POWER SERIES PART 3: VICTRON INVERTER// Building a DC/DC Converter-Episode 13

[@billyboyblue17]

Being an electrical engineer, I am truly impressed by the approach and the building of the DC-DC converter. You have done one hell of a job to cover your bases!!

[@LusoCMD]

You are a star sir with so much knowledge and skills! Congratulations and thank you.

[@stephengreen2898]

This is THE VERY BEST solar power system explanation for a BOAT I have ever seen/heard.. Thank you so much!

[@SailingDauntless]

Glad it was helpful!

[@misosoup777]

Your videos are excellent! Well produced, informative and interesting. Stick with it, because as you start to sail, your subscriber counts will undoubtedly rise. You'll be caught up to Sailing La Vagabonde's 1.5M subscribers in no time! Great work!

[@SailingDauntless]

Thank you SO MUCH for the kind words! We are getting close to the water and a bunch of fun stuff is coming up. Stay tuned!

[@michaeltietzyou]

at 11:00 that is a kind of art - well done

[@SailingDauntless]

Thank you very much.You can call me Tyler Angelo😉

[@tom080955]

Finally! Someone that has the plan!!!

[@donr416]

I'd suggest aiming for 13.8 VDC out of the 48 to 12v converters. Many marine radios need 13.8 VDC to achieve full power transmission.

[@alimitchell5346]

In the process of a binge watch... I've never understood electric... I still don't! Glad you do though!🤣🤣🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@OneGenericName]

Binge watching too and at least have enough electrical knowledge to not touch anything red or black at the same time 👀😎🤣

[@dennismartindale691]

Great video and great presentation of in-depth information. Thank you.

[@SailingDauntless]

Thank you so much! We are so glad you enjoyed it! 😊

[@markgrant1933]

Wow! Good job!

[@garrykennedy5653]

I must be a little nurdy as I enjoy these videos, thanks

[@paratyshow]

Really well done and explained, fascinating how far tech has come and how fast. Thanks for taking the time to film and share.

[@SailingDauntless]

Thank you so much! We are glad you enjoyed it!

[@gregcallaway9194]

Great job on the system and thank you for sharing. Look forward to the follow ups.

[@SailingDauntless]

Tha m you for watching and your comment! Don’t forget to subscribe!

[@kingdommindset1462]

So smart sir! So cool!

[@tunamaniak]

What an amazing setup and complete system. Well thought out and beautifully installed. You earned that Top Gun T-shirt this episode, thanks for sharing. Powerful stuff onboard Sailing Dauntless.

[@tunamaniak]

www.eaton.com/us/en-us/catalog/emobility/48v-dc-dc-converter.html

[@SailingDauntless]

Thank you for the compliment and for watching! I love the shirt ;-)

[@SailingDauntless]

I found some of these but could not get an off the shelf immediately available unit and getting a possible replacement down the road was possibly going to be challenging. Also, they are quite expensive. Hopefully someone will start producing some units in bulk for these types of installs.

[@peggykm4977]

The Top Gun T-shirt is a good one, but I get a kick out of the t-shirt he is wearing at around 15 mins into the video. B > (greater than) formulae for 'Average'

[@mikepaton3614]

Should have been "top guy" on the t shirt.

[@kevdotf]

Very well done

[@SailingDauntless]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@chadstinson9886]

Nicely done very clean.

[@nautidad]

Thank you for sharing. Love this!

[@jonofir]

Thank you very much for this in depth video. Learned a ton.

[@SailingDauntless]

Your very welcome. Thank you for watching and commenting!

[@buildingwilda]

Hey there. Enjoying your videos. I'm building a tesla powered cat down in Melbourne. Your videos are very informative. I especially like the dc dc converter. For my part, I'll be splitting the system more and closer to the consumers. I don't have any pre-installed wiring to consider. Building the boat from scratch. Dc distribution will be 48v. Nice build! I'll be following your progress. I'm stuck in Europe for now, when I get back to OZ I'll be getting into the electrical install on Wilda. Ciao / Axel

[@tunamaniak]

LOL That's impressive when a lady says "I feel that's excessive"

[@AndrewKnights]

Good work.

