FireFly Battery Long Term Users - Speakup

[CarinaPDX]

My impression is that the Fireflies were very good until the move to India - is that correct? Unfortunately I have the Indian-made ones, bought not long before this thread started. I had been leaving them on the charger but now use them for a couple of weeks at a time and then recharge, hoping to keep their capacity up (I'm only using 12V for LED lighting and the stereo).

Greg

[crayiii]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

My impression is that the Fireflies were very good until the move to India - is that correct? Unfortunately I have the Indian-made ones, bought not long before this thread started. I had been leaving them on the charger but now use them for a couple of weeks at a time and then recharge, hoping to keep their capacity up (I'm only using 12V for LED lighting and the stereo).

Greg

Hate to say it but you should probably start making plans to replace them.

[Jim Cate]

Sheesh! I'm now thanking my lucky stars that no one got it together to import them to Oz, for I was eager to switch from T-105s. The high cost of shipping small lots drove the already high price right outta sight... how good was that?

Jim

[sailorboy1]

Makes one question all battery marketing claims doesn't it? Which then leads you into some real smoke and mirrors when to start reading about lithium.

[ItDepends]

Except they are work GREAT for me... but the internet doesn't want to hear that.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by ItDepends

Except they are work GREAT for me... but the internet doesn't want to hear that.

Dunno about what the internet wants, but there are enough sad stories in the thread to make me glad that I was unable to access the Indian built Fireflies. I'm also glad that you have had a good experience with them!

Jim

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by ItDepends

Except they are work GREAT for me... but the internet doesn't want to hear that.

So when did you buy them and where were they made? It would be nice to know that some of the Indian-manufactured ones were doing well.

Greg

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Sheesh! I'm now thanking my lucky stars that no one got it together to import them to Oz, for I was eager to switch from T-105s.
Jim

Same here, FF not available in the UK, though Leoch Batteries had a similar design. Therefore went down the Lithium route.

There was for a time an interesting comment on the Victron Website which said they had been unable to replicate the high cycle rates being quoted for Lead-carbon batteries. Thought that was telling.

Pete

[ItDepends]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

So when did you buy them and where were they made? It would be nice to know that some of the Indian-manufactured ones were doing well.

Greg

My batteries were sourced out of the Indian factory in late 2019. The Indian batteries were terrible--and they were great. If you could work through the infant mortality, and identify the issues early on, and get the warrantee replacements working for you, you could put together an absolutely amazing battery bank. If you could not see the problems coming, you would probably be left with something that had a very short lifespan.

After almost 2.5 years or service on a full time cruising boat our batteries have a capacity 5% to 10% HIGHER than the original specifications, with no downward trend visible in the data at all. So I would classify that as great. But it was painful getting there. How long they will last, only time will tell. We certainly have no plans to replace them anytime soon, they supply the power we need.

Our battery bank is a 24V, 464 A-hr bank of 8 batteries in 4 series pairs. It took three replacements of individual batteries before we had a full set that all worked. We are sophisticated battery users, and have sophisticated instrumentation. It was the only way we could assemble a useful battery bank when the failure rate from the factory approached 25%.

The problem is most users could not identify the failure of the individual batteries until they killed the entire bank--probably after the expiration of the warrantee. "So sorry!"

The cost of the warrantee servicing eventually drove all of the distributers to drop the product, and from there, there was no coming back. I have no idea what the issue was at the factory. Was it a lack of technical expertise? A culture of sloppy work? Bad technology transfer from the American developers? It doesn't matter. They are dead now and unlikely to return. It's a shame. When these are good, they are very, very good. When they are bad, they are horrid.

[crayiii]

Originally Posted by ItDepends

The problem is most users could not identify the failure of the individual batteries until they killed the entire bank--probably after the expiration of the warrantee. "So sorry!"

No, the problem is that users shouldn’t have to do that.

Also, your experience does NOT represent a successful battery experience. So sorry.

[Pegu Club]

We purchased our firefly batteries in 2018, and so far they have performed very well, it’s a shame that their quality control has fallen down, they were the best AGMs one could purchase, but not anymore, when we replace ours we will likely go lithium route.

Fair winds,

[chowdan]

I have had mine since 2019, full time live aboard - boat lives on a mooring ball in PNW with my wife and I full time living on it. Zero issues so far and have be out here since mid 2020.

Price imo isn't worth going to these if your boats able to handle lithium with little work(all chargers of mine can handle lithium).

We have 700w of solar that covers most of our needs during most of the year - in fact last summer we ran a single induction burner for 99% of our cooking needs. We have a 4 batteries, we never get below 50% in summer (even when we wake up before the sun and cook breakfast). By noon we are fully charged, sometimes it's 2pm in summer when we get full

What sort of damage are we doing to them with high loads I am uncertain about but I can tell you that I am not seeing any issues in the sense of lower capacity.

Winter time - basically mid October to March/April we rarely get to 100% charge

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by crayiii

No, the problem is that users shouldn’t have to do that.

Also, your experience does NOT represent a successful battery experience. So sorry.

ID seems happy with it now and if they would go thru the initial aggravation again it sounds like it was a successful battery experience.

ID, would you go thru the initial aggravation again or would you have ponied up additional bucks and go for LFP or a different LA battery?

[sailorboy1]

Doesnt really matter. Firefly batteries are now a thing o the past except for us suckers who believed. Drop in “budget” lithium are $300 for a 12v 100aH battery. That is what boaters pay for agm batteries. If i had saw these budget drop ins 2.5 years ago i wouldn't have spent $2k on my 4 FF batteries.

Good luck to FF users. Mine appeared just fine 3 weeks ago and now appear to have 40% capacity and dropping.

[sailorboy1]

I disconnected my batteries to today and separated from each other to measure. Of the 4 3 measured at 12.08-12.13V and 1 measured 11.92V right after disconnecting. Two hours later 2 measured 12.1V, one at 11.96V, and the 11.92V from the initial measure was at 10.9V and definitely bad.

There is no way based on the use and charging these batteries have had the past week that any should be 12.1 so I am hoping that 1 battery was just sucking power. Put the other 3 back in service (I know 1 is questionable) and hope to limp along a couple weeks till new LFP batteries get here.