02-28-2019, 09:37 PM
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Afourian MVP
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Torrance, CA
Posts: 9,619
Thanks: 198
Thanked 2,208 Times in 1,425 Posts
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A few thoughts:
- It looks to me like an updated big alternator, big battery bank system. Nothing earth shaking there.
- The big power they're getting has much to do with the higher voltage output (48V). Their alternator output in amps is not extreme by today's standards, 187A.
- Joe's mention of belt wear and bearing side loads could have been easily solved with a serpentine belt system but Integrel didn't do that.
- There is no getting around it, 9KW requires a minimum of 12HP mechanical input @100% efficiency. Mechanical and other losses will drive the input horsepower higher.
- There's no getting around it #2, diesels suffer over the long term at loads less than 70% of max and because of that I expect this system is intended to operate when the boat is motoring rather than stand alone generating. I recently finished troubleshooting a rebuilt small diesel with huge oil consumption that boiled down to the owner baby-ing it for a few years. Ten hours of running hard at WOT solved the entire issue, he now runs at 80% religiously, oil consumption and tailpipe smoke has disappeared. Until the diagnosis he was considering yanking the engine for another rebuild, even pondered dumping it in favor of an outboard.
- There's no getting around it #3 (at least currently), Li-Ion batteries have a rated life of 500 deep cycles, more cycles if discharges are shallow.
- Li-ion batteries work well normally but when something goes wrong they fail catastrophically. They cannot be discharged fully, cannot tolerate overcharging and ambient heat is also a risk factor. Short of physical damage I trust Integrel's management system monitors these factors.
- The innovation in the Integrel system looks to me like the management box. There is a lot of programming input available. If it is owner programmable, that's a potential problem. Give a boat owner an adjustment and you bring in the very real risk of him screwing it up.
- The price. Dear Lord, the price. The bare bones basic system with a single 10KWH battery pack is $24K. Wait, I'll type it out for full impact, $24,000.00. Each additional battery pack is another $11,000.00.
- Repairs. What do you do when something goes wrong, particularly if you're out cruising and a week or more from port? Who is going to fix it? As Calder was describing the components and management system as "sophisticated" I kept thinking a sailor needs to be able to fix everything onboard himself.
I'd say I'm not a candidate
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Neil
1977 Catalina 30
San Pedro, California
prior boats 1987 Westsail 32, 1970 Catalina 22
Had my hands in a few others
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