1971 Newport 30 Sailboat
With help from Viktar, rewired the main panel to send shore power to the Inverter/Charger and then back to the AC panel bus. This allows to either pass-through power to AC loads, boost its amperage with batteries, or replace shore power with the inverter. Tested these scenarios and everything checked out OK.
The updated system diagram is something like this now (minus the Battery Protect, which I haven’t bought yet).
With help from my friend Viktar, the final motor wiring and remaining DC components were connected and tested. Batter charger / inverter is in place, 48V to 12V circuit for main DC panel is in place, batteries are charging, motor is hooked up. Was finally able to remove the last remaining old battery – house. Now the boat is 100% on the Victron Lithium-based system.
With help from my friend Victor, got the Victron components wired up together and tested. All seems to be working fine.
We also got the motor re-mounted and connected to the shaft. There is a pretty significant wobble there so we’ll need to go through the alignment process.
In preparation for the new Victron batteries and other components, per plan, I took time to clear out the engine bay. Had to put in a piece of 2×4 to keep PSS bellows pressurized and avoid sinking the boat.
After a lot of thinking (and some $ saving) I’m finally ready to rip out my gel battery pack and jump to Lithium. The AGM batteries are now pretty old and lost quite a bit of capacity and power. The house battery is even older and can’t carry water pump and head flush well without severely dimming the lights.
The propulsion system setup I have now is something like this
I’ll keep the fuse, relay, and all the components of the motor but replace the rest with a Victron-based system so it will look something like this
This new setup gives me a lot of advantages:
Will be super fun to put this all in and configure it. Some of the components have already arrived. It’s a pain to get those giant new batteries onboard. Thanks to my dock neighbor Lauren who gave me a hand.
Back at it after almost 2 year break due to COVID-19. Finally wired SmartPlug to AC panel and connected battery charger for the electric motor.
Met with Sean to do final planning, measurements, and parts buying for the electric engine install. That 2A cable is heavy!
