only 1/2 mile long or so and I have sailed through the two bays to get to Nantucket Sound several times before with good conditions.

Keith


Keith

[Keith]

I got my first shot on March 26 and tested positive for covid on the 30th, It has not been a fun ride but I'll get over it. Seems when I went to the sterile environment of my eye doctor on the 24 the young lady had been exposed the preceding weekend. So with everyone wearing mask and wiping everything with alcohol I still got exposed.

I am particularly interested in your battery bank. My research cautioned me away from that market. I hope it works out very well and it could be an option for me when I replace my battery bank. Like you I, couldn't get the price tag below 8k, I keep checking though. The AGM bank has worked very well for us so far. good looking work on the install. dee

Hi Dennis,

I hope that you are doing OK with the Covid. Last year I canceled all Dr, Dentist and Eye appointments. They all said don't worry we are safe. I'm so sorry to hear that your experience proved them wrong.

Everyone stay safe!

Keith

PS After my second Moderna shot on Monday as already reported I had a terrible day on Tuesday, a bit better on Wednesday and felt good on Thursday and Friday. This morning I woke up with severe orientation issues. I stood up from bed and had to sit right back down due to dizziness and nausea. I finally made it to the lazy boy where I spent all day and finally the issues went away mid afternoon. I have never had any issue like this before at any time in my life so I can only assume that it from the Moderna shot. I share this information not to scare anyone but to inform you. I'm still glad that I got vaccinated.

[ghockaday]

Thank you Keith I am debating on wether to get the second shot. I have heard it is worse and I don't want to revisit any part of the last two weeks.

The article that finally scared me off of the DIY project of batteries was from the Marine How To page of Compass marine. You probably came across the article in some of your research as well. I wish you luck with your project, It will save you a ton and you will probably be very knowledgeable of the do's and don'ts when complete. There are a few things that I wish I had done differently or better with our conversion but they are what they are. It is a pretty clean safe build. But could have been better. I have had regrets but never when I go to take her out on a 50 degree february day and I just hit the key and back out of the slip or watch someone change fuel filters or oil filters. Over the 15 to 20 years we will sail this boat the cost saving of not putting in the diesel will be way on the negative side I'm sure. But we sure like the quiet and cleanliness of the electric. ( I am a 30 year Electrical and Instrumentation person by trade.) Dee

[John Stone]

Thank you Keith I am debating on wether to get the second shot. I have heard it is worse and I don't want to revisit any part of the last two weeks.
Dee

Obviously everyone has to decide for themselves but it was not THAT bad. I felt crummy for about 36 hours. My arm was sore as hell but 3-4 days later I was 100 percent and maybe four days later I had zero effects. And except for taking one day off from boat work I was at the boat the whole time. Sure, it would kill the average person but Cape Dory sailors are not average people. Just saying....