Uv 26 conversion

[Ouvea]

Out of curiosity, I have an 2015-2016 Viper with what Submerge calls Viper Electronics, which provides three speeds, indepenent of the mechanical propeller pitch adjustment. What exactly is this gizmo? Can the speeds be changed, similar to what DiveX provides for the Sierras & Cudsas? Is it even more imperative to maintain the 29.0V battery pack with this Viper Electronic thingamagiggy?

O.

 

[tbone1004]

the "gizmo" is the ESC, electronic speed control and uses pulse width modulation. Speeds can be changed but only by sending back to Silent Submersion.
The ESC may have a high voltage limit but I do not know what it is, hence recommending not exceeding the 7s li-po or 8s lifepo4 packs that are/were stock.

 

[treasurehunter]

2007 has the new one, should be fine

My motor is 2010. I will dismantle and verify that the leads are crimped and not welded.

 

[Markus MDDT]

I have done this conversion. If anyone is interested I´ll share my troubles
Started with and UV-26 which I bought around 2003.Retrofitted with a Viper three-speed controller when that was available. Now six months ago I built a 7S batterypack with a 30A BMS and about 50ah. I shortened the body to be the same size as an UV-18 since i think it is very hard to get it balanced if it is shorter. The weight penalty is big though.... I need it to be 32kg. I think I added about 8kg wrapped on the batterypack and I have about 1.5kg in the nose cone for salty water. Still had the pack of-center so torque is same as before. Scooter is a little bit back heavy but within comfort.
I did a ride in 20 degrees water (C) full prop pitch, full speed, non stop, doubles, drysuit. and it overheated in 45 minutes. The motor was HOT! Didn't seem do any damage though which I thought was very surprising. I dont know if the Viper has an overheat protection or the BMS might have stepped in (dont think the bms overheated though) I was able to run the scooter at speed 2. The scooter is of course significantly faster now. Now I run it at high prop pitch but for cruising on speed 2.
Did a burntest with Rodneys old burntester and got 165 minutes, 1150Wh.
I have two connector in the top lid where I connect video lighting. Next upgrade is to install a 50ah BMS to be 100% sure I don´t overload the battery when I attach the 2pcs 100w LEDs

Any questions, I´m happy to share but I´m absolutely no expert!

 

[tbone1004]

@Markus Hjärtstam there is no thermal management on the motor, the thermal protection will only come from the BMS or the ESC if they overheat, nothing on the motors. If it cut out, it was likely the ESC cutting out on thermal overload due to high current. The ESC's are potted which means they're basically insulated which isn't great.
I posted in my workbench update that I was talking with @Jona Silverstein with SmartDPV and they should have an off-the-shelf version of their ESC available for use with the brushed motors here shortly where you can at least put some current limits in there and program some different speeds to prevent it from getting hot.

 

[Markus MDDT]

@Markus Hjärtstam there is no thermal management on the motor, the thermal protection will only come from the BMS or the ESC if they overheat, nothing on the motors. If it cut out, it was likely the ESC cutting out on thermal overload due to high current. The ESC's are potted which means they're basically insulated which isn't great.
I posted in my workbench update that I was talking with @Jona Silverstein with SmartDPV and they should have an off-the-shelf version of their ESC available for use with the brushed motors here shortly where you can at least put some current limits in there and program some different speeds to prevent it from getting hot.

Yea a programmable ESC would be nice......I think that the ESC getting hot was a result of the motor and the motor compartment getting hot. So in a way kinda lucky it sits on the motor compartment chassis and limited the motor before it got destroyed. I´m monitoring for now and will see if there are any issues further.

 

[tbone1004]

Yea a programmable ESC would be nice......I think that the ESC getting hot was a result of the motor and the motor compartment getting hot. So in a way kinda lucky it sits on the motor compartment chassis and limited the motor before it got destroyed. I´m monitoring for now and will see if there are any issues further.

as the motor heat builds, the current consumption increases. Higher current means more heat, so it's a vicious cycle. The Venom uses simple PWM to set the speeds. I.e. speed 3 is 100% of whatever the battery is putting out, speed 2 is 75% *no idea what it actually is set to*, etc. The Smart DPV uses current limits for each of the speeds so it says that speed 3 is limited to 20a and as the motor gets hot, it will actually drop the voltage until the current is back in line. Keeps the heat under control.

 

[SCUBAwithMitch]

I've got an older UV-26 that I'm working on this conversion. I just purchased the viper esc from DGX. How is the esc added?

 

[tbone1004]

I've got an older UV-26 that I'm working on this conversion. I just purchased the viper esc from DGX. How is the esc added?

should have waited for the SmartDPV IMO, saved some money and gotten a much better ESC. I didn't know DGX was still selling SS parts, weird.
If you got the kit it is some basic hand tools * I think it may just be a philips screwdriver* and just replaces the plate with the relay on it. It's a super easy conversion

 

[treasurehunter]

I shortened the body to be the same size as an UV-18 since I think it is very hard to get it balanced if it is shorter

Actually I don’t think it is hard to do.
I will be removing 10 inches from the hull which eliminates about 32lbs of buoyancy and thus reducing the weight to a +/- 60lbs dpv, I will still have to add about 10+ lbs at the nose of dpv. This is plenty of weight to play with for trim balancing.

I will as soon as I'm able post details of my modification adventure, which to date was a lot of fun to do.

UV26 = 93.0lbs
Genesis batteries = -44.6lbs
Miscellaneous parts
removed = -3.0lbs
Hull weight 10" removed = -7.3lbs
New li-ion batteries 42Ah = +11,0lbs
Total weight removed +/- = 44.0lbs
10" of hull is 3.18Lbs/Inch = -31.8lbs
of buoyancy.
weight to add to dpv +/- = 12lbs

@tbone1004 do you think the SmartDPV esc will be available by this summer? I am also researching for ebike or other types of esc with modified hall effect dial.