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Solar Powered Autonomous Boat - Battery setup

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  • Solar Powered Autonomous Boat - Battery setup

    Hi everyone,

    I'm new hear so be gentle! I'm working on an interesting project which some of you will hopefully find interesting as well as being able to help me.

    I have designed an autonomous boat that will be battery powered with the batteries being topped up with solar cells laid into the deck of the boat. The boat won't be made for humans to be aboard and will be like a drone. The end game is to be able to cross the Atlantic Ocean with the boat, remotely operated via satellite telemetry and a few other clever tricks.

    Originally I had designed a 5 metre boat to give enough area for the solar panels but after discussing with various people, I decided to downsize the boat to 1 metre as it will be lighter and require less power. I will still need the right solar cell setup on the deck to offer a top up of the batteries through the journey.

    What I need help with is the battery setup as I am pretty weak in this area. Some people I've spoken to have said that potentially, If I had the right batteries, I might not need solar as the batteries might get the boat across. I wouldn't want to chance this but I'm interested in knowing whether this is in fact a possibility?

    So the main part of my post that I wanted to ask for advice on is what batteries and capacities should I set up in series to power my boat continually if possible while it crossed the ocean in a way that the solar cells would also charge the batteries. It might be that the power from the batteries would last for quite a long time and the charge from the solar cells might only be needed for short periods.

    Information on the boat;

    The boat will mostly travel along the equator, ending up in the Caribbean if it's successful to give it the best chance of maximum sun exposure. Another question that I have which is pretty integral to this stage of my planning is what size motor could my battery setup power? On the original design for the 5 metre boat, I had already sourced a 3kW motor but this is way above what I can expect to be powered now on my 1 metre boat. So can anyone tell me what power rating I could realistically expect my a good solar and battery setup to power? I'm currently looking at motors between 300W and 500W. Am I still expecting too much or is this a possibility? The rest of the parts on the boat including computer have power consumption that is negligible. The PC requires 2W and the autopilot 0.5W as an example.
    I know this is a complex question and I'm not expecting someone to solve this problem outright but I'd really appreciate someone with a good level of knowledge to hazard an estimate by way of helping me get closer to answering my questions on the battery setup and potential motor power.

    So to clarify, the two things I am looking for advice on;

    - The best battery setup - which batteries, wattage, ratings etc?
    - Which size motor could I expect to be powered? 500W? 300W? 100W?

    This is just my private project which I'm hoping will lead to a great achievement. If someone is particularly knowledgable and passionate about electronics, I may consider bringing in a partner for the project who will be credited if successful.

    If I can get some good advice, and anyone is interested, I'm happy to post progress and pics on this forum for people to follow once the boat is up and running.

    Thanks all who read this for taking the time to do so and I hope to get some good advice and feedback.

    Mitch

  • #2
    not with batteries and solar panels. DGMW I like the sea drone concept, I just don't see it happening w/o major advancement in battery technology and much higher density solar cells. not to mention a 1 meter vessel in the ocean would be vastly out powered. It will spend most of it's time drifting in powerful currents. If you use lithium batteries and she leaks, it will explode and burn up. is this for research? Scientific testing?

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    • #3
      Not possible at any scale. Just against the law of physics. Batteries would be dead in just a few days and the boat adrift in the winds and current. However there might be a way if you used sails as the mean of propulsion. Been done for thousands of years.

      Battery or electric power would just be used for steering and telemetry which will be another huge challenge because you are going to have to have a data link to communicate and track the boat.
      MSEE, PE

      Comment


      • #4
        It's possible, but you need a military budget to get the high efficiency gear, 20% PV panels, Li batteries, inertial navigation... And one good breeze could screw it up easily.
        Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
        || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
        || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

        solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
        gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

        Comment


        • #5
          Batteries large enough for the job would sink the boat.

          WWW

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Wy_White_Wolf View Post
            Batteries large enough for the job would sink the boat.

            WWW
            yep.

            MSEE, PE

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by mitchellleary View Post
              I have designed an autonomous boat that will be battery powered with the batteries being topped up with solar cells laid into the deck of the boat. The boat won't be made for humans to be aboard and will be like a drone. The end game is to be able to cross the Atlantic Ocean with the boat, remotely operated via satellite telemetry and a few other clever tricks.

              Originally I had designed a 5 metre boat to give enough area for the solar panels but after discussing with various people, I decided to downsize the boat to 1 metre as it will be lighter and require less power. I will still need the right solar cell setup on the deck to offer a top up of the batteries through the journey.

              What I need help with is the battery setup as I am pretty weak in this area. Some people I've spoken to have said that potentially, If I had the right batteries, I might not need solar as the batteries might get the boat across. I wouldn't want to chance this but I'm interested in knowing whether this is in fact a possibility
              No. You'd need solar. Even with solar, you would have to be "flexible" when it comes to speed i.e. you have to make sure that averaging a few knots is OK with you.

              Any such attempt is going to have to use solar/battery/motor as backup/navigation only, with the primary motive force being either equatorial (or counter-equatorial) currents or wind.

              You're going to want to use the smallest motor that gives you adequate steerage; they will tend to be more efficient than a larger motor that is throttled way back most of the time.

              In terms of battery size, choose the weight you want to carry first then see if the energy storage requirements can be met with lead-acid. If not, move up to chemistries like LiFePO4 (and have your checkbook ready.)

              In terms of panel size, figure out how much you need to maintain steerage and then use that as your minimum energy requirement. (Anything extra then goes to driving the boat a little faster i.e. when the batteries are full any excess energy goes to the motor.) Then use sun-hours to figure out what panel area you need to meet that minimum energy requirement.

              Comment


              • #8
                There use to be a collection of boat enthusiasts on this board a few years back. The thread just got bumped on 3.30.17. I think they departed as a group to some yahoo group where folks were willing to try out (ie. Waste time,money,safety) without the naysaying. Just put boat in the search box and it's a bit down from 2013.
                Last edited by cebury; 04-07-2017, 12:59 AM.

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