Power Packs to suit Fishing Boats
FISHING BOAT CASE STUDY
25ft “Bertram” Fishing Boat with Gyro in Tropical North Qld near Great Barrier Reef.
Its 100 nm to the Reef fishing spot. Owner and family travel out Saturday Morning return Sunday Afternoon.
Owners Requirements:
- Ability to start gyro without shore power as boat goes into water at a boat ramp.
- Owner stays out on reef overnight with gyro and air-conditioner running, wanting a cool “silent night”.
- Owner wants to run high performance sound system “Wet Sounds” which draws 120A at 12V while cruising and 30A while at anchor without stopping gyro.
- Owner wants to use induction cooktop (No propane for safety) in evening and espresso coffee machine at breakfast.
- Double Drawer fridge/freezer running 24/7 for fish catch.
Energy analysis:
- In addition to the loads listed below the electric steering uses 10A in straight-line calm seas and 40A in manoeuvring and rough seas. The electronics use another 10A. In the video below the wind was 20knts and the seas rough. We saw 40A during the sea trial. At 12.6V this is 500W/hr. Let’s say average of 300W/hr on a trip to a reef cay.
- The gyro was using 47A in the rough seas at a constant draw. At 12.6V this is 600W/hr. At anchor it is 20A that is 250W/hr.
- Fridge/freezer uses 9A at 12.6V: 120W/hr and operates at 80% duty cycle. Off in the trial.
- There is an enhanced 200A alternator fitted to one 275hp Mercury(L6 - 2008) outboard and the factory 70A fitted to the other. These capacities are at 5500RPM. In the rough sea, the skipper limited the engine to 3800RPM. At this speed the alternator combined output is 220A. After some cable losses, Scotty will extract a max of 2600W. At 4500RPM and above, a max of 3000W/hr.
- There is 9600Wh of 48V lithium battery.
EnergyAnalysis | Run Out 2.5 hours | Saturday Fishing/Fun 6 hours 1 hr engine | Saturday Overnight 8 hours | Sunday Fishing/Fun 6 hours 1 hr engine | Run Back 2.5 hours |
Gyro | -1500Wh | -1500wh | -2000Wh | -1500wh | -1500Wh |
Electric Steering | -750Wh | -250WH |
| -250WH | -750Wh |
Wet Sounds | -3,780Wh | -600WH | -750Wh | -600WH | -3,780Wh |
Fridge Freezer | -300Wh | -600WH | -770Wh | -600WH | -300Wh |
Air-conditioner |
|
| -2800Wh |
|
|
Induction Cooking |
|
| -800Wh |
|
|
Espresso Machine |
|
|
| -900 Wh |
|
Misc Power | -600W | -400W |
| -400W |
|
Total Loads: |
|
|
|
|
|
Scotty AI Charging | 7,500Wh | 3,000Wh | Discharging | 3,000Wh | 7,500Wh |
Lithium battery starts at 100% 9600Wh | Ends at 9,600Wh | Ends at | Ends at | Ends at | Ends at 2,050Wh |
Lithium Battery SOC | 100% | 96% | 22% | 9% | 21% |
For more nights with both air-conditioner and gyro running.
Upgrading the second outboard alternator to 200A and installing a second Scotty AI would increase replenishment power to 5,000W/hour engine run time. Overnight, the power consumption in 8 hours including cooking and sound system is 5,120W. So just a little less sound and an hour of engine time gives 8 hours overnight.
In the sea trial video above:
- The vessel was launched in the boat ramp and the gyro spun up at idle.
- While the gyro was coming up to speed, Scotty AI was drawing around 300W at idle showing that it always gives priority to the gyro and outboard electric steering and electronics.
- The power shown in the Smartphone APP is the nett power to charge the auxiliary battery after all the other 12V loads of gyro, electric steering and engine electronics are met. All other loads were off.
- The rough seas of the sea trial limited outboard RPM to 3800 and the combined alternator power to 220A. At 4500RPM and high, 270A is achievable yielding another 500W of power.
- Once at anchor, Scotty AI will direct power from the auxiliary battery bank back to the gyro as it is fully bi-directional DC DC.
7 Scotty Models Available with an IP rating up to IP67.
- Scotty AI 1500: 12V to between 20V and 58V Boost and Buck mode bi-directional DC DC at 125A max on the low side (typically 1500W) Available in 2 models: IP 65 and IP67
- Scotty AI 3000: 12V to between 20V and 58V Boost and Buck mode bi-directional DC DC at 250A max on the low side (typically 3000W) Available in 2 models: IP 64 and IP66
- Scotty AI 3000/24: 24V to between 32V and 58V Boost and Buck mode bi-directional DC DC at 125A max on the low side (typically 3000W) Available in 2 models: IP 64 and IP66
- Scotty AI Meteor: 12V to between 20V and 58V Boost and Buck mode bi-directional DC DC at 125A max on the low side (typically 1500W). This model plugs into the 48V Meteor Lithium Battery which is all IP67 and does not require a low side battery.
