My First Solar Powered Boat Project

[SolarCanoe]

"One Of" Solar Boat for our vacation

Just to recap a little . . . I actually have two solar boat projects in the works.

One is a 14 foot canoe that will be easily broken down and carried to the water. That is why I have chosen to use 4 smaller batteries that I can carry two at a time without breaking my back. The solar panels for this canoe are two folding 100 watt panels. They came with a 20 amp waterproof charge controller.

The other project is a larger freighter canoe that will have a fixed canopy of solar panels similar to TomCat58's solar canoe "Serenity". It will have retractable pontoons as well as retractable motor mounts, and a variable height canopy. This project will have to wait until I move to a house with a larger garage.

We are going to spend the month of September at a cottage on Charleston Lake in south eastern Ontario. I don't want to spend a month beside a lake without a solar boat to enjoy, so I decided to throw together a "One Of" design using some of the materials I have acquired for the other projects.

I decided to use the larger freighter canoe with the smaller strap-on pontoons and a makeshift Bimini type framework to hold the folding solar panels. I will simply stern mount the trolling motor and use the 4 batteries and the extension cable I just made.

I did a trial assembly this afternoon and took some photos:

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I will be adding a platform over the pontoon crossbars that the dog can lay on or we can sit on. The pontoons look like they are a bit high for this canoe but I won't know for sure until we put it in the water.

[SolarCanoe]

A few days ago I explored a nice lake high up in the Cascade Mountains. Here are a few pictures and a short video from Lake Kachess.

I am so envious of you having such beautiful lakes and mountain scenery to enjoy. There are some beautiful lakes in our area of Ontario but we don't have the mountains or that wonderful emerald green water. I will just have to make due until we can move out to British Columbia.

[TomCat58]

When you get to the British Columbia area you will find a lot of lakes like this one. The Columbia River has a few problems such as a big crack in the wanapum dam. They lowered the water so much in places no boat launches are useable. So I decided to explore some of the lakes in the area. I will try and post a little trip report for the lakes I get to visit with Serenity.

Please tell me when you get relocated to British Columbia and we see if we can find a adventure to share together with our solar boats

Tommy

[SolarCanoe]

Well I finally put my solar boat in the water. I haven't had a chance to get any videos yet but I did take a couple of photos:

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We even had some spectators

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We're home for a couple of days so I will try to get my control panel wired up. At the moment I have no idea what is happening with the battery until the trolling motor starts to slow down significantly.

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The two meters on the left indicate battery voltage and current. If the battery current is positive it means the battery is being charged. A negative current indicates that current is being drained from the battery. The meter on the right indicates the current drawn by the trolling motor. The relay (60A) and the switch are to disconnect the trolling motor. The power for the relay is from the load connection on the charge controller. This will allow the charge controller to disconnect the power to the trolling motor if the battery is being over-discharged (I hope). Otherwise I will have to keep an eye on the battery voltage and turn off the motor if the voltage drops to 11V turn it off.

[inetdog]

The relay (60A) and the switch are to disconnect the trolling motor. The power for the relay is from the load connection on the charge controller. This will allow the charge controller to disconnect the power to the trolling motor if the battery is being over-discharged (I hope). Otherwise I will have to keep an eye on the battery voltage and turn off the motor if the voltage drops to 11V turn it off.

The low voltage cutoff of the LOAD terminals of the CC is often too low for good battery life. On some units it is adjustable, on others you are stuck with the factory value.

[SolarCanoe]

The low voltage cutoff of the LOAD terminals of the CC is often too low for good battery life. On some units it is adjustable, on others you are stuck with the factory value.

The over-discharge voltage is 11.1V and is not adjustable. At what voltage should I stop discharging SLA batteries?

[Mike90250]

The relay (60A) and the switch are to disconnect the trolling motor. The power for the relay is from the load connection on the charge controller.

You may need an "anti-kickback" diode across the relay coil to keep from frying the charge controller when the relay releases.

[SolarCanoe]

You may need an "anti-kickback" diode across the relay coil to keep from frying the charge controller when the relay releases.

OK I now have a diode to put across the relay coil. Thanks for pointing that out I would not have known to do it.

[TomCat58]

Well I finally put my solar boat in the water. I haven't had a chance to get any videos yet but I did take a couple of photos:

The meter on the right indicates the current drawn by the trolling motor. The relay (60A) and the switch are to disconnect the trolling motor. The power for the relay is from the load connection on the charge controller.

How did it do on the water? What brand and model Charge Controller are you using on this canoe ?

Tommy

[SolarCanoe]

How did it do on the water? What brand and model Charge Controller are you using on this canoe ?

Tommy

The boat moved along at a good rate. I used a GPS speedometer and it indicated 3mph top speed. I can't remember if that was against the wind or not. I don't seem to be getting more than about an hour out of the batteries running at 50% throttle. Without the meters it's hard to say what is going on. The four batteries together should be about 150Ah. I'm not sure I like the Minn Kota Max motor control. There is a lot of pulsing and vibration at lower speeds. I have a second Traxxis motor that I will try just to see if it is that particular motor or common to the Minn Kota Max technology.

