Jump to content

Advantages and disadvantages of using traction batteries


lesrollins

Featured Posts

18 minutes ago, lesrollins said:

Just wondering about traction batteries are they worth considering will they benefit me more than ordinary leisure batteries. 

Are you absolutely sure you know how to and are able to look after them properly and keep them fully charges as much as possible, plus do you have the equipment to equalise them now and again. If any answer is no then ponder on the fact that you can wreck expensive batteries just a\s fast as cheap ones.

 

Personally I feel fair quality dual purpose ones treated as consumables probably give the best cost-benefit ratio for most people. Others differ.

  • Greenie 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had a pair of traction Batteries in Helvetia, the first lot lasted more than 13 years, and the second lot were about 9 years old, and still holding their charge, when we sold the boat. What I have never understood is balancing, and as far as I know we never did it.  However, I did always make sure that they were fully charged before we left the boat, even for a short period of a few days, and that regime does not appear to have done them any harm. perhaps i was looking after them correctly without knowing it!

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, lesrollins said:

Just wondering about traction batteries are they worth considering will they benefit me more than ordinary leisure batteries. 

I had PROPER 2 volt traction batteries on my last boat at purchase, they weighed 54 kilos each, non of the pretend ones seen on offer. The previous owner delighted in telling me that if he charged them for four or five hours each day he could watch telly each evening for quite a while until they went flat :banghead: I had them checked by a forumite who was a boat leccy person. One was mediocre iirc two were unhappy ish and 3 were okish!! They are seventeen million pounds each and much harder to come by than leisure. I took 1 second to consider then asked him to rewire and we fitted 4 good old sealed fla batteries that worked  and were still fitted 3 plus years later when I sold that particular boat. I got the pikies to take the old batteries away as I wasnt risking my car or my back for a couple of hundred quid or probably less to weigh the 300 kilos in. They of course were more than happy to oblige.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, lesrollins said:

We are off grid using 960w of solar, genny and boat engine for charging.

I have 12 of them six are 7 years old the others are 13 years old still all in good condition. Loo after them and they will last a long time dont and they will last as long as cheap batteries, I now have LifePo4s for me they are the dogs whatsits. When buying Full tractions go to a proper battery supplier, my mates 6 cost him £600 including cables bolts and watering kit dont get ripped off by PB batteries

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When replacing a bank of 6 sealed leisure batteries a few years ago, I was considering Trojan, crown, and another make I can't remember. The original set up was 3 pairs in parallel (I'm on 24v) so I was looking at 4

6v in series, the cost was best part of a grand for the tall 460 Ah types.

For half this figure, I bought a nearly new forklift battery, complete, the tank,cells, New interconnects, everything.  I have plenty of height above for these tall cells, in fact the steel tank sits on the base plate in the engine room, the deck plates cut to fit round it. It makes a handy seat too, and helps balance the offset engine. 

The footprint is smaller, as they are taller, 500 mm high. 

Another advantage is the cells can be individually replaced should one die. 

If you have the headroom, it's worth considering. 

After 3 years they continue to perform well. As a test I sometimes put the immersion heater on and watch the voltage drop. On Friday, I did just this, heating the calorifier in 45 mins. The load is 63A. Voltage dropped to 24.5 on load, then recovered to 25.4 after heater cut out. 

So I think there ok! 

Couldn't do this with the original sealed batteries. Inverter shutdown on low voltage after about 10 mins.. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.