Electrical fire aboard new TI, motor mount & lessons learned

One of the roles I envisioned for my new TI was as a fishing kayak. The evolve Torqueedo is too pricey for me and I already owned a 30-pound Minn-Kota. For weight distribution purposes I located a large heavy Wal-Mart Deep Cycle battery. I had to extend the motor wiring. I used the proper gauge of wire but I didn't keep the connections sufficiently separated from one another. Neither did I fuse the connections. After about 500 yards under electric power the connections to the extended wiring started to smoke. Then the insulation burned off the extended wiring. Smoke began to billow out of the storage hatch forward of the Mast and the motor quit and began to smoke as well. My 21-yr old son was with me and in the front seating position. The extended wiring ran along side of the TI. My first reaction was that I couldn't believe what I was seeing for about 3 seconds. Then the protection of my son was paramount and there was toxic smoke by both of us. I sank the wiring connection and extended wiring to cool it off. We opened the forward hatch and doused the battery with water and noticed that the battery posts had melted. We pedaled at high speed to shore (about 500 feet). Incredibly the TI was not damaged. I sustained a small burn on my inner forearm. The motor, wiring and battery were a complete loss. Park Rangers met us on shore. They did a double take from their control tower at a sailboat giving off so much smoke. A view from high-powered binoculars informed them that there was a trolling motor on board.

Lesson Learned:
1) Fusing motor wiring is essential. The Motor manufacturer recommended a 60-Amp fuse available from a Car parts place. I have it now and an extra too.
2) It is not really needed to extend battery wiring and has its hazards.
3) Such a massive battery is not needed and adds too much weight. I am now down to a group 24 size battery with 525 cold cranking amps that weighs about have as much and can ride behind the motor mount that is behind the rear position seat.

Motor Mount:
1) I am using a 2 X 6 primed and painted Red piece of wood
2) I am using one-inch oak dowels primed and painted flat black connected with u-bolts. The dowels fit down in the holes for the carts behind the rear position
3) I still use a safety strap that hold the mount securely to the boat. It is ratcheted and extends under the hull to the other side.

See the arrangement (now modified) at:

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=03D47852AAB211BC&id=3D47852AAB211BC%21402&sc=documents#cid=03D47852AAB211BC&id=3D47852AAB211BC%21404&sc=documents

John

Hey John

Scary, scary story. Thanks for sharing that
Very glad it worked out ok for crew and vessel....
I got a Humminbird 385ci (kayak edition) last months and started checking my parts list as I opened the box....
Hmmm, where's the in-line fuse holder. There wasn't one.
How ignorant is that of the Factory?
I spend $4.00 and bought and installed my own. All it takes is one cracked seal in the Pelikan Battery Box combined with a slightly open hatch. Water gets into the hull and box.
One could end up with a major short and a potential fire that could sink anyone of us.
Excellent point that you made about adding distance from the Energy source to the Motor. Even heavy wire will still add resistance and convert the Juice to some degree of heat.

Safe sailing
Fred

_________________
Always looking for ways to make good things 'Gooder'

Consider gas based alternative?

http://www.smalloutboardengines.com/20h ... troke.html

Pros and cons with each.

Glad your son or you did not get hurt (as well as the boat).

Although I am not 100 % satisfied with my eVolve system, I have never had a minutes problem like that. I have had some problems with contaminated connections but that is primarily my fault.

That is a scary story!

Hi PeteS:

Thanks for your reply. The Lake I prefer to sail on does not permit petroleum-fired boat motors.

John

why was your motor ruined?

_________________

Hey John,

Boy, sometimes wish we had that limitation around here. Sounds like a good idea.

Hi ChaosDave:

You know, that motor may not have been ruined. It may have been protected by its own circuitry. But, I'm not sure I was ready to trust it anymore. I wasn't ready to take it out on the lake and find out. So I put it in the trash, a neighbor of mine rescued it, removed the charred wiring (that I had added to the end of its regular wiring), tested it and decided it was working just fine and sold it. He offered it back to me for a fee but my son did not tell me about this in time.

John

Im a third year electrical engineer and imho the fire was the result of the cabling not the motor which would not have been affected by the fire.

_________________

the motor, no ... but quite probably the speed controller hardware

_________________
Alan W.

Papaya AI2 to replace my well worn V1
TheTwins - His/Hers 2007 Papaya Hobie Adventure Island's (v1.00.01)
.. and a Hobie Outback SUV

By the way, upon reflection, I credit the Mirage Drives with saving the boat, preventing anything more than slight cosmetic damage and preventing greater injury. We were about 300 feet from shore when the fire broke out. We had our hands free to fight the fire all the while pedaling like mad for shore. With two adults pedaling with all their might and the added adrenaline of the situation, were beached in what seemed like less a minute. Had we not been able to do so, we would have abandoned ship to save lives and prevent greater injury. Also, the speed of travel made it easier to scoop and throw significant quantities of water on the burning components. Getting to shore so quickly allowed us to jump out and take measures to prevent a flare up. We got the partially melted battery out of the front hatch and off the boat, the smoldering wiring away from the hull and even the motor away from the boat. This was the first time I had experienced the significant speed possible with both Mirage Drives operating at the peak of adult pedaling. The bow seemed to rise out of the water and the sensation of acceleration was very noticeable.

Recently I tried this peak pedaling again but this time in a brisk wind with the sail fully extended on a beam reach and performance of the TI was truly impressive. It was necessary to sheet in the sail more and more as we picked up speed and the wind of forward motion had a greater and greater influence on the direction of apparent wind. We couldn't keep that rate of pedaling up for very long but while we did and with the help of the sail the boat seemed to race across the water. Apparently it was a real eye turner as we got plenty of comment on it when we reached shore.

John

Hey John,

Just a suggestion, see if you can get a water proof video camera for you boat. Upon reflection, I think your close brush with disaster would have been quite the youtube sensation. Your narration certainly gives me quite the mental image of a good yarn. GPS tracker might have also logged some impressive numbers generated by the accelerated dual powered turbo drive.

Pete S.