Batteries died after 28 years of service.

[sokkum]

Yes, these batteries were installed early 1992 and delivered electricity until now.
These batteries are the GEL type from Prevailer-Sonnenschen and we had installed 4 pcs of 110Amp. All the time these batteries were never under 12.8V and we use solarpanels and windgenerator as well.
Is this a worldrecord for lifetime of batteries? I don't know.
Location of the batteries: engineroom, not the best place because of the warm temp. when the engine was running.
Maintenance? - just some vaseline that's all.

Now I have to pull out these have ones and remplace them - but first practizing some powerlifting.

[ozsailer]

sokkum it is so obvious to me that you used and abused these batteries through the pitiful life. How dare technology of such an age should last so long. What were people who deleloped these pitiful excuse for batteries have been thinking. At least you can be assured that the next set should last at least 4 maybe 5 years.



Greg H
Lagoon 440

[Pete7]

They are still worth E50 in the UK scrap lead market.

So what are you going to replace them with? prices might have gone up a bit since you bought them.

Pete

[noelex 77]

These batteries have a very long life in deep cycle operation, but 28 years is amazing. We had the same brand of batteries on our first boat and with a fairly hard life they still lasted around 17 years. On subsequent boats they did just as well, although we did not own them long enough to form a true measure of total lifespan.

This is for the 12v version.

The 2v batteries have an even longer life.

They do need to be good quality gel batteries. Our current boat has Mastervolt gel and I suspect they will not fare as well, but time will tell.

[Tetepare]

Wow. My second set of lead acid lasted 12 years. Third set lasted five.

[sokkum]

Originally Posted by Pete7

They are still worth E50 in the UK scrap lead market.

So what are you going to replace them with? prices might have gone up a bit since you bought them.

Pete

I'm sure it will be the GEL-type batteries and may be the same brand. Although 4 of them is about 2/3 times more expensive that the simple lead types, but I don't want to replace every 5 years or so.

[sailorboy1]

Never below 12.8V?

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Never below 12.8V?

Which means he was always using the charging sources for his power, and the batteries weren't used

I'm sure it's just a typo though.

[tstano]

Well done, my gels were 12 years old. I’m curious as to how much solar you have used over the years.

[Hermia II]

I have a bank of Victron gel batteries, 7 yrs so far, but still fine. I have added a 24v DC Panda generator. What bugs me is that while the batteries are charging closer to 90% they don't take a lot of amps (say 20 of the 110 available) which lengthen the time running the generator. Although hideously expensive, what would be the situation with LiFePO4 batteries?

[MJH]

Originally Posted by sokkum

Yes, these batteries were installed early 1992 and delivered electricity until now.
These batteries are the GEL type from Prevailer-Sonnenschen and we had installed 4 pcs of 110Amp. All the time these batteries were never under 12.8V and we use solarpanels and windgenerator as well.
Is this a worldrecord for lifetime of batteries? I don't know.
Location of the batteries: engineroom, not the best place because of the warm temp. when the engine was running.
Maintenance? - just some vaseline that's all.

Now I have to pull out these have ones and remplace them - but first practizing some powerlifting.

I replaced my two West Marine 8D GEL batteries (160 lbs. each) last year using the boat winches and lines and the help of a friend; I was 76 then, batteries were 15 years old. Yes, I replaced them with new GELs. I expect these to last longer as I now have 560W of solar...they will most likely outlive me. On my 2016 roundtrip to Hawaii I never had to use the diesel for charging.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Tayana42]

MJH, I’d love to see your solar installation. Where do you mount 560W on the pointy stern of Tayana42? This has stopped me from adding solar to my Tayana V 42 aft cockpit.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

Which means he was always using the charging sources for his power, and the batteries weren't used

I'm sure it's just a typo though.

Maybe not by much though, I believe that the majority to the reports of excessive battery life are due largely to the likelihood that they met the definition of dead many years before, but due to the fact that they are only very shallowly cycled it wasn’t noticed, meaning I guess that if you only use 50 AH a night and you have a 500 AH bank, that you may not notice that the batteries are losing capacity until they lose a huge amount of capacity, maybe down to almost 50 AH or only 10% of rated capacity.

However if you have a 500 AH bank and use 200AH per night, you bank will “die” many years sooner, somewhat due to deeper cycling of course but also because you can’t lose near as much capacity before it becomes critical.


My belief is that the average cruisers bank meets the definition of “dead” but since one hasn’t shorted people soldier on and adapt to the lost capacity.

I mean who really does an actual capacity check?

I know I never will. I won’t have the equipment or the desire.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Hermia II

I have a bank of Victron gel batteries, 7 yrs so far, but still fine. I have added a 24v DC Panda generator. What bugs me is that while the batteries are charging closer to 90% they don't take a lot of amps (say 20 of the 110 available) which lengthen the time running the generator. Although hideously expensive, what would be the situation with LiFePO4 batteries?

That is the nature of lead acid batteries, and the older they get the longer it can take to fully charge.
Now a Lithium bank will typically take all that you can throw at them all the way to as full as you want to charge them, you don’t won’t them completely 100% full, that’s not good for them, but if you use 200AH overnight and can charge them at a 100 amp rate then you can be fully recharged in just a bit over two hours, where lead acid will typically take 6 hours.

There are Lithium threads of course and I believe even a lithium section now, but they are to me still to complex and expensive, although I see the huge advantage, especially to a generator equipped vessel

[Cheechako]

My old ones were bulletproof. Not that old though! I had mixed batteries and just charged everything the same voltage. No problems.