[@jbsanger696]

Great video!

[@SailingDauntless]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@photographyisnotacrime7300]

Cool stuff. Like yalls project.

[@SailingDauntless]

Thanks!

[@jonathanshaw5046]

Really loved the video the uk needs to catch up shame victron don’t fund more installations unlike yours. I guess I’d love to be on the receiving part of that.

[@SailingDauntless]

Us too, unfortunately they do not do sponsorships like that 🤷‍♂️

[@silverhairedguyindubai15]

So electronics is a wee bit over my head. However, in general, I certainly got many of your points. Much appreciated. Two biggest take-aways...lefties rule! And number 700 for likes. Keep the content coming. We are watching!

[@rustyrose4684]

i loooove you! been trying to figger the dc to dc out for a while as i whant to go tesla batterys on my swan 59 and full electric propulsion !!!!

[@jerdog53]

Good info! Cheers!

[@BLKMGK4]

Have you investigated electric drives? They can apparently be used as generators when on sail too! Appreciate the level of detail for sure.

[@SailingDauntless]

Yes we have, but for viable long term operation we would need to add an additional diesel generator because of their high energy draw. And unfortunately, we don't have room for anymore solar to help replenish the energy use.

[@donr416]

I read the manual on that autotransformer. Did you remember to disable the internal grounding relay on the Quattro? Top of page 5. It is really cool that the aut-transformer can handle a 30 amp imbalance for 30 minutes, but you might still want to have the girl's hairdryer plugs on different phases, to try to help reduce the maximum imbalance. Tell me to shut up and go away if I'm being too much of a pest. I am retired, but many battle scars have taught me to always try to get another set of eyes on everything.

[@GodlessDad]

I dig your power setup so far, but I have a question: Why not run 48v all your 12v sources and just replace your windlass and winches with 48v versions? Then you can just use the cheap 12v/30A converters near the source of any other 12v needs. From what I've been able to fin, it looks like you'd have been in for around the same money on the hardware, but could have saved a bit on wiring. We're still looking for our boat/home, but I have been planning my 48v bank/power distribution for a while now, as I want to go ALL electric. I'm trying to keep as many things using 48v as possible, to keep conversion losses and heat generation to a minimum. Regardless, you built a top notch bit of kit. Kudos to you and your family on a job well planned and executed.

[@SailingDauntless]

Thanks Ryan! I would love to run everything on 48v but the conversion cost for the winches and the windlass was over 10k and it was just easier to do a step down. Also, consider that if you are remote getting 48v equipment can be next to impossible. 12V isn’t ideal but we sacrifice to have the ability to repair/replace equipment in more remote locations. If you are looking to go with a higher voltage, consider 24v. There is more commonly available equipment in 24 and much lower cost than 48v that I have found. Thanks again and good luck!

[@mickrundell1413]

Top s*** mate very good information Thanks

[@stinkintoad]

Ev tv- Jack Rickard that founded it was really sharp-just found out he passed away. I've watched his videos. Nice set up but Couldn't you have used a 12v battery for the windlass mounted close by it, and one for the power winch ? And then only need one dc to dc converter?

[@trolling4dollars816]

Where are the safety disconnects for the solar, batteries, 12v systems? You came up with a unique solution that I have not seen before. I would have started with dual 8 - 10Kw inverter chargers for redundancy. Next, I would have connected the solar panels to the charge controller. The 12v systems could be powered from a 120v/ 60Hz inverter. I am not up to date with Victron's offerings, but they must have a US friendly solution. I agree with the use of an isolation transformer on any boat the plugs into shore power. Have you thought about the use of GFCI protection on the AC systems?

[@SailingDauntless]

Trolling for dollars thank you for your questions I’ll answer them in order Fuses and disconnects are located by the battery bank adjacent to our 48v controller I wanted two 5s or 8s but there was absolutely no room, my one regret... All panels are connected through 6 charge controllers to minimize shading issues Our inverter runs 240v at 60Hz so we just balance the 120v on the split phases it is US friendly with the transformer All head, galley and out door outlets are on GFCIs I hope that answers you questions, thanks for watching!