About the development of Scotty AI
- Scotty AI was built with the goal of plug-n-play: AI self-tuning, No more than a 1 page manual, on board diagnostics and “OTA” firmware updates. No Laptop nor external program is ever needed.
- Deep domain expertise was built up commissioning over 400 installations:
- Using externally regulated alternators at 12V, 24V and 48V
- Using fixed power DC DC devices up to 1500W
- Using variable power DC DC with basic control
The experience from these jobs over a 3 year period, lead to the development of Scotty AI.
- Patent Pending International Patent.
- There is over 5,000 lines of code in Scotty AI excluding the libraries at the SOC.
- The Smart Touch Display is also programmed to support Scotty AI
- Developed by a multi-cultural team in Australia for marine, 4WD, RV and high-power service truck applications.
- Scotty AI is endorsed by the Australian and Queensland Govt with R&D funding and Export support
Sea Trial 36V House Battery Scotty charging from Outboard or shore power then reverses Direction
This followup video of the sea trial in the Hooker 6.7m Center Console fishing boat. Scotty 1500 delivers 500W of charging to the 36V lithium PLUS 80W to the instrumentation. Turn the engine off and Scotty delivers from the 36V battery back to the 12V side. It changes direct ion in 1/400th second. You could run a 12V inverter on the 12V pin and it will pull the power through from the 36V side (see two previous videos). This has to be the simplest yet most powerful system for a top-line fishing boat. The 36V house battery is used for the Minnkota. The 280W Copperflex solar on the Bimini top charges the 36V house bank directly. The Copperflex has a high VOC of 66V to charge at 43.6V The Yammie 250 outboard will charge the 36V through Scotty at up to 50A (at 12V). Once these are full, Scotty just goes into float mode with power matching. Now when the boat is on shore power, the 240V 30A chargers the 36V batteries through Scotty on the 12v side. Then for refrigeration, instrumentation and running the 1kW sounder, Scotty powers the 12V side from the 36V battery. Scotty 1500 weighs 1.5kg and is IP67.
Intrepid 32 Centre Console gets Scotty & 800Ah Lithium for Seakeeper 2 all night use
Jack McKenzie at @finesse_boatbuilding in Mackay is fitting a @seakeeper_inc 2 to an Intrepid 32. The customer wants to stay on the reef all night without a lot of rocking. The Seakeeper 2 will do a great job reducing roll by 95%. The difficulty is replenishing the energy to the batteries as gyro’s are thirsty. This compact pack fits in the locker under the stairs to the cabin. It is 800Ah Lithium (12V equiv) but it is all 48V. That’s what makes it so compact. These batteries are only 21kgs each. There is 3000W Inverter/charger. On the roof top is 240W of solar. Just enough to keep the fridge powered all the time when parked up. Instead of adding the screen to the already busy console, we will add software for a direct connection to the MFD. This covers virtually all brands of recent MFD’s.
SINGLE 36V House Battery- 3000VA Inverter on 12V Pin Scotty
This has to be the simplest yet most powerful system for a top of the line fishing boat. The 36V house battery is used for the Minnkota. The twin outboards charge the 36V through Scotty at up to 250A (at 12V). Once these are full, Scotty just goes into float mode with power matching. Now when the boat is on shore power, the Multiplus II 12V 3000W will charge the 36V batteries through Scotty. Then when Shane wants to run the induction and hot water system, Scotty delivers 12V power to the 3000W inverter fast enough to not trip it. In this vide, we push the demand over 3000W and Scotty keeps up. It even does not miss a beat as we switch seamlessly from Shore power to Inverter only. We then ran the system at 3010W with the inverter in overload and Scotty did not miss a beat! So this is a single 36V house battery running the whole boat including the 3000W Inverter.
36v Minn Kota 8 hours running Scotty keeps it fully charged
It’s been great to see the actual results with Scotty after 3 days fishing. Tony finds it just so easy to use charging at 620W while both Yammies are idling. After hours hours use, the 36v battery is fully charged. Then when the engines are off, Scotty reverses direction and pours the power from the 36v bank back to the 12Volt power distribution for fridge and instruments. No need for a 12Volt house battery. It’s light and very compact. Compared to his previous system of separating the 12Volt batteries to recharge and resetting every morning, he describes this technology as simple and terrific - more fishing time .