No Maintenance Batteries

N

Nellie Too

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 13, 2009
Messages
793
Fluid Motion Model
C-288 C
Hull Identification Number
86
Vessel Name
(2009) Nellie Too
I am looking to replace the factory installed batteries with No Maintenance batteries in the Nellie Too. Any suggestions would be appreciated as to what brand is the best. I am also looking at a new Invertor/charger 2000w or 3000w, Victron Energies, does anyone have any experience with this brand?
Bob
 
Hey Bob,
I did lots of research on batteries while we were having our 29 built. We had the Monroe factory put in the Full River AGM's group 31.
Lifelines are the best being developed first for military aircraft. Now they have moved into marine application.
The Full rivers are developed to be just as good as the lifelines at half the cost. Here is where you can get them close to you.... https://www.pacificpowerbatteries.com/monroe.html
We love our full rivers and many cruisers have been raving about them on there blogs. you can google them and see what people are saying.
What kind of inverter are you replacing? I can say this, If and when I need to change mine it will be a a Victron.
Boat electric in your neck of the woods can answer lots of question on those.
Hope this helps,
Stuzrt
 
I have not heard of Victron before - but that does not mean anything. Xantrex appears to be the brand of choice by many boat makers for inverters. Andrew told me he has installed a bunch of Xantrex inverters. Xantrex does not make the el cheapo stuff you see at many auto and marine stores. They make good quality, heavy duty stuff, that costs a bit more. Here is their link: http://www.xantrex.com/industry-solutions/marine.aspx
 
You will see Victron on some of the higher end boat and also on commercial boats. There is a very high failure rate with Xantrex. If you do some deeper research you will fine this to be true. I am not here to bad mouth Xantrex but to just state the facts, I have had many friends that have had to deep six there Xantrex after very little time. If you go to the boat yards and ask what inverter do you see fail the most out there they will tell you Xantrex.
If you want to put something in that will last I would suggest doing a little research on these inverters at boat electric, http://boatelectric.com/inverter.htm#Newmar
They offer a choice of the three best that are out there. I have the promariner in my boat and it have been fine so far. When it does go I will replace it with what the big boys use. I like the outback or the victron. I am also hearing really good reports on the Newmar.
Boat Electric deals with boats that are out to see for months at a time. Commercial Boats that can not afford to have to have failures. So they deal with only the best. Yes you will pay for it but in the long run it is cheaper and less headache all around.

Stuart
 
We have had Karma for over a year now. We have spent 220+ nights on board which I would have to assume for a non-liveaboard is more than anyone else. We now have 315 hours on the motor.

We have the Xantrex Inverter that the factory installed as well as the Nautilass AGM batteries. We did have issues with having one bad battery within the group of four for the house. Once that was taken care of, we have had no issues with the batteries.

We have had no issues with the Xantrex inverter other than the massive amount of power it wants to draw when it is in the battery charge mode. This was solved by installing a Xantrex Power Share system to regulate how much power it could draw.

We use the inverter everytime we unplug from shore power with no issues so far.

Just like everything else in life, if you have the means to purchase the best, do it. If you do not, buy the best that you can with what you have. If I had to do it over again, I would take the Xantrex.

The only change I would make to the electrical system would be to install 50 amp service. At 30 amp, we have really had to learn what you can run and what you cannot run at the same time.....
 
Another excellent choice in AGM batteries is East Penn Mfg (Deka). Our house bank, 2 G31 Deka SeaMate AGM's model 8A31DT (now called 8A31DTM), just completed its tenth summer of cruising, and is still in fine shape. On these batteries we've traveled some 22,000 NM, and anchored (w/o generator) at least 700 nights. They're sold under various names, including SeaVolt at West Marine, but are available much less expensively from industrial battery suppliers.
 
Karma":29x5ppp1 said:
We have had Karma for over a year now. We have spent 220+ nights on board which I would have to assume for a non-liveaboard is more than anyone else. We now have 315 hours on the motor.

We have the Xantrex Inverter that the factory installed as well as the Nautilass AGM batteries. We did have issues with having one bad battery within the group of four for the house. Once that was taken care of, we have had no issues with the batteries.

We have had no issues with the Xantrex inverter other than the massive amount of power it wants to draw when it is in the battery charge mode. This was solved by installing a Xantrex Power Share system to regulate how much power it could draw.

We use the inverter everytime we unplug from shore power with no issues so far.

Just like everything else in life, if you have the means to purchase the best, do it. If you do not, buy the best that you can with what you have. If I had to do it over again, I would take the Xantrex.

The only change I would make to the electrical system would be to install 50 amp service. At 30 amp, we have really had to learn what you can run and what you cannot run at the same time.....
Click to expand...
David,
I am dying to know. What kind of things are you running on your boat that would require a 50amp service?
Stu
 
Its that 60 inch tv with surround sound 24 inch woofers.
 
We have a Xantrex charger /inverter in the Nellie Too and I think it is the problem. It seems to be eating the batteries alive and I cannot keep enough fluid in them. When we bought the Nellie, a 25', the factory was not installing these units so I bought one and asked them to install it, so I am somewhat familiar with the brand. I think I am going to buy a Victron as a replacement. It may be a while before I get it but after I have some experience like Stuwart has I will let you know what I think. By the way, Stuwart does a lot of research and I trust his judgement.
Stuwart, I have been talking to Boat Electric here in Seattle and they are the ones that suggested the make. Thanks for all your help.
Bob and Nita
 
I have used the optima Batteries on my C-dory and was very satisfied with them. According to the manufacturer you can charge them 300 times from full dead. You would most likely use the D31M Blue top. It seems their pricing is close to the life line. They run about $270.00
 
Bob&Nita,
I am glad to here that you are already talking with boat electric. They really know there stuff over there and will fix you up right.

