My 50Ah Lithium ion battery is a marvel

[baz]

Subject: My 50Ah Lithium ion battery is a marvel

I bought my 50 Ah Lithium ion battery a little over a year ago to power my Sea Eagle 385 FasTrack Kayak's WaterSnake Venom SX trolling electric motor. It weights a mere 10 lbs.

When I first obtained the battery which came with its special charging unit it took around 24 hrs to fully charge it ( I assume it was shipped with battery being at its lowest charge level) and delivering close to 12v. After this initial charge I ran the WaterSnake motor at a constant speed in my 'man cave' for around 1 hr to see if the speed slowed.... it didn't. This battery can be discharged down to around 10% while delivering a full 11 to 12v without damaging the battery. After 1 hr of running the WaterSnake I disconnected the battery and charged it and after 30 mins it was fully charged.

I've stored the battery since the above test for maybe 14 months without using it. The room it was stored in was kept at around 68ºF during these 14 months.

Today, I decided I should check the battery and charge it. The charging ran for 60 mins to get the battery back up to being 100%.

This tells me that this Lithium ion battery only lost some 5% of its charge over this 14 months of sitting idle. Woweeee. 😱 😀

 

[knotflying]

How long does it run under load and is there enough power to run a fully inflatable dingy with two people?

 

[baz]

How long does it run under load and is there enough power to run a fully inflatable dingy with two people?

Mike some of this was discussed here - http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9396&start=30

Mind you, I've yet to test using my 50 Ah battery for my SeaEagle 385ft FasTrack, so cannot answer your questions at this time.

However.... My expectation would be around at least 5 hrs with 2 people running the motor at medium speed.

 

[knotflying]

Thought you may have had actual use by now. It does sound interesting though.

 

[baz]

Mike: Even if I had actually used it on my SeaEagle Kayak it would not have been for any significant time of over 4 to 6 hrs.

What I do have in mind to understand the WaterSnake's potential is to fill a trash can with water and place the WaterSnake motor into the water and run it at full speed, half speed and a low speed setting and monitor battery charge level after 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ,7, 8 hr marks for each speed. I can then graph the results and then have some idea of what to expect using it on the SeaEagle.

I would fully charge the battery after each test run.

What do you think of this approach ? Would you do the 'testing' any other way ?

 

[baz]

OK.... Here are my test results having the WaterSnake motor setup in a full tank of water.

The 50 Ah Lithium ion battery was fully charge at the start of the test and registered 12.3v. The voltage was observed using the digital voltage readout on the WaterSnake's display.

I adjusted the speed settings during the testing in an attempt to mimic a typical use for 5 hours. The WaterSnake has 6 speed settings; Neutral, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and 3 reverse speed settings. I did not think testing reverse was necessary.

I placed the 50 Ah Lithium ion battery in a black waterproof safety box just in case it rained. 🙂

At the end of the 5 hrs I will time how long it takes to charge the 50 Ah Lithium ion battery back to be 100% and 12.4v.

Here is my photo album showing the WaterSnake test setup - https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B1AJu8EH6JHnC1h
The short 10 sec video is with the motor running at speed setting #5 and voltage at 9.6v (items 10 & 11 below).

Testing results...

1. Speed neutral (no load) - Voltage at 12.3v
2. Time 0 hrs - Speed set to #2 - Voltage at 11.9v
3. Time 1 hrs - Voltage 11.4v
4. Time 2 hrs - Voltage 11.2v
5. Time 3 hrs - Voltage 10.7v
6. Time 3 hrs - Speed changed to #3 - Voltage 10.4v
7. Time 3.5 hrs - Voltage 10.4v
8. Time 3.5 hrs - Speed changed to #4 - Voltage 10.2v
9. Time 4 hrs - Voltage 9.9v
10. Time 4 hrs - Speed changed to #5 - Voltage 9.6v
11. Time 4 hrs and 10 mins - Voltage 9.6v
12. Time 4 hrs and 10 mins - Speed changed to #2 - Voltage 10.1v
13. Time 5 hrs - Voltage 9.7v
14. Time 5 hrs - Speed changed to Neutral - Voltage 9.9v
15. Time to recharge the 50 Ah Lithium ion battery to 100% and 12.4v was just under 4 hrs.

During the complete test period the motor was running solidly at each speed setting and with no apparent slowing down.

Note: I post this before the testing completes because the test covers some 5+ hrs and I don't want to find my post somehow goes poof before I post it. I will update the test results after the battery full charge has completed.

At this time I feel comfortable this battery will keep my WaterSnake motor running for 5 to 10 hrs, especially if operated at low to medium speed settings.... and even with the odd burst of speed with settings 4 & 5. 😀