Yesterday I was able to test for about 40 minutes…
I gradually increased the power to 4500 watts and at all times the pack voltage and individual cell voltages stayed high. No sagging under load. So the problem was indeed a poor interconnection.
At 4500 watts though I got a ‘thermometer’ icon on the Torqeedo and it automatically reduced power to 4000 watts. I manually reduced it back to 2500 watts shortly after. And soon the temperature warning disappeared.
I felt the control head of the motor and it seemed barely warm. Looks like I’ll have to resort to the manual to check why. (later: this icon indicates the motor is overheating. Makes sense – it is rated as a 4kw motor and 4500 watts is 12% overpowering it)
Today I’m running the motor some more and at this moment the drawdown is 101 ah so the pack is about 50% discharged. The voltage is still good at 51v with a load of 1500 watts. Being on the dock, with the tide going out I’m running in reverse – in sync with the tidal flow. But its beginning to cavitate at this power so I’m not giving it more than this.
All the terminals, connections and cables are cold – so there’s no high resistance ‘weak links’ this time.
details in battery log
Hey Chris love your site. How about some more pictures on here of the boat and the interior. She is one of Australia’s true champion boats and it would be good to see some more of her now after the refit.
Also when are you going to get going. I noticed that this site and the boat has been going with you for nearly three years, I can remember as a small kid growing up on a yacht people that would never see their dream of cruising come true as they would spend years trying to depart the lock of the land. It would be a shame to see you end up the same and not fulfilling that dream.
I wish you all the best and hope the dream becomes true sooner rather than later. It sounds as though your having a great time anyway so what the hell hey. All the best to you!
Hi there
Hmm… Indeed it is so with plans and dreams. Life has that habit of evolving quite differently to what we expect huh. And you’re right – I am having a great time so all’s as it should be. And it turns out that I’ve quite enjoyed my stay here at Monty’s boatyard. Its one of the few real boatyards left around here. There’s lots of interesting folks here and it would nice to tell a few stories about the community. But hey, as you see there’s still more about this boat to write about yet…
Perhaps I will put some photos up showing more of her history… and I suspect I will be more motivated to write as she gets cruising. Lets see how it unfolds…
–chris