[@alejandrovanags4948]

Solar sailboat ninja!

[@jimlinton4655]

Great job Ty.

[@SailingDauntless]

Thanks Jim!

[@rustyjeff3007]

this system makes much more sense than traditional systems to me. Do you have galvanic isolation? I guess you do using the Victron inverter??

[@SailingDauntless]

You got it! Seems easier and more logical to me too😉

[@jspafford]

I would have made a separate 12v battery bank and have it charged by the 48v bank with a few charge controllers. That way if the Tesla packs ever have an issue and the system shuts down, you’re not sitting there in the dark trying to troubleshoot. You would have a hard time sailing anywhere if you had your main battery bank die. Imagine you’re in the middle of an ocean crossing in the middle of the night. If you had an isolated 12v system, you could still have all your nav gear on and lights. Be much easier to troubleshoot things and you’d know where you were. I’d at least have a way for your gen set to feed the 12v system. This is where you could always have buffer (12v lipo batt maybe 200ah). Because you’d always have it being fed by the 48v bank or solar or generator. You’d have to put in switches to be able to feed the 12v system with those. I’d love to see how dependable the Tesla packs will be. Tesla relies on cooling or heating their modules. I mean they have a whole heat pump just for the batteries. An octovalve! I mean even the Tesla power walls have built in heat pumps with coolant circulating. I hope you’ve ducted an ac system into that battery bay. And hey you have a heated bed now.

[@SailingDauntless]

Thanks you for the comments, we actually have a 12v bank for reserve and surge. The 48v system is actually 10 individual batteries and the possibility of all 10 failing is extremely rare so we feel confident in the system redundancy. The tesla has performed brilliantly for the last two years of full time use. The batteries do have heating/cooling manifolds built in but are not necessary for our loads or temps. Because the bank is so large it is never heats up outside the “normal” range with charging or discharging and we are not in freezing climates to need the heating. If we had a smaller bank and put a heavier load on it cooling might be desired

[@frazerhaviz2685]

Great videos guys. One thing I wondered was do you have any issues with the Tesla batteries running nominally slightly lower voltages than say a 48V Victron? I was led to believe many inverters aren't able to invert below certain voltages and the Teslas have fairly narrow voltage 'windows' to work with. Keen to hear your thoughts!

[@davidrhightower]

The transformer is normally used to convert from Europe standard to US standard and vice versa for the shore power via a jumper wire or two.

[@johannesmeijer6802]

Don't go back from 24 Volt's to 12 Go up to 48 more power more expensive I love to see it Good luck with it

[@ericblackburn9829]

Fantastic

[@SailingDauntless]

Thank you!

[@offgridlivingstlucia8865]

Nice video and great information about solar I subscribe your chanel

[@SailingDauntless]

Thanks!

[@btrotta]

This looks like a great system if the solar can keep up with it. But I'm curious about the weight penalty for this. Obviously you took some out by getting rid of the lead acid batteries, but what's the net weight gain? My particular concern is with the 10 Tesla packs, which are fairly far aft and, obviously on only one side. The other concern is how much is it eating into your overall load capacity? Obviously not as bad as if you had a generator, but if you do end up adding one, that's another 5-600 lbs.

[@SailingDauntless]

Thanks for watching Brian! Here is the stats... (4) AGMs at 186lbs each = 744lbs. (10) Tesla Modules @ 58lbs each = 588 lbs + inverter/charger 172 lbs + autotransformer 30 lbs = 790 lbs for a total gain of 46lbs!! not bad

[@nortonmolly]

Impressive 👍👍 Where do you buy all this electrical equipment, including the Tesla batteries?

[@GodlessDad]

EVTV for the battery modules. The victron stuff has to come from a dealer or direct from oem. Digi-key and Mouser are great sources for most of the other components.

[@R.E.HILL_]

The blue hernia maker...

