Carbon foam agm's

[daletournier]

Anyone using these? or know anything about them? Thoughts?

[john61ct]

If you mean Firefly Oasis, yes great product, google for Nigel Calder and Maine Sail's test results, confirming 80% cycling and easy capacity recovery from PSOC abuse.

Not very deep & wide user experience yet, some still skeptical of longevity.

Maybe pricey at $500 per 100AH, and only available in G31, but many consider a way to get some LFP benefits while sticking to familiar lead.

NA distribution well supported through ​Bruce Schwab's Ocean Planet, IMO buy from authorized resellers only.

[MrSteve007]

PacificNW Boater has been running them on their liveaboard for close to two years now. I can't find the blog of their most recent update (they still love them), but this review video they made a year ago does a good job describing their experience.

http://www.pacificnwboater.com/chann...n-foam-battery

[exMaggieDrum]

Do a google search, under the forum search, for Firefly Oasis and you'll find lots of comments, mostly all favorable. They weren't right for me in my circumstances but they look very good for others.

[admiralslater]

We put five on our Outremer and just finished our second season with them. So far they are working well . we run an isotherm fridge , keel cooled deep freeze and an engle in the cockpit for Drinks . We seem to use about 100 amps per day(is this the correct way to state usage) with 600 watts of solar this just about balances . On a couple of occasions I used 200 amps and could not recover by the next cycle . I use the amp counter on my link 10 to get a rough idea of were I am . I have not yet done the discharge recharge cycle . Happy so far .
I had some minor seepage from a couple of caps and they sent replacements very quickly

[epiic]

I have 7 of the Firefly Oasis batteries and absolutely love them!

They are very fast to recharge.

[admiralslater]

Originally Posted by epiic

I have 7 of the Firefly Oasis batteries and absolutely love them!

They are very fast to recharge.

beautiful set up

[jkleins]

I have 7 as well and love them. Not having to worry about how far you discharge or how long they stay low and then being able to take the entire output of my 200 amp alternator makes it very convenient. The thing I am still working on is adding more charging from the generator but I am sold until LiPo packages come a little more accessible.

Jim

[daletournier]

This is all very encouraging. I like the idea due to ease of not needing to do anything special with charging system.

[epiic]

Originally Posted by daletournier

This is all very encouraging. I like the idea due to ease of not needing to do anything special with charging system.

I was going to go Lithium but when I learned what a PITA it was to switch over, I decided to go carbon foam.

The only downfall in my opinion is the voltage dips more when something like a microwave is being powered. Obviously Lithium would handle heavy loads much easier but when the higher loads stop, the voltage recovers pretty quick.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by admiralslater

We seem to use about 100 amps per day(is this the correct way to state usage?)

Thanks for that report.

Amps is the rate of flow, real-time snapshot, constantly varies, like gallons-per-minute.

Amp-hours (AH) is the measure of static quantity or capacity.

I would check with Bruce, but personally would do the recovery-charges procedure on a regular basis (monthly to quarterly) whenever PSOC may be a problem.

I would only refrain if I were consistently hitting 100% say 80-90% of the time.

May be less required where only drawing down <25% as you are.

[admiralslater]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Thanks for that report.

Amps is the rate of flow, real-time snapshot, constantly varies, like gallons-per-minute.

Amp-hours (AH) is the measure of static quantity or capacity.

I would check with Bruce, but personally would do the recovery-charges procedure on a regular basis (monthly to quarterly) whenever PSOC may be a problem.

I would only refrain if I were consistently hitting 100% say 80-90% of the time.

May be less required where only drawing down <25% as you are.

I had a two eek period of not getting above 85%charged due to snotty weather in Dominica but most of the time i got higher than 95 %.

[john61ct]

Yah, doncha hate that snotty weather?

8-)

[admiralslater]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Yah, doncha hate that snotty weather?

8-)

Not high jacking the thread but the weather is following me. 2 to 3 inches of rain by tomorrow night ground is saturated and Lake Ontario is 18 higher than normal and due to go an other half foot. Launch is Sunday with flurries forcast

[exMaggieDrum]

epiic - totally beautiful installation!!

The issue with carbon foam agm, from what I have read not by experience, is that they still need to be taken up to full charge (99+%) on a frequent basis otherwise they will gradually lose capacity just like a regular agm will. For the short term you wouldn't notice. So if you are only replacing the same amp-hours you take out every day you are not fully charging them that last 10%, and the last 10% takes more charge time at the same rate than the previous 20% (or so), just like regular agm's. If your solar can provide the oomph to do this once a week you are good. But take this with a grain of salt as I said.