One of the other things that I am working on this winter is making the storage under the stairs in the cock pit all water tight. It will mean sealing up the ventilation that Ranger uses for the engine room and creating new ventilation.
The reason for this is I do not like getting salt water in the engine room and storage area. I find myself having to rinse all the salt out of that area after boating in rough seas when we are taking spray over the boat. Without cleaning the salt water out it will cause much corrosion in the engine room and storage areas. I will not let this corrosion happen. So after cruising in rough seas and rinsing out the engine and storage rooms I then have to spray all areas that could corrode with T-9. That is a anti corrosion spray. This is much added work that I would rather not have to do.
I have several engineers giving me ideas coupled with my own on how to do this most effectively. One thing I am shooting for is keeping it simple.
i plan to have much to share on this modification made to the boat by this spring.

The other thing that I am doing is having a full cover made for the boat. It will cover the whole boat and down the sides over to the waterline and protect the hull also. This is for when I store the boat out of the water on the trailer. When I am using the boat i keep lots of wax on it to keep her protected. The trick to keeping a boat from fading is to wax it before it looks like it needs it.
i have seen too many Rangers with oxidation in less then a year of being in the water. The ones with the darker colors take more maintenance. But all of the Rangers are subject to it especially on the brows over the front windows and down the roof line. I here people complain of these areas oxidizing on them. I use a spray wax on these once a week when I am using the boat. This is done in between the major waxing I do three times a year. I can do it on a Sunday morning in less then ten min while having coffee and enjoying looking at the other boats in the anchorage.
I am not blessed with covered storage in the few areas where we store the boat in between cruising.
The full sunbrella cover is going to cost $2900.00 and will weigh about 100lbs. I am choosing to have it all done in one piece. This will allow me to draw it tight around the hull for a tight fit. He is also putting in Plexiglas windows over the solar panels to keep the batteries topped off while in storage. He is putting smaller sections of the Plexiglas over the solar panels so it will fold up nicely.
We are still enjoying the solar power. We had one time while putting the 77 hours on the boat this last five weeks that we had three days of rain and no sun, so i started the generator for the first time since we have had the boat. A total of 250 hours now. We have only been plugged into shore power less times then what i can count on, on one hand.
Still running two laptops,TV,microwave,lights and all the other stuff one runs while boating. We like to use LED lighting at night.

We had mostly all calm water while cruising the last five weeks. We did get what I was hoping for on the second to the last day of our trip. 8 to 10' seas at 12 seconds. I was very impressed with how the Ranger cut through the seas. My wife was recovering from a spat of the flu sitting in the copilot seat going yeah who! bring it on baby!
i am truly one of the lucky ones with a wife that does not mind rough water. (Thank God!) The Santa Barbara channel is one of the roughest at times. It was kind of funny because when we were at the guest dock a sailboat came in that had sailed from Japan. They had 52 days with no sight of land. The funny thing was, that they said that the roughest water they experienced on the trip was in the Santa Barbara channel. It was a 42' sailboat and they are on there way to the Bahamas.
Ok that is enough of my rambling on,
Best you you both,
Stuart&Bridget
 
There you go again Lyman, exaggerating size once again....... It is a 48" plasma TV with 18" Sub Woofers Surround sound system. I don't believe that is the problem though. I think it was when we installed the disco ball in the cockpit!

Actually, the 30 amp service will not handle both Reverse Cycle AC units and the battery charger all at once. Along with that, your hot water heater and anything else we may have plugged into the 110. That is why Ranger now installs two 30 amp services on all boats ordered with the AC.

Bob, we had the same situation on Solitude with the batteries boiling down low all the time. We did not have the Xantrex inverter/charger on her though. I switched to Gell Cells after a year to prevent the problem.

Again, we have been happy with the Xantrex Inverter/Charger and the Nautilas AGM Batteries.
 
Karma":285sy1wc said:
There you go again Lyman, exaggerating size once again....... It is a 48" plasma TV with 18" Sub Woofers Surround sound system. I don't believe that is the problem though. I think it was when we installed the disco ball in the cockpit!

Actually, the 30 amp service will not handle both Reverse Cycle AC units and the battery charger all at once. Along with that, your hot water heater and anything else we may have plugged into the 110. That is why Ranger now installs two 30 amp services on all boats ordered with the AC.

Bob, we had the same situation on Solitude with the batteries boiling down low all the time. We did not have the Xantrex inverter/charger on her though. I switched to Gell Cells after a year to prevent the problem.

Again, we have been happy with the Xantrex Inverter/Charger and the Nautilas AGM Batteries.
Click to expand...
David,
I think you should look into installing a dishwasher on Karma. Let us all know when you figure out where to put it.
 
Right after the full size washer and dryer. Then of course we will need the 50 gph water maker to keep up with the demand of the washer.....
 
Don't forget the trash compactor and hot tub.
 
Hot tub? That was the first thing that went in! We have a great view sitting in the hot tub on top of the hardtop! The ice maker sits right next to it so we don't have to get out for a cold beverage! We decided we could live without the trash compactor although a nice side by side fridge would be nice......... and then the jacuzzi tub in the head!
 
Thanks Stuart, I will check out the web site.
Bob
 
The lifeline is a good choice on AGM batteries. There are a ton of different brands out there now.

I know about Victron as I have dealt with them several times. The number one thing I do not like about Victron is the price. I think the Xantrex does a fine job. Here is something you might want to look into on the Xantrex. They have a controller you can add in to dedicate the amount of charge and 120 volt power it takes to run. It is a cheap alternative I would be willing to work out with you. You know my number so dont hesitate to call as I can explain more.

http://www.xantrex.com/power-products/d ... emote.aspx
 
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