[@patrickconway5542]

Ouch !! Now I know why you have hair like me !! Shocking truth is we don’t lol!

[@bryanjones4094]

You didn't mention that the 30 Amp fuses are slow blow.At least that they look like it to me.

[@SailingDauntless]

I believe that they are

[@finanzainteligente]

Muy buen video

[@SailingDauntless]

Gracias

[@powderhogg01]

ive been watching your channel for a while and keep rewatching certain videos and thinking to myself what I would do in the same position. I am curious. understanding all boats would be different based on what happened. how often is it required when doing a salvage to redesign or replace the electrical system?

[@SailingDauntless]

It depends on what has been affected on the boat. Each project is case by case and every wire needs to be inspected

[@pds4184]

Hello, I don't know if you respond to folks, but I was curious how well the autotransformer and the 230v single phase system worked out. I want do something similar for my home. I was going to hook both legs of my fuse panel to the autotransformer and run with that, but I wanted to ask you about efficacy and any issues using it 24/7. Thank you for doing this video.

[@SailingDauntless]

You haven’t provided enough information for me to answer that question re your system. Ours has worked flawlessly for 2.5 years

[@pds4184]

@@SailingDauntless Thanks for responding, Honestly I didn't want to wate time typing if you didn't respond. No insult intended, but this post was 2 years old. I have been a bit perplexed concerning a solar system for my home, I have calculated my usage and have purchased 45kwh in lifepo4 batteries I a 16s 48v 320ah x3. I also have ordered 17kw of 540watt solar panels for my home project. The mount hardware has been order and now it is time for the"Core" of the system. My home has a surge of 13.5kw when thr 5 ton AC unit kicks in and I knew I needed a transformer in the inverter. The problem came in when I need to buy a inverter that had built in Mppt chargers , most of the split phase inverters in the US are small and solar panels development has out paced inverters development. I was have a very hard time finding a big inverter with a transformer that was split phase, I bet I searched for a solid month before deciding to think out side of the box and was looking for a single phase and a auto transformer, and I searched for that for a while as well. Then I came across your video doing exactly what I want to do at my home. One quality inverter that can handle 13.5kw surge that has a transformer. All of that said, I want to connect my home to one inverter/autotransformer for both legs of my breaker box for my homes needs. Your step by step explanations are great as you were putting together you system and I think I'm going to do the exact same thing, with a few tweaks, 2 more mppts for all the panels or perhaps amc9mbiner box.. I don't know yet. But any advice you have would be great.

[@SailingDauntless]

@@pds4184 What voltage and frequency are you operating at? Where are you located?

[@pds4184]

@@SailingDauntless I will be use 60hz I live in Texas. I want to use the same auto transformer you are using with. High kw single or split phase I verter. Then tie both legs of my breaker box the the auto transformer. It would be running 24/7, and I wanted your input. If you think I would be better off doing something different, please let me know.

[@tunamaniak]

Would you start your main engines with the awesome DC/DC conversion you build ? Do you plan on either 48 VDC or 110/220 heating the hot water maker ?

[@SailingDauntless]

We probably could start the engines (one at a time) if we needed to. I actually left the engine system separate from the house bank for redundancy purposes. On the water side, we won't be using either! We are actually going to install a propane tankless system witch we will do a video on of course.

[@kevincampbell3173]

why didn't you just install a 12 volt battery in parallel with your dc-dc conversion as a trickle charger. this way when you need 200 amps it comes from the storage battery verses trying to pull it all through the DC-DC converters

[@SailingDauntless]

Kevin, that is actually a great idea. I considered a dedicated 12v bank but didn’t want the complication of an additional system. However, just using it as a surge/capicator is a good idea. I need to see if I can adjust my voltage trim on the converters to play nice with a deep cycle . I’ll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Safiery]

You could have used our Scotty. Its a 250A 12V to 60A 48V DC to DC Converter CANbus controlled and bi-directional. Only 5 lbs weight and small. 96% efficient.

[@SailingDauntless]

Sounds great! Can you send us some info and pricing?

