Torqeedo Cruise 4 long term review

[ShakyIsler]

I have read more than a few times over a number of years that Torqeedo customer service / reply ratio is near to non existent...won't answer emails etc etc.

What is that all about?

Therefore if I get a little e-motor for my tender, I am likely to get the chinese E-propulsion. (Spirit or Navy I think they are called).
Do Torqeedo not "get it" that they are getting a worldwide reputation for p*ss poor customer service - just not good enough with the price these units go for new.

[barrymac]

They must be too busy touring around Bavaria in brand new Mercedes to care about checking emails.

So in the end by elimination I discovered the non charging problem in the end.

For some unknown reason, you cannot charge the batteries when you have more than one charging source plugged in. They do not need to be switched on, just the fact that they are wired up disables both.

So I removed the solar chargers from the circuit and the 220v chargers worked again.

So if both charger types are plugged in, but not switched on, then neither will work. I'll need to go back to my original plan of having a four terminal switch inside the boat to change from one source or another.

Still no reply from anyone in torqeedo.

I notice also their dealer partners are getting pissed off with them and they have a high turnover of dealer partnerships.

My next boat will certainly use a different brand. I'd rather DIY everything for a quarter of the price, at least I'll know how it all works in the end and be more able to troubleshoot.

[bgallinger]

I have been planning to buy a Torqueedo motor in the spring so I was really interested in all the comments here! Thank you one and all for sharing! I note the majority of negative comments include 1) Very poor support and 2) weak connections and 3) proprietary equipment like the solar panel. Any one of these three issues would give me cause to NOT buy this product. It might be instructive to hear from Torqueedo if their response is not a "cut and paste" type of reply. Does anyone have a direct line to Torqueedo?

[NaClyDog]

Originally Posted by bgallinger

I have been planning to buy a Torqueedo motor in the spring so I was really interested in all the comments here! Thank you one and all for sharing! I note the majority of negative comments include 1) Very poor support and 2) weak connections and 3) proprietary equipment like the solar panel. Any one of these three issues would give me cause to NOT buy this product. It might be instructive to hear from Torqueedo if their response is not a "cut and paste" type of reply. Does anyone have a direct line to Torqueedo?

Try sending them some pre-sale questions in an email and see if you get a response... any response.


All my queries have been ignored.

[warrior 90]

The only thing that seems to work is simulating Your external battery/charging source with a DC to DC converter to the exact Spec of the charger. That is 90W in case of the 915kwH battery.

https://www.torqeedo.com/en/products...s/1133-00.html

Lately I also heard of a guy with this 915 kwH battery that ordered a new charger and they send him a 24V 100W charger that seems to simulate the 12/24V cigarette lighter plug

https://www.torqeedo.com/en/products...v/1128-00.html

Well, have a close look and think about how many amps You can run through this flimsy wire before You trigger the fuse of the BMS.
So this battery is a 8S 8P configuration that gives You about 1 hour of decent run time with a 1 KW motor by the most. Just by the numbers 100W charging is not even a decent range extender and the 50W solar panel is a total joke.
Only thing I can think of is opening up the battery box that will void Your warranty and connect direct to the BMS 8S configuration with more batteries in parallel.

All the external charging plugs are fused and limited !!!!

I believe that is also their basic proprietary strategy for their 24-3500 / 48-5000 battery

https://www.torqeedo.com/en/products...ging-equipment


Here take a look at the Spec of their MPPT solar charger

https://media.torqeedo.com/downloads...-104_DE_EN.pdf

2.2 Technical data

Rated current of module (input current): max. 60 A
Input voltage range for charging: 35 V - 145 V
Maximum charging current of the battery at 25/40 °C 65/60A
Maximum module open-circuit voltage: 150 V
Final charging voltage: 29.05 V
Night consumption: 1 W
Protection type: IP54
Connection: 2x M12 annular cable lug for connecting to
Power 26-104 battery
Weight: 5.2 kg
Dimensions: 320 x 205 x 120 mm
Cable length: Approx. 2.5 m
Permitted environmental temperature during operation:
-20 °C to +55 °C

https://media.torqeedo.com/downloads...nual-DE-EN.pdf

Electrical data for chargers

Charger 650 Watt 2213-00
Charger 2900 Watt 2212-00

Property Value
Input voltage 100-240 VAC /50-60 Hz

Frequency 50-60 Hz 50-60 Hz
Max. current consumption 7 A 16 A
Max. output power (At 100 V input voltage)
650 Watt

2900 Watt from185 VAC upwards(1400 Watt)
Battery type Power 48 5000 lithium ion

Charging start voltage 36 V
Efficiency 90 %
Cooling Passive Active radiator, integrated

[P0llux]

Torqeedo customer service is not inexistent. It is offensive.!
They are trolling me for the past 8 months
They promised to find a solution to a technical problem (remote throttle works only with some batteries) then complete silence. No response to emails.
This is what happens every time I am contacting them anew.
Even their local dealer feels ashamed with their behavior.
Enough said.

[warrior 90]

Yeah, their customer service is an absolute piece of **** to put it mildly.
But their marketing strategy is excellent.
If I had to choose today..............

https://newportvessels.com/products/kayak-motor-nk180
1,8HP - 24 Volt

https://newportvessels.com/products/nk300-kayak-motor
3HP - 1300 W - 36 Volt

Brushless, direct-drive motors for maintenance-free reliability and field-oriented control technology for max efficiency.
Saltwater
They have an open design and You can choose Your own batteries in any configuration You like.... Lead Acid, Li Ion, Lifepo4

And as far as I understand and researched.............
They have a good service and value their customers.
In my opinion they make the best trolling motors right now unless You want GPS tracking which comes at the extended and added risk of electronic gadgets failing.