The Solar Charge Controller came with the folding solar panels. It is 20Amp 12/24V and Waterproof. I attached the specs and instructions. Each folding solar panel is 100W.

The canopy works OK but needs to be raised a few inches and possibly extended forward to cover the passenger better. I was surprised how little the wind seemed to bother the canoe with this rather large canopy on it.

So far I am quite encouraged and my wife really likes the boat. Like me, she likes that it is quiet and is happy with the speed that it moves through the water. I tried to ensure that we could stow the motor and paddle the canoe normally but we have not tried that yet.

[Lorin]

such a wonderful job man. congratulations!

[inetdog]

The over-discharge voltage is 11.1V and is not adjustable. At what voltage should I stop discharging SLA batteries?

Well, the first problem is that the CC can only see the battery voltage under load and so cannot tell what the real SOC is as the load varies.

Check out the information here: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/a...tate_of_charge
And note that these are resting (no charge or discharge for hours) voltages.
For a resting voltage, even 12.0 volts is too low (~25% SOC). Stopping at 50%, except in an emergency, would be a resting voltage point of 12.25V. You can get some idea of the relationship between voltage under load and SOC for your particular batteries by:
1. Let the batteries rest to find approximate real SOC. Note the voltage, then put on a reasonable load for a short time and watch the voltage. Make a table of loaded voltage versus load current versus resting voltage.
2. Do the same for charging current.

You may find that 11.1V under motor load corresponds to 12.0V or higher resting voltage.
But the SG method and keeping track of current in and out are both more reliable (the first for long term, the second for short term evaluation.)

[TomCat58]

[QUOTE=SolarCanoe;121809]The boat moved along at a good rate. I used a GPS speedometer and it indicated 3mph top speed. I can't remember if that was against the wind or not. I don't seem to be getting more than about an hour out of the batteries running at 50% throttle. Without the meters it's hard to say what is going on.

Cool Yes there is no way to tell what is happening without the amp gauges hooked up. 90% of the time on the water I use what I produce. How much sun you have and at what angle to the sun makes a big difference.

Once the amp gauges are in place then you can start dealing with many issues. What size Max Endura Minn Kota do you have ??? I have to 45 lb thrust model and I find 50 to 60 percent throttle works best. Anymore throttle then that sucks the amps big time but does not produce much increased speed.

I also wired my electrical system so I can double check my gauges and also check the amps produced right after they leave the solar panels. I also can check how many amps go to the batteries from the Charge Controller. Amps produced and amps actually charging your batteries can be very different. I did a test on a older 30 amp controller I have and found when 15 amps where coming into the control from the solar panels only 8.6 amps were coming out of the controller to the batteries.

With my new controller its 15 amps in and 14.2 amps going out to the batteries. The below pictures is my inline amp gauge I am using to double check my amp meters on my dash as well as get those other readings like real charging amps.... I do have to have my prop in a drum of water or in the water to get good readings. I might have 15 amps available from the solar panels but until I put a draw on the motor it won't read correctly. Example is: I am drawing 5 amps and the solar amps show 6 amps being produced. I then throttle up to 10 amps and now the gauge shows I am producing 11 amps.

Anyway I could go on and on with this subject BUT first things first is having your input and output gauges calibrated and functioning. If you have any questions ? Fire away

http://www.ebay.com/itm/G-T-Power-RC-Watt-Meter-and-Power-Analyzer-High-Precision-130A-Amp-60V-Gauge-/141370675624?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20ea5951a8

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Tommy

[SolarCanoe]

Bench Test

I did a quick bench test to make sure I had wired my control panel properly.

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The trolling motor is in water, and the solar panels are exposed to direct sunlight.

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Note: I put screen protectors on the panels and used a bit of window cleaner to position them properly.
The bubbles you see on the solar panels are the window cleaner, which I hope will dry out given a little time.

Under these conditions I adjusted the speed of the motor so that there was no current flowing in or out of the battery. That setting was between 25 and 50% throttle.

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If you zoom in on the meters you will see that the battery voltage is just under 13v and the current is zero. The motor ammeter shows 4A going to the motor.

At that throttle setting the canoe moves along at speed between 1 and 2 mph. That speed is fine with me, I'm retired and in no hurry to get anywhere.

[TomCat58]

[QUOTE=SolarCanoe;121887]I did a quick bench test to make sure I had wired my control panel properly.

Under these conditions I adjusted the speed of the motor so that there was no current flowing in or out of the battery. That setting was between 25 and 50% throttle.
If you zoom in on the meters you will see that the battery voltage is just under 13v and the current is zero. The motor ammeter shows 4A going to the motor.

At that throttle setting the canoe moves along at speed between 1 and 2 mph. That speed is fine with me, I'm retired and in no hurry to get anywhere.[QUOTE

Yep that works I just got more carried away with meters and gauges LOL. Here is another interesting water proof gauge I use along side my 2 digital amp meters.

Instead of reading my voltage to see how much charge is left in my batteries I am testing this quick glance meter. So far its a keeper Reading voltage makes me have to think were this is a no brainer lol

http://www.cabelas.com/product/VEXILAR-DIGITAL-BATTERY-STATUS-GAUGE/1701910.uts?productVariantId=3545289&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=32-396603347-2&WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=03725369&rid=20