maltrease wrote:
I wanted to give an update on my usage of the 403 with the solar panel charging. Everything worked great for about a month. I'd use about 2/3 of the battery on an 8 mile round trip to the gulf and back. The solar panel would fully charge the battery in about 2 days so as long as I waited a day between trip it was ready to go again.
I thought that my approach would greatly extend the life of the system, never having to disconnect a cable and creating opportunities for water and corrosion to mess things up. Unfortunately, there is something I didn't account for with the design... rain.
1.) I discovered the battery had water inside and wasn't charging properly. I contacted Torqueedo and said it was strange since I hadn't even taken it out on the water in over a week but there had been heavy rains. I also included a picture -
https://ibb.co/kuMmsK - showing the setup which I thought was a good way to use the system.
2.) Torqeedo wrote back to say the battery is IP67 rated and if its exposed to water longer then 30 minutes, including rain, then it would be ruined. They sent me a box to return the battery so they could check for a manufacturing defect.
3.) Battery was returned to Torqeedo, no manufacturing defect was discovered so it won't be replaced under the warranty. They did offer to replace it for $30 less then it would cost me to buy a new one online...
4.) I asked for my broken battery to be returned to me, so an electronic friend of mine could mess around with it, maybe salvage some parts for his projects but Torqeedo had already disposed of my battery.
I'll end up buying a new battery vs. accepting their $30 discount. It was pretty disappointing that they were not more helpful and wouldn't even send me my broken battery back!
Since I have to buy a new battery I'm going to go ahead and get the 900 Watt version. That will give me a huge buffer of usage between when I need the power and the slow trickle recharge from the sun. Do you guys have any suggestions on how I can protect the battery from the deadly water in the sky? My current line of thinking is to get a medium size cooler and keep the battery in that. I'd cut a whole for the cables to come out and put some kind of rain cover over it. I'm definitely open to alternative ideas.
The 'silver lining' is that with the red tide I've not missed out on good sailing while waiting for Torqeedo to offer support and I'll proabbly have plenty of time get a new system up and running before the red tide clears out.
Wow, I never would have guessed that mere rainwater could possibly get inside a sealed battery rated to float in the water. Rainwater is not that intrusive. I've been caught in some intense rainstorms out on the water with both my Torqeedo batteries fully exposed and thoroughly drenched for far longer than 30 minutes and have never had a problem with either. Are you talking just rainwater or were they ever submerged at any time?
If they were never submerged, then I'm thinking that the battery's seal may have been defective and that Torqeedo is perhaps not being fully honest with you. They have been reported by others to dodge warranty repairs with less than reasonable excuses. In any case, I would absolutely insist they return your property or provide you with another battery. They had no right to dispose of the old battery unless you gave them prior permission to do so. It was
your property, not theirs.
Before you buy a 900 watt-hour battery directly from Torqeedo, check the current price from
defender.com. I'm seeing a current price of $786 including shipping. This may be a better price than what Torqeedo is quoting you.
To protect the new battery when not in use, the cooler is a good idea. Also a dry bag could work, or even a decent, sealable plactic bag.