RAM-Boat 8 is powered by 8 Radio Control (RC) battery packs of 4.5Ahrs each.  The power management board combines two sets of 3 batteries via diodes for the two optically isolated motor controllers.  The last two batteries are combined to provide system power. Power consumption is about 2A on each motor controller and less than 1.5A on the system.  This gives RAM-Boat 8 about 4 to 5hrs of running time before recharging is needed.  The power management board also provides charging relays that can directly connect the batteries to battery chargers via SubConn bulkhead connectors.  Four dual high speed Dynamite Twin Peak battery chargers charge all the batteries simultaneously at 4A each (32A total), and take less than an hour to recharge all batteries.   

The twin motor controllers are two channel Barello ANT-100 RC motor controllers for robot combat. They are driven by standard servo pulse signals of 1-2msec every 20msec provided by the NetBurner 5213 leg controller microprocessor via optical isolators. The Ant-100 includes mixing functionality for two motors so that separate command pulses for forward and yaw rate motion are sent, and mixed into commands for the two horizontal motors.  For the two vertrans motors, separate vertical and sway rate commands are sent. 

The power management board contains a +/- 12V DC/DC power converter to power the sonar system, with remote on/off capability controlled by the NetBurner 5213 leg controller microprocessor.  RAM-Boat 8 also has a Linksys WET54G wireless Ethernet bridge board that connects to the NetBurner 5270 mission manager and allows programming and data transfer through the acrylic housing when the vehicle is at the surface.  The wireless Ethernet bridge consumes as much power as the rest of the vehicle, so is normally switched off during operations.  Power to all systems can be turned on or off by means of a series of magnetic switches inside the acrylic housing.  Starboard switches turn off motor power and Ethernet power.  Port switches turn on system power, charging, motor power and Ethernet power.