Scooter Watt's Up Data

[Gary]

I've been having fun with my "watt's up meter" collecting data on different scooter speed settings and gear configurations. Thought I'd share what little I'd gathered so far:

Dive    Ah        Ap      Total  Dial  Ah/ft    Dist Estimate  Config
1082   9.373     18.27    7200    6    0.0013     12291        Doubles
1084  10.624     21.48    6300    9    0.0017      9488        Doubles + stage
1083   7.997     19.94    3200    9    0.0025      6400        "dirty profile" with 2 stage 2 wings 2 scooters - into flow

Estimates:
          Speed (flow compensate)
     Doubles   Stage    ?    ?Worst case?
Dial
1      80      88      77      63
2      89      96      84      68
3      98     104      91      74
4     109     113      99      80
5     122     123     107      87
6     135     134     117      95
7     150     146     127     103
8     167     158     138     112
9     185     172     150     122

Distance Estimate would be round trip capacity based on 16 Amp-hours of useful battery (supposed avg for a N-19 in a battery test) and speed estimates are highly speculative with only 3 data points so far.

Personally I'm collecting data to plan some long penetration dives to see how many scooters and stages we may need for the dive. Figured the data might be useful for others also.

While probably not identical across all scooters I thought having some info to plan from would be better then none.

[aainslie]

Consider getting one of these puppies:

http://www.bnbproducts.com/ - look at the DPR - II - 100. If you add the right connectors you can use these to check current usage during the dive.

Rodney lent me one when my scooter was playing up, and now I use it all the time to test current draw at different settings. It's pretty interesting, and will definitely give you a good idea (in conjunction with the watts-up, which I also use during charging) as to exactly what's going on in your scooter.

[Gary]

Very cool device.

You use the Watt's up on charging and in use? and the DPR also? Wow.

The DPR keeps the data when unplugged from the scooter? Do you run it on the motor side of the switch?


After my wetsuit was stolen a few weeks ago I've had this urge to add a GPS tracker to my scooter battery pack in case it ever "wanders away" at Ginnie. The next week after I started researching the idea I caught this in the news: http://www.theindychannel.com/news/14195732/detail.html



Got any data to share on your scooter tesing?

[FW]

Wow, 1083 dives. How many are cave dives? (sorry about the hijack)

[aainslie]

I'm still collecting data on the scooter. I've been messing with the angle of attack on the prop blades, resulting in currents between 12A and 21A (!!) depending on setting. Voltage dropoff is noticably higher at higher settings.

The DPR goes in line between the battery and motor, just as the watts up does between the charger and the battery. After the dive you can download the recorded data. It has a cool feature where it doesn't record until you hit a threshold amperage - I set it to 12A.

I only use the watts up during charging as (by my understandng) it can't handle the large current under load.

[Gary]

2/3's are cave. Avg bottom time is just over an hour (omitting all that fun overhead time decoing in the cave). Avg bottom times run a little higher on the solo dives.
706 cave (with 619 > the CDS 30 min) 55 cavern and 184 cave-solo.
63 sidemount but only 39 of those in cave and 26 of those are solo.
We almost do as much sidemount OW in Bonnaire as cave in FL.

At my usual rate of diving I probably only have another 5 years to Wakulla Gold and maybe 6-8 to CDS International award. Many dives at Eagle's and Dieploder don't count towards the CDS awards of course but a rebreather may help with that. LOL


I wonder if I may have the only still functioning Bridge II dive computer. I use it to download all my dive data and have written a program to extract the data so it can be tracked. If the Bridge ever dies I'm going to need to convert to a new downloader. At this point the Sensus Pro looks like it may be the one. At least I can get to the data without excessive crazyness.

[Gary]

I only use the watts up during charging as (by my understandng) it can't handle the large current under load.

I've been using it in the scooter during dives. I think it's good to 50 amps and I've never hit half that - even at peak. (I can't find the instruction manual at the moment but I think that's what it said).

The instructions at the bottom of SS page http://www.silent-submersion.com/uv/uvprices/Prices.htm gives instructions for use in burn testing at 16 amps.

Its woked so far. I'd rather test in use and believe the Watt's Up then stick the battery on a burn tester to see how much juice it has left. Seems like creul and unusual punishment to the battery.

What kind of numbers are you seeing on the charge?

[Gary]

I use it all the time to test current draw at different settings.

So what amp draws are you getting at the different settings?
Any related RPM or speed information?

[aainslie]

It's surprisingly different from time to time. I've learned a lot about scooters in the process.

The pitch setting is regulated by a threaded insert in the hub. That can be manipulated - I set mine up pretty carefully to maximise the pitch. Then there is a bit of hysteresis so teh setting is different depending on whether you go (say) from 5 to 7 or from 9 to 7.

Anyway I get between about 19-21 amps on 9 to about 12-14 on 1, depending on how I got there and what the voltage is.

I didn't realise the watts up could take so much current! I'll have to start using it in the scooter as well.

[ScubaAl]

Hello,

Can the Submerged "burntester and Watts up" be used on a Mako scooter? Have a used scooter showing up on Wed.
I'm new to the scooter world and I'm looking forward to using and learn about scooters.
Thanks for your help, Al