Batteries Wow

[Seriously]

Having a few electrical issues so thought I would start with the stuff I could do myself  So I checked the batteries and one had failed so  I have changed it . Once out . I noticed that there was possible a date on it. Wow could  it really been fitted in 2012    if it's lasted that long , think I'll buy more from this company 

[BroadAmbition]

Our first and second fit of batteries onboard 'B.A' (5 each time) lasted between the two sets nine years.  Hopefully the recently replaced lot (6) fitted this year will do at least four years if not more.  I'm convinced having them always plugged into a trickle charger to keep them topped up when 'B.A' is at her home berth helps condition and prolong their lifespan.

Yuasa batteries - in my experience are very good and I do mean very good.  My Triumph Tiger original battery was a Yuasa.  Purchased new in 2007 I only replaced it this year after more than 30'000 miles and it was still starting the motor first time but I had noticed it was becoming sluggish if not plugged into the conditioner / charger for any length of time.  So that is 9 yes NINE years of faultless service.  I have replaced it with a slightly upgraded Yuasa as properly impressed with them

Griff

[Seriously]

Griff 

having only recently had hook up fitted ,m I hope  you a right  and I get another 4-6 yrs  out of them , that way might  be able to afford a beer and a meal out when down  

 

[BroadAmbition]

I hope so and if you can't, then I'll buy you a pint and Robin can let you have one of his fat boy burgers!

Griff

[TheQ]

Yuasa batteries are found in some high end electronic equipment when battery backup is required, they are good.

I have found however that almost all batteries have improved over the last few years and they can quite easily last 10 years in a car if you don't leave the lights on. Letting them discharge below 80% for a normal battery and 50% for a leisure battery is a killer. Having them on trickle charge is the way to go, hence my boat is having solar panels fitted, as there  is no electricity where I'm moored.

[JawsOrca]

Halfords own brand are Yuasa and it's what we have always used in our cars and boats, they come with a very generous warranty too. If you can get a halfords trade card you can't beat the price.

[grendel]

We used to use Yuasa in all of our equipment, when they were installed we had to guarantee 3 years of no maintainance life, these were on a trickle charge and were used on electrical switchgear for switching when the power had gone off.

I once picked up a whole box of 6V 10Ah batteries - never used, but only had less that 3 years guarantee left - I believe they came with 5 years from the manufacturer. that must be 10 years ago at least, and I am still using about 50% of them.

[Viking23]

4 years from Marine / Leisure batteries, I would be very dissapointed at that.

We used to have only one 75Ah leisure battery, and never monitored it, it dropped too low to run the hot air heating on several occasions, and failed to start the outboard engine when it got to around 4 years, so we upped our capacity to 2x100 Ah and installed 2 x10 amp shore powered chargers, increased the charge coil from 6A to 10A in our Honda 15 outboard.

I am carefully monitoring the voltage at each battery,  and never let them discharge below 80%, we only have an outboard, and a few small solar panels, I hope they will last a lot longer than that.

If these only last 4 years, I am no better off with the improvements.

In reality I expect 6 years maybe 8, other wise the cost per year on battery replacement would be more than before all these changes.

Plus the extra space and weight taken up by them.

Oh.. we also have an 800 watt inverter, for hair curlers, and the occasional electric drill... so we needed extra capacity for that lol 

 

It's easy to see why hire craft have battery problems, they are regularly discharged below 50%, and rarely get fully charged before the next customers get on board. If well cared for batteries make 4 years, then hire craft need to change them more often... As if...

Not all hire craft have shore power, so over winter they will deteriorate even more.

[Oddfellow]

8 hours ago, Viking23 said:

It's easy to see why hire craft have battery problems, they are regularly discharged below 50%, and rarely get fully charged before the next customers get on board. If well cared for batteries make 4 years, then hire craft need to change them more often... As if...

Not all hire craft have shore power, so over winter they will deteriorate even more.

Not at all. Our pre-hire engineering checks involve an electrical test on each battery (not each bank) Any battery that does not perform well on a discharge test is replaced before the boat goes on hire and charged in a dedicated facility ready to be re-used again. We also do everything we can to avoid mismatching batteries in banks too. 

On average, we buy 15 new batteries each year for a fleet of nine cruisers. Most boats have four or five batteries on.