[@OnenGcom]

Totally stranger to the subject. But, is there a need for a cooling system for tesla batteries, like in the car? Thanks.

[@SailingDauntless]

If you have high draw loads or rapid charging in relation to your battery bank size then possibly but our batteries don’t fluctuate more than 3-5 degrees C. We might do it for fun though.

[@stephengreen2898]

Don’t you need one those boxes that keep SHORE POWER from causing electrolysis on your METAL SHAFTS & Props etc????

[@imdguin]

My brain is on fire

[@steegzor5161]

awesome I have not seen sich a dc dc converter yet! Just from the looks though are you sure that the condensators are big enough to smooth out 200 amps?

[@SailingDauntless]

Yep! It works smashingly well. They will get warm and reduce efficiency if you don’t keep them cool though.

[@steegzor5161]

@@SailingDauntless nice to hear that! I should have found your video earlier though because i am just in the middle of an inverter installation on my sailing catamaran as well and thought about 48v. But as you said i couldn't find a proper dc dc converter as well and thought okay, 12v batteries it must be then🤣

[@firpofutbol]

I'm confused, you said that the Quattro only supplies a hot, neutral and ground at 240v. Then when you drew up the lines coming out, you said two hots and a ground. So are you saying the neutral got converted into a hot somehow and if so, is that in the software?

[@SailingDauntless]

Sorry for the confusion. The Quattro only produces 1 hot, 1 neutral, 1 ground. Those three wires are fed to an Autotransformer that creates the second split phase. This gives us 240v split phase ac power with two hots, a neutral and a ground.

[@firpofutbol]

@@SailingDauntless Thanks for the clarification! It makes more sense now. Now my understanding is that the transformer is capped at ~3800 watts but your Quattro outputs 15k watts (if I'm not mistaken), so is the transformer limiting the Quattro? Have you tested that?

[@allinollies7469]

@@SailingDauntless hi, thx for the video. How did you reprogram your 50 to 60 hertz? I’m in the same boat having 230 volts but needing 240 split phase.

[@allinollies7469]

Hi, I got the auto transformer and I can’t get it to work. It overloads my inverter every time. You have any issues?

[@duhe98]

Screw the bag of backup fuses to your board and you will never lose them.

[@SailingDauntless]

Good tip!😂👍

[@Kevin-ru8mx]

Hi Ty, what's your take on using Tesla powerwall? It's a 48 (50) volt battery. Just Cats has not given me a 'No' but it seems they'd prefer to do what they've always done

[@SailingDauntless]

Researched it, looks like they will only sell to you and warranty if installed in a permanent physical location. Just Cats does nice work, but I doubt you will get them out of the box enough to install Tesla. Good luck and let us now if you have any questions!

[@scottpeterd]

ABYC wants fuses within 7 inches of a supply. Where are yours?

[@SailingDauntless]

Thank you for your concern. Check time stamp 9:50. This section talks about the fuses that we used for the converter. Also, our BMS control has a fail safe contractor in its system and we fuse appropriately before all buss bars. Its hard to film in tight spots but they are there ;-)

[@landonhillyard]

how are you protecting against lightning strike?

[@SailingDauntless]

We currently have 2 large bronze grounding plates (one on each hull) that is tied into the mast via the chain plates. Will be adding a diffuser soon.

[@jspafford]

Why wouldn’t you just use two inverters? One for each phase. Most inverters have this option to run in split phase synced. Then you also have a backup in case one blows. You won’t be able to run 240v circuits but you’d get by.

[@SailingDauntless]

No room for two, that is why there is one large one.

[@JorgeoftheJungle]

If you need to change your inverter in the future, you should look into www.sol-ark.com/ It would have been much better for your setup. In my opinion. Great work!!

[@donr416]

I think not, I am not succeeding at finding in-depth info on the sol-ark, but it does not appear to be able to use the battery management cards in the power wall. That is a huge advantage of the existing system. Also most of the electronics used in the existing system has a long history of being used in a maritime environment.

