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I have been offered some Yuasa Swl 2500 efr batteries at a very good price. My electrical system on the boat is powered by two 110ah batteries which are 6/7 years old. These Yuasa batteries are rated at 90ah. Do you think that will be enough? I have Led lights, freshwater and shower pumps and a starter motor to power.

Edited by monkeyhanger
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3 minutes ago, monkeyhanger said:

These Yuasa batteries are rated at 90ah. Do you think that will be enough?

 

How many do you propose to buy / use ? (If you replace with only 2  then you will be 20% down on battery capacity, they will work but you may be taking them below the recommended 50% SoC,

How often do you recharge, how do you recharge and how do you know that you need to recharge and when to stop recharging ?

 

Have you done an electrical audit looking at your daily consumption ?

 

Are you saying that you only have one battery bank and that your domestic bank is using your starter battery (or vice versa) ?

It may be a good time to review how your batteries are set up.

 

If your current batteries are still 'working' after 6/7 years then you are looking after them well enough.

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13 minutes ago, monkeyhanger said:

I have been offered some Yuasa Swl 2500 efr batteries at a very good price. My electrical system on the boat is powered by two 110ah batteries which are 6/7 years old. These Yuasa batteries are rated at 90ah. Do you think that will be enough? I have Led lights, freshwater and shower pumps and a starter motor to power.

 

They seem to be ok for the leisure work, but I couldn't say if they're up to being used for the starter motor job. I think it is customary to use a dedicated battery of enough cold cranking amp power. Not sure if the Yuasa battery is capable of delivering that demand in comfort.  

 

 

Edited by Higgs
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7 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

How many do you propose to buy / use ? (If you replace with only 2  then you will be 20% down on battery capacity, they will work but you may be taking them below the recommended 50% SoC,

How often do you recharge, how do you recharge and how do you know that you need to recharge and when to stop recharging ?

 

Have you done an electrical audit looking at your daily consumption ?

 

Are you saying that you only have one battery bank and that your domestic bank is using your starter battery (or vice versa) ?

It may be a good time to review how your batteries are set up.

 

If your current batteries are still 'working' after 6/7 years then you are looking after them well enough.

 My boat is out cruising for 5months in the summer, moving almost every day. In the winter it is connected to a land line and I have a trickle charger. When I built my boat, the engine was hand start only and I made do with two 110ah batteries. When I had an electric starter fitted, I used the leisure batteries to start the engine, assuming that they wouldn't last long. In fact they coped perfectly well. I replaced them with 2 more 110ah which I bought from Ebay for £59 each. These have lasted 6 years and must be coming to the end of their lives, I was considering buying 2 Yuasas to replace my 2 Ebay  ones but I am concerned that perhaps 2 x 90ah batteries may not be as "capable" as I need. I'd be happy to go with 2 bargain basement ones again, but these Yuasas seem too good to refuse.

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14 minutes ago, monkeyhanger said:

 My boat is out cruising for 5months in the summer, moving almost every day. In the winter it is connected to a land line and I have a trickle charger. When I built my boat, the engine was hand start only and I made do with two 110ah batteries. When I had an electric starter fitted, I used the leisure batteries to start the engine, assuming that they wouldn't last long. In fact they coped perfectly well. I replaced them with 2 more 110ah which I bought from Ebay for £59 each. These have lasted 6 years and must be coming to the end of their lives, I was considering buying 2 Yuasas to replace my 2 Ebay  ones but I am concerned that perhaps 2 x 90ah batteries may not be as "capable" as I need. I'd be happy to go with 2 bargain basement ones again, but these Yuasas seem too good to refuse.

 

 

If you are crusing pretty much every day you will be fine (unless you go mad with a fridge, freezer, washing machine or Microwave) with 2x 90AH

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4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

If you are crusing pretty much every day you will be fine (unless you go mad with a fridge, freezer, washing machine or Microwave) with 2x 90AH

I think a fridge would kill that set up!

I'd worry about not having a separate starter battery. It does sound like a very low power boat.

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9 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

I think a fridge would kill that set up!

 

It certainly wouldn't be good.

He would have 180Ah, so by only going down to 50% SoC he has 90Ah 'usable'

 

My Waeco fridge is ~30Ah per day, so he'd be OK with that as long as there were no other high demand appliances.

 

10 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

I'd worry about not having a separate starter battery.

 

Agreed - if the battery bank goes a little bit 'flat' and he hasn't enough power to start the engine then he cannot charge to batteries - vicious circle.

A starter motor will only take a few Ah (High current but only for a few seconds) so will not drain the battery too much.

 

However - it is sensible to have a seperate starter battery, or, as a minimum (temporary fix) a 'Jump-Start Booster' would be worth having.

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15 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

I think a fridge would kill that set up!

I'd worry about not having a separate starter battery. It does sound like a very low power boat.

Well presumably, since it originally had hand starting, it still has hand starting as an option.

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

Agreed - if the battery bank goes a little bit 'flat' and he hasn't enough power to start the engine then he cannot charge to batteries - vicious circle.

A starter motor will only take a few Ah (High current but only for a few seconds) so will not drain the battery too much.

 

However - it is sensible to have a seperate starter battery, or, as a minimum (temporary fix) a 'Jump-Start Booster' would be worth having.

Hand starting?

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11 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

I think a fridge would kill that set up!

I'd worry about not having a separate starter battery. It does sound like a very low power boat.

I have a gas fridge. The only power drains are lights, which I've changed to Leds,  2 pumps, phone charging, and a  12v TV. When my wife joins me , she likes to use a hairdryer, but I make sure the engine is running when she uses it.

And, as some people have said, I still have the raised hand start mechanism.

Edited by monkeyhanger
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42 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Although I suspect the OP's use makes those batteries usable I think it needs pointing out that they will lose capacity over the months by sulphation and perhaps more importantly in really cold temperatures their performance for starting may be seriously degraded.

 

You are correct to point out the possibilities, but, the OP did say

He crusies (almost) every day for the Summer 5 months, and for the Winter it is connected to a trickle charger via a land-line. 

I think the fact that his previous batteries have lasted 6 or 7 years (and is only thinking of changing them beacuse he has an offer on some 'cheap batteries') suggests he is not being very demnding of them.

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13 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

You are correct to point out the possibilities, but, the OP did say

He crusies (almost) every day for the Summer 5 months, and for the Winter it is connected to a trickle charger via a land-line. 

I think the fact that his previous batteries have lasted 6 or 7 years (and is only thinking of changing them beacuse he has an offer on some 'cheap batteries') suggests he is not being very demnding of them.

 

I agree but in some years time when their capacity is getting marginal it just might cause some inconvenience.

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3 hours ago, Higgs said:

 

They're priced at £160 a throw, on at least one site. For the reduction in capacity, they wouldn't be my first choice. I shop here 110Ah | ABS Batteries (advancedbatterysupplies.co.uk) , and they have a good delivery service. 

 

 

I've been offered the Yuasa batteries for £50 each, although as I've procrastinated a bit, I may have missed them.

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