EP 4 - Review: Solar Electric Dinghy | Newport Vessels Motor with 30Ah Lithium Battery
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- čas přidán 18. 12. 2022
- In this video I show you and review my electric dinghy setup and we test to see how far it will go and how long a small 30Ah Lithium battery will last with a Newport Vessels 55 lbs thrust trolling motor set at medium throttle. I use a 50 watt solar panel to trickle charge the battery when sits or is in use and it really seems to extend the battery life at lower throttle settings.
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(Buying from these links helps support our CZcams channel - THANKS!)
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- ALEKO 8.4' DINGHY BOAT ~$750: amzn.to/3VbayMa
- NEWPORT VESSELS 55 LBS THRUST MOTOR $199: amzn.to/3BLeoVq
- ECO WORTHY 30 Ah LITHIUM BATTERY $120: amzn.to/3hGyIR9
- BATTERY BOX $70: amzn.to/3WqNqep
- TROLLING MOTOR FIN $40: amzn.to/3v5Hsn8
- SOLAR PANEL $100: amzn.to/3hHLGhq
- VICTRON SMART BATTERY CHARGER: amzn.to/3FQqUoa
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Just so you know, most trolling motors that size use dissipation coils to slow the motor down. Therefore, changing the speed does not affect power consumption much at all. Yours may be different, but mine uses about the same amount of power no matter what speed I am going. To reduce power consumption at lower speed you would want a pulse width modulator.
I did not know this. Thanks for schooling me.
Pretty sure my motor is not like yours because my motor has a voltage meter (blue lights on top) to tell you how much battery life is left. Obviously not accurate but a crude meter. When you go full throttle the voltage drops. I’m definitely not an electronic engineer but seems logical.
@@sailingsole that voltage drop you see is where the motor is under a heavier load, so therefore it may be using less power at lower speeds.
I figure that little solar panel didn't do much at all to help the run time - but it certainly was a fun little test and I enjoyed the ride around the marina!
Ya it’s more of a trickle charge when it’s docked. I still use it and like to believe it helps 😂🤙🏼
Nice test. LiFePO4 stays at rock-solid same voltage from 90% all the way down to 30%, and most motors attempt to measure the capacity by guesstimating based on the voltage, which is why it said 100% even though it was more like 35% when it started blinking. Great runtime anyway though.
Thanks TGT! Ya I understand that, it’s why it died so fast near the end. Cheers!
While this is all true, the real reason it stayed at full capacity for as long as it did is more likely due to the fact that it was being fed charge voltage by a solar charge controller.
Not correct. A 55# troller pulls about 200W continuous at speed 3. That 100W panel loses ~10% even in perfect sun through the MPPT, so it's giving back 90W-ish, max, less than half of the motor's draw, so it'll extend the range of the battery by a few hours, but it can't keep it topped up. Also, the volt meter on top of the motor can be tuned for lead acid or lithium, but not both. I'm willing to bet this one is tuned for monitoring lead acid, because that's what manufacturers do with volt meters 99% of the time. Lead acid reads full at 12.8V. A lithium pack is less than half-full at 12.8V because it lives higher than lead acid until the last 10% of its discharge cycle. So the LEDs would read full for the first few hours even if no solar panel were connected. The battery was not topped up. A volt meter is a faulty way to read a LiFePO4 battery.
@@texasgreentea1 Ya you’re right what was I thinking, having a charge source hooked up couldn’t possibly affect a volt meter’s readings.
@@kauaislash5 Not sure what you mean. Volt meter readings are certainly affected by state of charge. They have a very non-linear correlation, which makes voltage wildly inaccurate as a proxy for state of charge, especially with lithium batteries. Also, I gather from your sarcasm that my last comment upset you. I didn't mean any offense. I was just trying to share info I thought would be helpful. I apologize if I seemed combative. That was not my intent.
Your CZcamss hit all the stuff we new boat owners/want-to-be owners care about! I saw that motor on a paddle board and wondered if it could be put on a dinghy. The solar panel was an excellent idea. Thanks for a real-world test that said so much. I couldn't help but wonder if you had started before noon and still had sun on that panel if it would have gone much longer...?
