Primitive Speed controller for Solar Boat

[@danielbuckman2727]

Bulletproof! I like it. Your boats are so freaking awesome and totally built from scratch! I'm always amazed and inspired by all the stuff you've created over the years.

[@garygerard4290]

17.5 minute mark: the journeyman captain talking things over with the apprentice ..............

[@RustyShakleford1]

Your kids are turning out to be mini adventure builders theyve got the spirit!!

[@RustyShakleford1]

Such a legend Jamie youve built your life with your bare hands!!

[@sirdocmad4473]

your kids have the bes dad ever ! fun and learning , bet ever :)

[@kuhrd]

That old speed controller looked like it wasn't designed to be very weather resistant and in an environment where everything is surrounded by corrosive salt water it is not surprising that it could fail. That being said, most of the newer speed controllers made for golf carts are now plastic with the electronics fully potted which seems to help a lot in the wet environments that some are subjected to. As is obvious you could even make that speed control pretty much fully variable just by adding more tap points along the nichrome resistor element. The ones we used to build for electrathon would have a ceramic tube similar to those used on big power resistors along with a copper brush contact that wipes against the taps from one end to the other with the last tap being a direct connection through copper rather than the nichrome wire similar to a big rheostat where every 2 turns connected to one of the wiper taps. Not the most efficient but you very rarely spent any time in speed limited mode and it made a very simplistic and robust control system that would still work even if the batteries were very dead which was a good thing from a competition standpoint.

[@gregstiles]

shark slicer just went from very good to the greatest of all time. you could be a millionaire if you brought these solid state boats to the public dude. happy for your cool island family life Jamie.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

It's a good thing your video popped up on my page since I've been subscribed to you for a while and totally forgot about you. Interesting video as always.

[@quadrant2005]

hi Jaimie if its a hall effect throttle, its probably that which has failed. The magnet has a habbit of coming unglued and dropping out. I hate hall effect throttles. If the speed controller can be switched into pwm control or 0-5v you could have a Arduino with a little screen so that you could have some presets. Richey let Jaimie do his thing and continue watching the video :)

[@Granite]

Best off-grid design for sure. Simple.

[@kmathers101]

The shark sclicer 2.0 is awesome

[@chillenchilla4]

when u surround yourselves with geniuses you become one

[@nowhereman7398]

That guy looked a lot like Rambo.

[@frodehau]

Speed controls on old golf karts, fork lifts and such are usually a bit more involved, and more efficient. The motors have two pairs of brushes that are insulated from each other. You can connect one pair, both pairs in series and both pairs in paralell to get 3 speeds. Some use resistive loads to provide two more speeds. Some motors (starter motors) can be modified to work this way by insulating their brush holders from the casing ground.

[@teropiispala2576]

The benefit of PWM speed controller is efficiency. Electronics should be reliable when properly designed, built, installed and used. If some of these fails, system stops working. If everything is right, electronics works practically forever. I have lots of self-made self-designed electronics in daily use. Some have been working over 30 years, some 20 and some only few years, but I have had very little problems. One example is pressure controller for my water well. I have my pressure vessel underground, so my water is cold all the time without flowing it too much. I live in Finland, so temperature 6C under ground. That's highly condensive place, especially at summer time. The original mechanic pressure controller lasted less than a year before it rusted solid and stopped working. I replaced it with self made electronic one, which is not only more precise, but have worked flawlessly 23 years, without need of any adjustments or maintenance. As far as I know, your speed controller should be properly designed, so I'd check few things. Is it installed in environment where it's specified to work. Condensation definitely happens there. Salt may also get on the surfaces, where condensation can get it into contacts or even inside the enclosure. Separate watertight case with sealed cable pass throughs are typically good practice. Another thing that can be a problem for this type of controller is loose cable connections. With inductive loads, like motors, loose connection can create high voltage shocks, which slowly deteriorate electric components. Using a manual switch you have behind your controller, can do the same.

[@Relemsis]

good video

[@chillenchilla4]

i would love to see one of those 48 v dc 10kw bicycle motors converted to boat!

[@Peter-jo3wt]

This boat is older than almost all of his kids.

[@katiekumcgil]

might be an idea to explain to the kids not to touch the nichrome coil as its got to be getting pretty hot

[@henrymach]

The thing you built made of wires is called a rheostat

[@dennisolsson3119]

A rheostat has a tap that is movable. This is just a power resistor :)

[@davehand8622]

$650 speed controller manufacturers hate this one simple trick!

[@TioDave]

I would guess it's the throttle that is bad if it's the resistance based kind.

[@RustyShakleford1]

How much power is lost through the resistive wire speed controller??

[@kuhrd]

Very little due to the amount of time it is actually in use. The speed control is really just to prevent damage to the motor from hard starts and allow for a slower speed when maneuvering in and out of places where the moat is docked or moored.

[@ScottLydy-nl8du]

Good morning from Scott in Tacoma

[@kirkray6344]

I think it’s called analog

[@jedics1]

Complex, expensive and impossible to fix replaced with rudimentary an easily fix for a few dollars has been my experience with a few thing also. I built an evaporative ac for $300 with easily fixed or replaced parts but ofcourse its never need anything replaced in 5 years. Compare that to a split system AC, when there are problems it is an expensive and drawn out nightmare with technicians that want $250 an hour and guess how I know all this? The kicker is Ive spent nearly 2 grand and the split system and it still doesn't work properly.