Sailing SV Delosvideo
The Electrical Backbone of Our Catamaran (I Hope It Works) ⚡️ Building Our Own Boat Pt. 12
8 November 2024 · 33 min · 319K views
What this video covers
The crew building a custom aluminum expeditionary catamaran installs a high-capacity electrical backbone designed to carry 50 kilowatts of power at 48 volts between the battery bank and the hybrid electric propulsion system.2:51 To manage the resulting 1,000-amp load, the design replaces heavy-gauge cabling with tin-coated solid copper bus bars measuring 80 millimeters by 6.3 millimeters.6:53 These bars are housed within fiberglass channels rated for 11,000 volts, creating a sandwich structure with positive and negative bars separated by an eight-millimeter fiberglass insulator.7:40 The installation requires custom-fabricated splices using brass screws and high-temperature thread locker to accommodate varying floor levels and structural frames.30:31 The process involves significant metal cutting with reciprocating saws and grinders, requiring extensive dust management and precise alignment through pre-existing structural holes.13:31 While the physical installation of the bus bars and insulation channels is completed, the system remains untested at the conclusion of the build phase.31:56
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