Re: [Paddlewise] Electric Bilge Pump

From: Michael Daly <mikedaly_at_magma.ca>
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 17:29:58 -0400
On 12 Apr 2005 at 15:25, Keith Wrage wrote:

> A couple of questions:  What kind of operational duty can
> you expect from a set of fully charged batteries?  What is the non-use
> discharge rate (e.g., if left sitting in your boat for 3 weeks, could
> expect the pump to empty your boat 6 times?).

The batteries I bought are 2300mAh NiMH.  The complete set, therefore 
is 14.4V 2.3Ah.  Since my bilge pump draws 0.9A at peak (measured 
from my Attwood 625 - most pumps are less efficient), that means I 
can expect:

2.3Ah/0.9A = 2.6 hours of operation.  

Realistically, the batteries are probably over-rated (most AA NiMH 
are according to one of the digital camera web sites).  As such, I'd 
expect at least 1.5-2 hours of operation.  Since it takes 3-5 minutes 
to empty the kayak (not a full cockpit, but typical of a wet exit) 
then I've got the ability to easily do 25-30 pumpouts on a single 
recharge.  The discharge rate is roughly 0.4C, so I don't expect that 
the time available is reduced significantly by a high current draw.

The worst case that I've done is three pool sessions over two weeks 
and about 6-10 pumpouts per session on a single charge.  Most 
pumpouts were less than 3 minutes, though.  There was lots of 
capacity left, if short recharge times are an indication.

After a month on the shelf, you can expect the batteries to have 
about 60% of their full capacity.  That means about 15-18 pumpouts.

Mike 
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Received on Tue Apr 12 2005 - 14:30:06 PDT

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