Talking with a friend about various strategies for evolving the electrical system aboard "So It Goes" it seemed that just about all of the various sources of information seem to have vested interests in what they're talking about.
Especially where batteries and power storage are concerned.
The more I look into the whole conundrum of various battery chemistries and real world usage of said batteries I find very little real information and a whole lot of hype.
It's frustrating.
But more on this subject soonish as I have some thankfully simple rigging work to do.
My two chores for today are to check the water in my batteries and to make some water. To be honest I don't enjoy checking the water level in my batteries because they seldom need any water so, on the face of it, it seems kind of pointless. Then again on the other hand batteries are a big investment and it is prudent to check them on a regular basis.
On the other hand, making water is actually enjoyable because I get to read while sitting in the cockpit and that suits me just fine. The only real work involved is moving the product water hose from one jerry can to the next which gives me mostly uninterrupted reading in fifteen minute segments. An added bit of enjoyment is that I still take great satisfaction in how well the super simple watermaker using a cheap $100 pressure washer has worked making water every five days without problems for the last four years.
Better yet it's a nice day and I have some reading to do.
Aboard "So It Goes" we have a battery bank comprised of four 6V Trojan T-105 225 amp hour golf cart batteries which gives us about 450 amp hours at 12 volts. As it happens a 450 amp hour bank is just fine for our current needs living in the tropics where we have a goodly amount of sun.
I mention this for a couple of reasons as the batteries are getting somewhat long in the tooth by lead-acid standards at almost six-years old and I keep getting a lot of folks asking me when I'm going to jump on the Lithium bandwagon.
At the moment, I'm still a fan of flooded lead acid chemistry as, so far at least, they work great and I've had zero issues with the Trojans. Which is not to say I don't like the idea of Lithium batteries but, at the moment, they are quite expensive and I have not yet seen any long term reviews on their performance/longevity.
I do, however, have far too much experience with Lithium computer batteries which seem to fail like clockwork after six months of use which somewhat colors my perception of the claims of Lithium longevity in a negative way.
Still, I do keep my eye on Lithium batteries and this video caught my attention...
Yeah, $433. for a 280 amp hour battery is a seriously good price and works out to a kiss less than $1.55 an AH. Currently the best price I've seen on Trojan T-105s is $188 which comes to about $1.68 per AH at 12 volts. Keep in mind that switching to Lithium would also entail a new charger and purchasing a BMS or two so, I expect, the golf cart batteries would still come out a kiss less expensive in the long run.
But, as our current battery bank is still quite sprightly considering its age, I'm content to just keep monitoring the battery market and see what comes up in the next year or so.
I'm never sure whether to describe myself as a film maker who sails or a sailor/boatbuilder who makes films...Either way I'm a pretty happy camper when all is said and done.