Sooooo, before You buy a trolling motor I recommend............

Spent some time and do Your research.
That´s cheaper and will save You a lot of hassle

[pitlaw]

I just bought the cheaper 55lb thrust Newport kayak. Going to mount it on my inflatable Avon 310 with a 100 A lithium. I only need it in the Bay for hops to shore. We shall see if it’s enough!

[Mugwamp]

Originally Posted by barrymac

Hi All,

I'm writing to give a review of my torqeedo outboard, which I've had for about 3 years now.

Good stuff first. As a replacement for a petrol outboard, it's fantastic. this is mostly the obvious advantages of any electric outboard.

• much kinder to the marine ecosystem
• no pull start for lighter people (safety advantage)
• extremely precise control
• super quiet so you can talk about the scenery without shouting
• no smell of petrol on board, includes main vessel
• plenty power
• pretty reliable

However some reasons I will not be a torqeedo customer in future are as follows:

• Crazy expensive, when I bought it I didn't find any established competitors and really wanted to go electric. Today a single 24v 3500Wh battery, which you need two for costs about 4 times more per Kwh than other high quality cells, even when factoring in integrated BMS
  . https://www.torqeedo.com/en/products...0/2106-00.html
  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001...%2315608%23200
• Charging Problems - they have never, not since new, registered 100% charge. I've never shorted them or abused them in any way, and now they won't charge at all. not with solar chargers, or with mains chargers. this is the last straw.
• Support - You are totally on your own. No support I have ever tried to get has resulted in any material help or solution. they have a support ticket system, I have no idea why.
• Cost of parts - the flimsy plastic propeller which is very easily chipped is about 150 euros. It's that flimsy that one of them even got washed off it's splines by a wave when it was on the dinghy hanging on the derricks. You can't find them hardly anywhere, so you can be really stuck when this expensive delicate propeller gets broken or decides to end it's own life.
• It's not made for salt water at all. The connections that come with the motor are not in the slightest bit waterproof. Mine dissolved with electrolysis because I left the battery pack switched on overnight and there was enough saltwater for 48V to eat through them pretty fast. There was almost nothing left in the morning. There are delicate nmea2000 connections between batteries and motor, which are also very susceptible to electrolysis and I've replaced many times, and none of the "smart" features work without it. I replaced this connection with a beefy electric car connection that I got from China, which is way way better and much more water proof.
  I also built my own box to protect the batteries, as they need to be covered, despite all their claims of them having the most amazing BMS and the batteries being submersible etc etc. they make a lot of claims which are simply not true.
• Solar chargers - when they are connected (comes with bolted connections) there are leds flashing constantly draining energy. There's a reassuring load spark when you connect them to the separate charging terminals, without any panels being connected. So that's another connection I'll need to replace with my own solution. Torqeedo told me I would only be able to use their expensive panels of course, which is also not true.
• The smart features simply don't work and never did. One reason I thought justified the outrageous cost of their batteries was the integration with the BMS and motor which has a GPS and can calculate your range at whatever speed. Well it has never worked since day one. The last time I had a surprise I have dramatically run out of energy when the thing told me I had 24% battery left, and about 16km range at the speed I was doing at the time. This totally negates the advantage of having electric, and the cost of the fancy BMS integration. In fact it turns those advantages into disadvantages because you are at the mercy of whatever the thing decides to tell you on the day, but don't actually know what's going to happen next! Bring your oars. At this rate, I'd be better off with third party batteries that at least have a functioning remaining charge indicator.
• they claim to have a system for detecting propeller fouling that removes the need for a shear pin. It has never worked, as I have propped lines and and scraped a bit of sand and it was always my own reaction time that beat their supposed 1000Hz resistance sampling. you'd really want a system like that to work when you have such a delicate and expensive plastic prop, that you can't find anywhere. Again, a claimed advantage is turned into a disadvantage. At least a shear pin would work, and could be easily maintained.

In short Torqeedo claim a lot of things which are not true, charge a fortune, and don't support their products when they fail to meet the expectations they have set for them.

Can you link me to the new connector you bought? I installed a torqeedo cruise 4.0 with a lead acid battery setup and the connector is already shorting to the throttle on day 3. This connector is clearly not salt water proof. Super disappointing.

[shrspeedblade]

I have a travel 1003 that I bought used (thankfully) for a very good price. As others have noted not very robustly built and very "fussy" with proprietary stuff and complexity.

I'll go another route when it stops working.

[bgallinger]

I bought the Torqueedo motor some years ago and ditched my gas driven outboard motor. The Torqueedo is expensive but it works. Frankly, I find the whole "eco-system" rally is tiresome. I just want a motor to push my dinghy around. I'm satisfied.

[KTP]

The Torqeedo 1103 has worked great for us (after owning a 1003 which worked fine but was quite noisy due to the planetary gearing). We still use it on our dinghy but have bought a 6kW ePropulsion outboard for our sailboat. The main reason we switched from Torqeedo, other than it being about $1400 cheaper than the Cruise 6, was it is designed from the start to work with 3rd party batteries. The Cruise requires you to buy certain cables.