[@GodlessDad]

Sol-Ark doesn't recommend their products for marine use. Even if they did, he'd need 2 8k's to do the same job, and would still need the transformer or an additional 8k Sol-Ark to power all of the 240v loads.

[@leowillett2667]

Which diodes did you use? (Part Number perhaps) looking to leverage your design leadership for a similar DC-DC converter. Thank you in advance

[@SailingDauntless]

Leo, thank you for the donation!! Sorry it took so long to reply, we were delivering a boat from Cuba (stay tuned). Shoot us an email and I can give you a bunch of info re the components.

[@leowillett2667]

@@SailingDauntless please advise how i can send you an email without "world plus dog" spamming us.

[@SailingDauntless]

Check our website www.sailingdauntless.com

[@theoteam4641]

hey guys, how is the tesla battery going? is it too much power or are you finding that your using too much power?

[@SailingDauntless]

The battery is awesome. Is there really a thing as too much power? We like the large storage capacity as it lets us have all the conveniences of home without having to hover over the battery state of charge. We can run for days (without the air conditions on) even when it’s cloudy and not worry about having to start and engine or conserve power waiting for the next sunny day. Piece of mind and extra power or safety is a good combo in my book. I wouldn’t say that we are using too much power, the system is pretty balanced and has 20% solar overage daily production to refill the bank after heavy use. Thank you for subscribing and asking questions!

[@theoteam4641]

@@SailingDauntless that’s awesome. I’ll also like to build our house and camper all from Tesla battery and use the 15000VA Quattro also. We only have 1 Tesla module in our campervan at the moment. I’ll like to have 8-16 modules in our next build and make it all electric. Am not sure if 1.5kw solar panels would be enough to charge it though. Soo I might find a way to use electric charger ports to charge it at high rate lol

[@SailingDauntless]

Definitely need to have an additional charging source

[@RAC7012]

Insulated tools!!!!

[@SailingDauntless]

I even have them and I wasn’t using them 🙄

[@spencyg80]

Building such a robust DC-DC converter just to run 12V equipment that would operate far more efficiently at 48V seems backwards to me.I understand the boat came with all of this high current equipment already installed and spec'd at 12V which is why you're doing this, but it seems as though the better approach may have been to swap out motors on the offending equipment to utilize more voltage, smaller conductors, and generally more efficient energy transfer and usage. I can tell from the video that you're a well grounded engineer (no pun intended) and I'm sure you have already worked all of this out....

[@SailingDauntless]

Thank you so much for watching and for your comment! You are correct! 48v motors would be more efficient and assuredly the way to go from scratch. However, the boat came with 12v motors and I needed to step down to 12v for the rest of the equipment anyway. The rub is .... it is more financially efficient to oversize the converter (which allowed me to build in redundancy 😉) than swap the motors and STILL have to have to buy/build a dc/dc converter anyway. Pfew ! That was a mouthful!

[@magnusenamd]

Wow 15000 w. Think this is perfekt.

[@ax270904]

all that power ad still running diesel wow.

[@SailingDauntless]

The diesel is for redundancy and incase of lightning strike. Can't put all of your eggs in one basket.

[@rickyroth4239]

I am assume your are an electrician or Electrical Engineer.

[@SailingDauntless]

No, just a diligent student

[@billyboyblue17]

Damn shame to have to re-wire the entire boat, but any manufacturer is going to go the cheapest route to get the boat out of the factory. They just don't expect someone to come along and demand more of "their" system.

[@SailingDauntless]

They just don’t account for US appliances… bummer

[@sandyc6569]

👍😊👍

[@hallga2]

2.35 kWs

[@chrisanderson4338]

classic MAN response... 48v touched a ground and it "got my attention|" lmao coming from a 25 yr handyman

[@Jennifer-007]

$472.00 each, WOW..... them's some expensive DC to DC converters...

[@SailingDauntless]

Yeah, but they do the job well.

[@danieljohnston5306]

In the words of Olivander.... yikes!!

[@JeffsTrades]

putting your bloopers at the beginning is a huge mistake for subscribers man....