What Are Best House Batteries for Cruising Catamaran?

[maxingout]

I have a Privilege 39 catamaran on which I am doing a refit.

I want to purchase four house batteries and two engine starting batteries.

I got my last batteries in Australia more than ten years ago. We had two lead acid batteries for engine starting and four gel batteries for house power.

I am trying to figure out what kind of batteries to put on board in Florida, with my main concern being the four house batteries.

I am not seeing much information about gel batteries, and I am wondering if they are no longer popular.

After reading the different threads about batteries, I am confused about how to proceed.

My charging consists of about 50 aH per day from solar panels. Engine running time about an hour a day. Two wind generators producing at least 200 aH per day when sailing in the trade winds.

Are gel batteries a thing of the past?

With my particular charging pattern, what is the best type of battery/brand of battery to get on a cruising yacht. It's decision time, and I need batteries that will get me through the South Pacific.

[SSgtPitt]

I am by no means an expert, but after two years of research, i bought Trojans. Nothing fancy but they work and work well. They’re the #1 rated lead acid battery.

[Paul L]

If you aren't interested in the weight saving of Lifepo lithium batteries (at the complication of price and regulation) then take a look at the Firefly
https://www.bruceschwab.com/advanced...asis-group-31/
Not cheap, but they have a lot going for them. May be backlogged on delivery.

[jkleins]

I can recommend the Firefly’s if you can get them. After reading the Smartgauge threads and all the headaches people have trying to get their batteries back to 100% it is worth it to not have to think about that stuff. I have only been using them about 18 months with a combo of alternator charging, generator and solar. They take a lot of current so you can partially charge them very fast with a big alternator or two chargers off the genny. The only thing about letting them get down toward 20% is that the voltage is pretty low (11.8 or so). I haven’t noticed any issues with it though but find I try to charge when convenient below 40% or so.
Time will tell but so far they have been great and require much less thought and effort then my last AGM’s.
If I had room for the 6v Trojans I would have gone that route but now am glad I didn’t.

[sailorboy1]

Any battery is “best” if you take care of them. So get the ones you “think” are “best” and take reasonable care of them.

[mikedefieslife]

If you want something a bit cheaper, Trojan now do proper 6v deep cycle AGM 'golf cart' batteries. They cost more than the standard 6v FLA Trojans that have been so popular over the years, but are less than the Firefly, and a mortgage less than LiFePo4.

[boatman12]

Gel batteries are not as popular as they once were. They also have the complication that they should be charged differently than lead acid or AGM batteries. This gets complicated when you have both and are charging from the alternator.

Lead acid and AGM are the most common today.

[robert sailor]

These days it's sort of a budget thing with batteries as well as how long your really going to go cruising for. If your going for five years or less and you have enough basic ability to look after lead acid batteries properly then it's going to be hard to beat that choice. They have to be watered regularly and equalized every few months and discharges kept to much less than 50% and you should get 5 years or so out of them. They are heavy but in my experience cruising cats are not light Wright flyers so probably not an issue. You can keep going up the budget later all the way to light weight lithium batteries and the associated charging systems but you better have a good sized cruising kitty. I guess if you were going to be cruising long enough you could make a case for the lithium batteries but 5 years or less I'd go lead acid.

[john61ct]

Flooded are cheaper and last longer.

​The best battery value by far is Duracell (actually Deka/East Penn) deep cycle golf cart batteries, 2x6V, 200+AH @ less than $180 from BatteriesPlus or Sam's Club.

Trojans a small step up, RE line a bigger one.

Also US Battery, Crown, Superior, with Rolls/Surette at the very top.

[boeing1]

Agree with Sailorboy, I have seem several batteries failed due to improper maintenance

[kenbo]

Since your last set of batteries lasted ten years whatever you're doing, keep doing it!!!

DC Battery Specialists in Miami have every thing you're looking for and will deliver to wherever you are if Florida. https://www.dcbattery.com/

They have Deka (East Penn) gel cells and every lead based battery you can think of.

Keep your set up the way it was, it worked.

[skipmac]

The best answer will depend on a few details.

1. How knowledgeable you regarding battery technology, care, maintenance and charging AND how well you can or are willing to apply that in real world cruising.

2. The capabilities of your charging system.

3. Budget!!!


If the answer to all the above is a strong positive then LiFePO are by far the best option for a cat. By far the most usable capacity for the size and weight but come with a very high learning curve to properly install and maintain and a very high initial cost.

By far the most bang for the buck and most forgiving of abuse are 6V golf cart batteries. John61CT gave a very good summary of brands and value.

Also if you lose a battery in some out of the way location and need to replace just one or two the golf cart batteries are probably the easiest to find.

Firefly batteries are in between. Not as expensive as LiFePO but less technical knowledge required to keep them.

With a very few specific exceptions I don't generally see the benefit of AGM or gel batteries.

[sailcrazy]

FWIW, we've been using 6 Trojan T-105s for our house bank since 2002-that's 675 amphrs worth. We augment our daily genset+batt chrgr run with 320w of solar and a small Rutland windgen. We've cruised from the Philippines, thru Asia, the Medd and now the Caribb. We've gone both ways, both living onboard fulltime, and sailed for 6 mos and then stored her on the hard for 6 mos. Our Trojans typically last 5-6 years, cause no issues (except to check/add water on occation), and have worked well. Based on service and cost(our experience), I'd have to echo previous comments that they are the best value we've found. PS....we did put water miser caps on the cells to help retain water-they make a significant difference!

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by skipmac

The best answer will depend on a few details.

1. How knowledgeable you regarding battery technology, care, maintenance and charging AND how well you can or are willing to apply that in real world cruising.

2. The capabilities of your charging system.

3. Budget!!!


If the answer to all the above is a strong positive then LiFePO are by far the best option for a cat. By far the most usable capacity for the size and weight but come with a very high learning curve to properly install and maintain and a very high initial cost.

By far the most bang for the buck and most forgiving of abuse are 6V golf cart batteries. John61CT gave a very good summary of brands and value.

Also if you lose a battery in some out of the way location and need to replace just one or two the golf cart batteries are probably the easiest to find.

Firefly batteries are in between. Not as expensive as LiFePO but less technical knowledge required to keep them.

With a very few specific exceptions I don't generally see the benefit of AGM or gel batteries.

What learning curve? Pair them with the right charger and that's it. Pretty much every modern charger and alternator controller is designed to be able to handle LiFePo4 batteries. It's just a case of cross checking the specs with the battery datasheets. In that regard it's no different from FLA or AGM. Sure you can get in to minute details of battery tech and charging systems, but most will will buy a system, set it up once then forget about it.

Of course I say all that whilst I'm sat here in a Cat with 200kg of FLA batteries.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

What learning curve? Pair them with the right charger and that's it. Pretty much every modern charger and alternator controller is designed to be able to handle LiFePo4 batteries.

You must be reading what the vendors put out.

Let's not derail this thread, go read what Maine Sail has to say in the URLs at the bottom of this post

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/....php?p=2522639