Shield batteries

[Richard T]

Before we start cruising after the lockdown we will need to change our domestic batteries. We have 3 110ah ones which are 5 years old and one of which has failed. The chandlery where we moor stocks Shield batteries. Has anyone any experience of them? Their LM range is open cell LA which is what I would probably buy. Any thoughts? I could get alternatives from Tayna but would prefer to give my business to the local yard.

[GUMPY]

Shield are a  good company, based in Bishops Stortford and possibly the last uk manufacturer rather than rebadging imports. They used to be my go to source when  I was supplying barreries. 

https://www.shieldbatteries.co.uk/

 

[DHutch]

A very interesting find. We need to replace out leisure batteries this spring, and I have been looking into where and what to buy.

 

The old set have managed 13 years but having limped through last years reduced schedule (there 14th year) are well and truly failing to store charge now!

 

Daniel

[Rose Narrowboats]

We used to fit the Shield LM110s in our hire fleet and also retail them. We stopped dealing with them about 5 years ago having become very dissatisfied with their performance. Their rep. admitted (after we had taken the business elsewhere) that they had dropped the quality to keep price down. From memory I'm also fairly sure he said the LM series are Chinese made and just filled with acid on arrival in the UK; not that I have anything against Chinese made batteries per se.

 

Like most cheaper lead-acids, they have "lead calcium technology" which they will tell you has all sorts of benefits such as better recovery from over discharge, but they don't mention the 25% per month self-discharge rate and I suspect a vastly reduced cycle life*. They were averaging less than two years on the hire fleet towards the end of our time with them, in some cases failing** before batteries twice their age with the same label on.

 

Shield's product may have improved since then - it certainly needed to.

 

* We also tried a Yuasa product recommended by another supplier. Their idea of a "heavy duty off grid leisure battery" (according to the label) turned out to have a cycle life of 80 - so less than three months. None of them lasted a season and Yuasa wouldn't warrant a single one of about 20, because according to them they weren't intended for continued use off shore power. They weren't cheap either.

 

** We test batteries fairly regularly and replace them when they drop below 80A/hrs in the case of 110A/hr. I should also point out that some other makes (Exide for one) claiming to be 110A/hr actually couldn't provide 80A/hr on a C20 test when brand new.

 

I haven't found a decent lead-acid since: We used a few Leoch SLAs as a stop-gap but as expected they didn't last for us either, then upgraded to Leoch AGM's. I was very pleased with them initially but a high percentage of them seem to fall off a cliff capacity-wise at around three years old in the hire fleet - they're still okay at older than that in private boats we look after. Currently we're running sets of AGM's from several different suppliers in the hire fleet, but none of them are old enough to have an opinion on them yet - and by the time we do trust them, they'll probably no longer be available!

 

I still miss the old orange top Fulmens.....you knew where you were with those (a chiropractor, usually).

Edited February 15, 2021 by Rose Narrowboats

[BEngo]

Be aware there is a current shortage of batteries.  The factories are on limited capacity due Covid, the shipping world has most of its containers in the wrong place and the motor manufacturers are pressing suppliers to deliver so they can keep the car plants open.

 

You may not be able to find what you would like.

 

N