tpmister wrote:
Thanks. Those are things I didn't consider.
What name/model lithium ion battery do you have? How does it compare in terms of battery life to a lead acid battery?
The battery is 40 amp hours at 12 volts. A group size 24 is usually about 40 amp hours. The Lithium battery can be used until the protection module turns it off. Basically the whole 40 amp hours. If you want a lead acid battery to last through 500 recharges or so, then you should not use more than half of the capacity, or 20 amp hours.
Here is a link to the source for the battery and it is the page that lists all the capacities available. If I had it to do over, I would get the 60 amp hour battery with the digital condition gauge. So far I have traveled about 3 nautical miles on the battery with voltage never going below 12.1 volts while the motor is running. I have not gone further because the currents where we are camped are pretty strong. 2 to 3 knots and it is hard going against that especially with the wind blowing 20 knots too. Sometimes aiding but many times just another impediment to forward progress. Plus the system is relatively new and I want to get a real good feel for reliability and durability of the system before attempting a full discharge of the battery. I have already found some high resistances in the switches that controlled forward and reverse and the two speeds. They have been replaced and it made a big difference in motor performance.
http://www.bioennopower.com/?page_id=2971
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Hobie PA14 with a mod or two
Some random Modification Pictures