I’ve seen some questions/comments on this but not the exact answer I’m looking for and I am new to brushless motors and the ESC being rated to 26V but thrusters happiest at 16V max is confusing.
I have ordered a pair of T200 thrusters w/ESC and the Thruster Commander Motor Controller to add some boost to my Hobie Outback fishing kayak.
I would like max. thrust at times but mostly will be running them at partial thrust, it sounds like one off the shelf Li 12.8V battery is too low for max thrust and two in series are too high in voltage for efficient and long life operation.
I’m starting to think that building my own ~18V battery from 3V cells or off the shelf 6V batteries (if I can find them) might be required.
Am I correct that running two 12.8 V batteries in series is not the best approach, even if I never turn the motor controller to full thrust?
The T200 is designed to run best at 16V, and is rated to run well up to 20V. Running beyond 20V will increase wear and significantly reduce efficiency, there will be some boost in thrust but most of the additional power will be wasted as heat. However, independent of the 26V rating of the Basic ESC, it has an approximately 30A constant current rating, depending on cooling. At 20V, the T200 draws about 30A constant, near the limit of the Basic ESCs capabilities. If you wish to run a T200 at beyond 20V at full throttle, you will need to use a different ESC with a higher current rating. If you limit thruster power to 600-650W or so by attenuating the throttle, it can be possible to use the Basic ESC and T200 at beyond 20V.
Running beyond the rated voltage of our thrusters does not instantly destroy them, but the rapidly diminishing returns in performance, increased wear, and drop in efficiency mean that we do not recommend doing this. The bottom line is the T200 is rated to run at 6-20V, and exceeding this against our recommendation can have mixed results.
Lithium Polymer: Lipos will work great. They generally have a “C” rating (like “25C”) that describes their output rate as a multiple of their capacity. For example, a 1000 mAh battery with a 25C rating would be able to output 1000 mA x 25 = 25,000 mA = 25 amps.
I had seen that reply. At the time, I still wasn’t sure why it wasn’t possible to use a 24V battery and just not ‘turn it up’ past 16V. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
My plan now going to start my thruster testing using a 12V battery while I work on building my own Lipo batteries, something I’ve been wanting to do for several projects, when I get a 16V battery ready, I can look forward to max thrust increasing from 7.8 to 11.2 pounds…