Thanks Obi-Wan! The fact that a Jedi of your level watches my videos is an honor. The solar panel is only 50 watts so IMO it’s just a trickle charge. Really only useful if you go to the dinghy dock and leave it for hours charging then motor back to your boat. I’m sure bigger better systems can be built but this was just a fun experiment. I do connect the panel on the regs tho. Cheers!
Perfect for being at anchor just going ashore. Great video on this thank you.
Ya that’s what I use it for. Cheers!
Awsome I've been looking at electric drives for a dingy. I seen your in long-beach. I'm on dock j . Waiting on some parts to work on my boat .
Right on Russell, i hope the video helped. Maybe I’ll see you around!
Hey Andy, great content, as always! Hopefully your LiFePO4 battery is a deep cycle battery (e.g. Lithium Titanate Oxide, or LTO). Otherwise a full discharge can cause the electrodes to oxidize and retract, which will reduce the battery life. Love your channel!
Thanks man. The battery has a bms so it will shut off output before it hurts the battery. It’s been a while since i made that video and the battery has performed fine ever since. 🤙🏼
Interesting video. Lasted a long time. Just think if you would've stopped and done some fishing the batteries would have gone a lot longer getting a charge while you were fishing or sightseeing.
Yeah I e thought about adding another 50 watt panel to the other side and upgrading my battery but it works fine for now. Cheers!
Hello Andy, Very good your video, great this experience, continue plis, espero sigas publicando con bateria de 100 AH y cuanto aguanta, saludos
Thanks for watching! 🤙🏼
Nice. I've thought about the trolling motor option. E-propulsion and torqeedo are expensive. Pleasantly surprised by the range on 30Ah battery!
Lithium has come down since I bought that 30Ah. I would go for at least a 50Ah now.
@@sailingsole Newport Vessels 55lb trolling motor recommends a 50Ah battery and has a max draw of 52A. Max discharge of the Eco-worthy 30Ah batter is 25A. Definitely the 50Ah battery is going to be better paired with that trolling motor, especially if you have it on full blast. Looks like plenty of range for a weekend at Catalina without recharging.
@@keeldragger Agreed that a 50Ah would be better but mine does the trick for now.
Nice
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Thank you for being practical in your test of the electric motor. I had been thinking about going electric on my dinghy…do you think it’s powerful enough to be on the oceans, or in rougher water?
No I don’t think it’s strong enough for a dinghy in the ocean. But maybe if you had the 86 pound thrust motor that would work. But that is a 24 V system.
How does that solar panel and victron charger do keeping the batter y up with power used? Nice job
Thank you
It won’t keep up. It is merely a trickle charger for when it’s sitting at the dinghy dock or not being used but that 50 watt panel won’t keep up. It will top it off if I let it sit which is nice.
Thanks for this video. Got an Intex Excursion I'm gonna custom mod the floor with plywood and make a built in motor mount. I have the same trolling motor and a 100ah iron phosphate on the way. Wonder how much the solar panel helped? Should I try a 100 watt panel? Thanks again and be safe.
Yeah, if you have room for a 100 watt panel do it. That will be much better to charge your larger battery. I’m curious how long your setup will run in good sunlight.
Hello again!
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I am going to do a setup like this and make 1 big solar panel roof I can add and take off on boat like yours
I love it. Show me please!!!
add a flex solar to bimini top.
maybe up the battery to 50 or 100ah and be able to run speed 4 or 5 no problem. could always get one of them 100w foldable solar panels and lay it across the bow to charge.
You’re right, you could increase and upgrade every component to be bigger but this gear was relatively affordable and the point of this particular video was to test what gear I currently have in a practical use test. My 30Ah battery will power it at top speed no problem but for how long?! Thanks John!
You should get 1 more of those batteries so you have 2 in that box and that way if its windy or no solar you know you have 1 hour
Good idea 👍🏼
@@sailingsole if you do it you know positive to + and negative to - on both batteries but then you do positive on 1 battery and negative on other don't do them on 1 battery then it won't pull threw both batteries or charge correctly.