Replacement Vetus thruster motors

[sndog]

I am back to working on my bow and stern thrusters.

They are 6kw=8hp. I am looking at adapting high-power servo motors, at 7.5kw-10hp, for the motors instead. I just have a hard time paying for Vetus's massive price markup on them.

My questions are, would proportional control, adjustable speed, be of any benefit for a bow and stern thruster?
Would going from 8hp to 10hp, cause any unwanted issues that anyone could foresee?

Thank you.

 

[Bmarler]

Lots of people like proportional controls. I can’t see a downside to having them. Since you’re talking about adapting servo motors you will likely be doing your own control heads too.
Since servo motors have full torque at any speed, make sure you’re careful with accel and decel ramps, as well as not doing instant reverse. Many modern servo drives have built in logic controllers too, so a system can be tailored as needed.
Really though, I can’t imagine a good servo motor and drive being cheaper than vetus. Better, sure. Cheaper? I don’t know. At least not the servos I deal with.

 

[sndog]

Lots of people like proportional controls. I can’t see a downside to having them. Since you’re talking about adapting servo motors you will likely be doing your own control heads too.
Since servo motors have full torque at any speed, make sure you’re careful with accel and decel ramps, as well as not doing instant reverse. Many modern servo drives have built in logic controllers too, so a system can be tailored as needed.
Really though, I can’t imagine a good servo motor and drive being cheaper than vetus. Better, sure. Cheaper? I don’t know. At least not the servos I deal with.

Will go either servo or DC brushless. And I would rather pay the same for a servo motor and controller than a Vetus.

 

[more]

My questions are, would proportional control, adjustable speed, be of any benefit for a bow and stern thruster?
Would going from 8hp to 10hp, cause any unwanted issues that anyone could foresee?

Thank you.

in real life not , only benefit more, more power.

 

[Bmarler]

If you do the switch, let us know how you made the swap. I assume you’ll need to come up with a motor mount and coupler, I’d be interested to see that setup.