Guru
Joined: 15/07/2006
Location: AustraliaPosts: 676
| Posted: 11:52pm 23 Jul 2017 |
Got it registered. Painted the rego label. Part of the registration, they wanted a name to be on the boat, so while I call the design, Ma-sea, mother of the sea. (a twist of Marcy, my wife), we came up with E LAD. This is the small version of the big one, so it is the LAD, but the Electric LAD. (a twist of Dale, my son)
Time for a test. We headed off to Kinchant dam. Of course I towed it with my EV Hilux.
The Golden Motor 10kW outboard is a very nice motor. The motor has a fair bit of weight, but I dont know, a comparable petrol outboard may be similar weight. Two people on board, I am in the back. I am not much weight but still all adds up. The more power on, the deeper the back of the boat sinks, therefore creating more drag.
14.5A 7km/hr
19A 6.1 km/hr
32A 7.8 km/hr
56A 10.5 km/hr
82A 12 km/hr
125A 15 km/hr
182A 17.5 km/hr
186A 18 km/hr
Notice at 14.5A the boat achieved a better speed than at 19A. The motor did not dig the back of the boat down so much and was able to achieve the higher speed. I moved to the front to help level the boat even more and the speed increased to 7.8km/hr at the 14.5A.
Measured pack voltage at 52.6v or 3.28-3.29v per cell.
With 3 people on board (Grandad, Son/Dad & Son) at full throttle (186A), 17km/hr. Thats 1km/hr slower with the extra 40kg. I tried to match the 14.5A but the closest I could get was 15A and the speed was measured at 5.5km/hr. When I moved to the front (balance the boat better) the speed rose to 6.0km/hr.
It would be interesting to see what speed we could achieve at full throttle and the boat more level, but I didnt want to leave the tiller steering at full throttle.
We swapped the motors. Golden Motor removed, we put on the little pod motor that I tried with our solar canoes. This is the results with the pod motor. All 3 of us still on board.
8.2A 6.3 km/hr
12.3A 6.5 km/hr
17 7.8 km/hr
31 10 km/hr (full throttle)
So it is obvious that the little pod motor is more efficient, that is, better speed for the amount of current or less current for the same speed. But of course the maximum current I could achieve was only 31A. The Golden motor has a lot more power.
Trev @ drivebynature.com