GreenCat 605 First Pictures

[reefhunter]

Ever hear about Dreamliner batteries? Those batteries manage to catch fire every now and then.

[mikethedane]

just the an email from the africacat and wow it is impressive.. makes wonder if i should upgrade my budget .. looks really realy need i must say

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by reefhunter

Ever hear about Dreamliner batteries? Those batteries manage to catch fire every now and then.

Why do folks keep bringing this up? We are talking about LiFePO4 batteries, not LiPO. We give up a lot of energy density over LiPO, but what we get in return is a battery safer than lead acid with 3 times the usable a-hr and 5 times the cycle life.

It is apples and oranges every time someone compares Dreamliner lithium batteries to the type of lithium we are using on our boats.

[CarlF]

Comparing fires from a Dreamliner LIPO battery to LiFePO4 is like saying marine diesels blow up like propane stoves.

And I was just on a 787. Lovely plane. Didn't worry about the batteries for a moment

(Now the in-flight meal did worry me -- it didn't look or taste like the promised chicken)

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Why do folks keep bringing this up? We are talking about LiFePO4 batteries, not LiPO. We give up a lot of energy density over LiPO, but what we get in return is a battery safer than lead acid with 3 times the usable a-hr and 5 times the cycle life.

It is apples and oranges every time someone compares Dreamliner lithium batteries to the type of lithium we are using on our boats.

It's just the uninformed bringing it up.
Like before we went cruising.

"But what about pirates, storms, banditos?" and my favorite, "What do you DO all day?" ad nauseum.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Comparing fires from a Dreamliner LIPO battery to LiFePO4 is like saying marine diesels blow up like propane stoves.

And I was just on a 787. Lovely plane. Didn't worry about the batteries for a moment

(Now the in-flight meal did worry me -- it didn't look or taste like the promised chicken)

Watch out for the FISH !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO90hdkeKrs

[reefhunter]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Why do folks keep bringing this up? We are talking about LiFePO4 batteries, not LiPO. We give up a lot of energy density over LiPO, but what we get in return is a battery safer than lead acid with 3 times the usable a-hr and 5 times the cycle life.

It is apples and oranges every time someone compares Dreamliner lithium batteries to the type of lithium we are using on our boats.

Lithium is still Lithium. At $295US a battery, I'll stay with my NiCd. I noted GM chose another battery for their cars - not the LiFePO4 - must have been another reason besides price. If I replace all my batteries - it will cost me a week's pay. Research shows that the promise of 2000 cycles at 70% DoD and a 10 year service life. But no one has demonstrated that yet.

[reefhunter]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Comparing fires from a Dreamliner LIPO battery to LiFePO4 is like saying marine diesels blow up like propane stoves.

No, but I don't want to be around either when they do!

And I was just on a 787. Lovely plane. Didn't worry about the batteries for a moment

Congrats - I take it your life insurance was paid up? It's only a matter of time. My son is a pilot for a cargo carrier and down graded to a 744. That is he was rated for 777/787 and didn't want to fly one. He just feels safer with 4 engines. Boeing is buying back the undelivered jets b/c of wing cracks.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by reefhunter

Lithium is still Lithium. At $295US a battery, I'll stay with my NiCd. I noted GM chose another battery for their cars - not the LiFePO4 - must have been another reason besides price. If I replace all my batteries - it will cost me a week's pay. Research shows that the promise of 2000 cycles at 70% DoD and a 10 year service life. But no one has demonstrated that yet.

We keep meeting up on these threads, the tow and the towed. Since you said you haven't towed a semi-sub yet, we haven't met on the high seas.

I would think GM and others in the automotive market would chose a lithium chemistry with a much higher energy density than LiFePO4.

My LiFePO4 cells are over 5 years old with 382 cycles to 80% DOD and on a capacity test still deliver 17% more than their rating. If they do 2000 cycles, which I think they will, they were cheaper than lead.

Lead is dead.

[CarlF]

Lithium is used in an incredible range of battery chemistry. They are most definitely not all the same. I recently saw a demonstration of a "Lithium-Air" battery that uses the oxygen in room air as the oxidizer. It had about 5 times the energy density of other Lithium batteries (although this one had the notable flaw of not being rechargable )

Even LiFePO4 cycle life and density also vary tremendously usually due to different manufacturing methods, additives, and quality. There's an incredibly number of really bad LiFePO4 batteries being made in China. Most, fortunately, don't make it to the US or Europe.

Batteries are getting a huge amount of attention. ARPA-E the US government's research funding arm has a special program just for electric vehicle batteries. Here's a list of the projects they funded in the last year. VC's are also pouring money into the field.

http://www.arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/d...ons_082013.pdf

Five years from now, there will be even better - much better - battery choices for boats.

[neelie]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Five years from now, there will be even better - much better - battery choices for boats.

Five years from now, we will be having the same online debate with the modern day Luddites

[reefhunter]

Originally Posted by neelie

Five years from now, we will be having the same online debate with the modern day Luddites

Five years from now the Luddites and Druids will be in charge and I'll be farming in the RSA