Firefly Oasis Carbon Foam AGM Batteries

[hellosailor]

The impression I get, which may be totally incorrect, is that Bruce Schwab probably "bought" the exclusive US master distributorship rights in one way or another. That's normal for international commerce. And, I can understand that he would be VERY PO'd to find Firefly was undercutting him. That's considered totally unacceptable business practice. Any "global" firm that I've dealt with makes it clear that sales must go through their US distributor, or any direct sales are at the same price, and credited to that same distributor.
Heck, even within the US, most manufacturers will only sell at full MSRP and they'll tell you a local authorized retailer can beat that.

Either way...yes, it leaves a taste in the mouth. Bruce S. and Firefly need to resolve that among theirselves.

[john61ct]

Yes Bruce is the only way to go in the NA market for Firefly. All my dealings with him have been superb, and have only heard good things from hundreds of reports IRL, in the forums and on social media.

AFAIK Lead Crystal is a complete scam, would not touch it with a ten foot pole, very surprised they entered the US market at all.

If Bruce did indeed get steamed up inappropriately that's too bad, problems like that should be kept out of sight of customers.

But to hear such a report in the same breath as that LC phrase makes me pretty suspicious I have to say.

[Suijin]

About a month ago I called a dealer local to where I knew I would be this fall, inquiring about availability. They said they had a batch on order and I was able to get the last four that were not spoken for. They said they were already late and the new expected delivery date was mid September, and mentioned that they are tested by the distributor.

I’m glad to hear about their performance vs. Lifelines as that is what I’m replacing, although my batteries have held up well despite an accidental complete discharge for several months. Given my system greater acceptance will be a significant advantage.

If the don’t arrive by the beginning of October I may have to find s different solution though. Can’t hold up my plans indefinitely waiting around for them.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by john61ct

But to hear such a report in the same breath as that LC phrase makes me pretty suspicious I have to say.

Yes, there are at least three sides to every story. Especially on the Internet you have to keep the batteries in your BS meter charged.

[FlyingScot]

I just ordered 3 L15+ 4V batteries from Bruce. In my case I'll use them to replace 3 almost dead lifeline 4D AGMs. They are going to ship to a freight forwarder so I can get them to Curacao. I tried to rationalized LiFePO4 but couldn't, not yet anyways. We'll see how long they last.
The life cycle count (lab conditions) are significantly higher on the L15+ 2v/4v batteries as compared to the Group 31 12v batteries.

[OceanPlanet]

Was just alerted to this note by a friend & client.

Wow! Any admonishment in the "nasty" email wasn't intended to Alberto, rather was really to Firefly India who is supposed to fwd all marine inquiries to us, or one of our North American distributors. The intent was to make this structure clear but obviously I messed it up.

FF India quoted a price not for the NA marine market however we offered to honor the price to Alberto since it was already quoted, but we didn't want any regional distributors to know about it. The distribution network has over 1500 Firefly batteries on back order and if Firefly started selling direct the distributors could all jump ship and cancel big orders. This is all sorted out now with Firefly.

Anyhow, apologies to Alberto and even though he didn't get Firefly, we're glad he found something to meet his needs.

[john61ct]

Thanks for stopping by Bruce, and thanks from all (most?) of us for your work for the community.

[darylat8750]

Will the Smart Gauge eventually learn the Fire Fly state of charge?

[john61ct]

Use #3 AGM setting, but accuracy not fully tested yet.

Use the Full reset if it's a bit off at the top.

.015 is endAmps, I use .02C for solar.

Best to "just stop" no Float, otherwise use 13.2V for longevity.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by darylat8750

Will the Smart Gauge eventually learn the Fire Fly state of charge?

My experience is: It depends on the charging source.

The SmartGauge worked great with our old Lifeline AGM bank. It works well with the Firefly bank BUT only when charged with the charger.

It seems to not recognize the power that gets into the batteries from my soalr panels (630 Watts feeding 440 A-hr bank).

The SOC display walks down the SOC over night as you'd expect, but then stays more or less constant while batteries are recharged during day. It then holds the SOC constant until it drops below the displayed value, at which point it goes down further.

If I start the genset and pump in 150 amps, the displayed SOC rises as it should.

Overall, its a disappointing tool for solar changing with this battery set up--at least in my hands. (Yes, it is set to Type 3)

[jkleins]

Originally Posted by billknny

My experience is: It depends on the charging source.



The SmartGauge worked great with our old Lifeline AGM bank. It works well with the Firefly bank BUT only when charged with the charger.



It seems to not recognize the power that gets into the batteries from my soalr panels (630 Watts feeding 440 A-hr bank).



The SOC display walks down the SOC over night as you'd expect, but then stays more or less constant while batteries are recharged during day. It then holds the SOC constant until it drops below the displayed value, at which point it goes down further.



If I start the genset and pump in 150 amps, the displayed SOC rises as it should.



Overall, its a disappointing tool for solar changing with this battery set up--at least in my hands. (Yes, it is set to Type 3)

Same thing here. The smart gauge works well late at night and first thing in the morning. While solar is charging it just sits there. The good thing is that with the Firefly’s those are about the only time it seems to matter[emoji3]

[rgleason]

[SmartGauge] seems to not recognize the power that gets into the batteries from my solar panels.

This leads to some related questions.

There have been comments about how various charge sources and loads can confuse the detection of a Full state of charge.

Is there a Battery wiring/sensor/procedural solution which will help to improve the detection "Battery full status"?


Would a Pico Simarine System Monitor do a better job?

[a64pilot]

An issue with an amp counting battery monitor is it takes somewhere between 102% and 106% of the energy removed to be put back into a battery for it to be “full” my amp counter and I think most say full at 100%.

However this isn’t supposed to be as much of an issue with Firefly, so other than drifting into inaccuracy, not sure it matters.
The Smart Gauge is the only battery monitor that I know of that doesn’t require attention to be sure it’s reset correctly etc.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Is there a Battery wiring/sensor/procedural solution which will help to improve the detection "Battery full status"?

OMG.

endAmps. Only accurate way doesn't require resting. Better anyway.

But **no** SoC gauge is accurate enough to be used for ending charge at the top.

In fact AH Counting units need frequent resetting / calibration, and endAmps is the benchmark to use.

I am 100% sure you have read the above many times in the past few weeks.


> Would a Pico Simarine System Monitor do a better job?

Hardly, shown to so far be **very** inaccurate.

Have been updating their firmware based on Bruce's feedback though.

Victron BMV, Smartgauge.

[Pete O Static]

I have a bank of Firefly's and also utilize a Smartgauge. I haven't experienced the problems as described above when it comes to solar.

My Victron controller talks to my iPad via the Victron APP and I get a lot of detailed information on it, including SOC. It doesn't agree 100% with what the smartgauge says but I wouldn't expect it to. They do however show the same trends.

If the solar array is bulk charging, as shown by the Victron App, the voltage display on the smartgauge confirms this and the SOC display ( C rating ) increases over time.

I have never been able to get the solar array to push the batteries up to 99% as shown on the smartgauge while I am onboard using power but my 160 amp alternator will, as well as my shore charger. I think it is more of a solar limitation than a smartgauge limitation.