Please welcome a new addition to the family - Kaos, a 1994 Symbol 55 pilot house! She became part of the family in early January, and I've been spending all of my time aboard getting to know her.
And for anyone wondering how you pronounce Kaos, it would be the same as the word chaos.
Phonetically it would be āKAY-ossā
Look forward to this buildout, especially the 48v system. Iām guessing the 12v 100a mppt is being used for charge/conversion of the 12v bank since 48v is still pretty niche (unfortunately). I think I remember reading about that off-piste use casein the Victron forums. Also looking forward to all the 48v ancillaries youāre able to find (fuses, breakers, connectors, etc), it seems like all the spec sheets I read say 9-32v.
Is testing the WS3000 on the cards as well with this system?
Also would love to hear about your battery selection process, and maybe a PSA about (not) building 4x12v series stacks from ādrop inā lithium batteries.
I have to assume that she is referencing the arch-organization in āGet Smartā?
Congrats on your find. She checks all the boxes most us would have for a coastal cruiser. Whatās lacking? Where shall she venture firstā¦ā¦ Mexico or Alaska?
Huge Congrats Steve
Congrats!
Soā¦ Youāll be trading your Peplink for a Shoe Phone?
Lots of new projects to write about. Iām very interested to hear more about your battery choice, i.e. ECPC. And 48V vs. 24V decision.
Sheās a beauty. Looks like a great platform for tinkering and tuning.
Hey Steve. Congrats on your new boat, she sounds amazing, especially I love the engine room! I love your 48V idea! I built 24V 800Ah battery a year ago for our sailboat and we love it! I used high quality Winston 700Ah cells, REC 16S BMS with CAN+Victron integration, Wakespeed WS500 with REC BMS via CAN integration. REC BMS is an excellent piece of kit and controls all our chargers(including solar) and inverters. The Winston cells are super generous on their capacity specs , and typically have 20% bigger capacity than they state, ie our 700Ah cells turned out to be 837Ah in my discharge tests. I highly recommend that you pick 16S configuration and not 16S2P config. I am sure this will be a super interesting project, if you need any info please let me know. Best regards, S
I was hoping you had splashed for an FPB!
Iām running 48V LiFEPO4, using an extra solar MPPT to charge the 12V Odyssey that runs the house / start (single 12v). Victronās 48-12 is a bit limited but the MPPT is perfect.
Logic being parts commonality (same MPPT as solar), less rewiring / weight, and no BMS to trip out in event of catastophe. AGM is reliable for last resort.
Congratulations from the Mƶbius crew! Weāre really looking forward to learning from all the new projects you have planned.
Nice! The view of the pilothouse with all the round āsteamā gauges is reminiscent of Ben Ellisonās original fly bridge on Gizmo 
You are correct about the MPPT - it will bridge the 48V bank to the 12V house ābankā. Iāve not found that many problems with fuses and such - there wonāt need to be many since itās just the inverter, alternators, and MPPT on that 48V bank.
Maybe. Iāve not been impressed with what Iām hearing so far around it, and Iāve had my own challenges with WS-500s where it seems like certain features are not fully baked. Relying on something like the WS-3000 to power all of my 12V side is a bit more than Iād like right now.
I looked at a lot of different choices out there, but none of them were really that baked. Combining 12 or 24 volt batteries to form 48 volts just didnāt seem like a good idea. Iām sure I will have something more to say about it in upcoming articles.
The evil empire in Get Smart (KAOS) is one way to look at it!
Alaska is definitely on the list!
Haha good one on the shoe phone.
ECPC has a very well reviewed set of cells by various folks on the 'net, and there are very few other 48V choices out there. 24 volt is great, but there are still limitations with the size of wiring and other bits that 48 volts gets passed.
Iām very familiar with the REC BMS as well as the WS500s. Iāve not built with Winston, but I have with others. This time around I will be using Victronās Cerbo GX as a central controller along with a touch display, plus the ECPC batteries that are built with a lot of great components. Glad to hear about your setup - it might help if I end up going a different route!
Hah, I canāt afford an FPB!
Thatās great to hear that youāre doing something similar to what Iām looking at. My design is almost finalized - I am likely going to use 2x 100 amp hour LiFePO4 batteries as my house 12v bank so that I have a constant voltage setup. I have become used to not having lights blink and having a more stable voltage overall the last 8 years or so with LiFePO4 boats.
What did you end up using for your 48V batteries? Any other challenges you found?
Hey Paul, I think we talked in the past on FB lithium on the boat forums. I would love to see what you have done. Do you have your setup documented somewhere? Thanks!
Steve, I am using CERBO as well. In my case it serves more as a CAN router from REC BMS to VE bus and to WS500. Looking forward to see your setup.
48V is a little difficult to get rated switches and fuses. Small blade fuses are a real hassle. The fail is not graceful.
I would keep the 48 scope limited
I stayed with AGM for the 12v as that way no possible chance of BMS disconnect for criticals. Only need a single battery.
I used same MPPT units for Solar and DCDC.
Winston is a little larger, but overperform and never ever fail.
Also avaialble in more sizes than most others.
48v alternator integration is a hassle.