Just completed upgrade from AGM to Lithium

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Mabruteam

[please images, or videos will be nice for us to Dream.. how many batteries?

Here's a photo of our new setup. Two batteries would have been fine but three gives us longer between charging, more capacity, redundancy (if one dies the other two will do us fine).

I know it's a high price tag for most folks, but to us it's worth it. If being a full time cruiser living on the hook and off the grid is NOT your lifestyle, this is probably NOT worth it for you.

[zboss]

First - congrats.

2nd... I always thought that lithiums would take 100% of the available charge until they were flagged as being full - you would not see a drop in amps until its full. Do you need to change a charging algorithm or is my understanding incorrect?

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by waterman46

Wondering where you fit two 400W panels on your ketch? (Since my boat is also a ketch). The 400W size is really huge but I could really use that much power! I'm thinking cost per watt is attractive since so many of that size are made for houses.

We have a center cockpit Nauticat 43 and a previous owner installed a hardtop that fit two residential size solar panels perfectly, protects us from the sun and rain, and it provides mounting for a complete enclosure. The front of the enclosure we use for a windshield.

At anchor we tie off the boom to one side so it doesn't cover the solar panels.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by zboss

First - congrats.

2nd... I always thought that lithiums would take 100% of the available charge until they were flagged as being full - you would not see a drop in amps until its full. Do you need to change a charging algorithm or is my understanding incorrect?

Not quite correct . Lfp will take all you throw at it untill ablut 95% then there is a significant drop off of amps but thats about where you want to stop charging anyway ( for longevity staying off rhe knees is best )

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Rohan

Funny thing is, I have two banks of AGM batteries on my boat. One bank is from 2020, I bought myself. The other bank are stamped with a date of 2007, so 14 years ago, from the boat's original owner. And they still have a full charge. I have tested them myself by hand to be sure. I switch back and forth between both banks and I see no difference in voltage or performance.

Now I have owned this boat only two years, and I have no idea how often the batteries were used before that. Maybe they were seldom used. But 14 years is still a hell of a long time. So at the moment I am a little skeptical about the estimated short life of AGMs.

If money was no object, I would go lithium though - one thing I hate about AGMs is how heavy they are and the battery banks are on one side of the boat so I have to put everything heavy on the other side to balance it out.

Your description of batteries tells me that your vessel has spent little time on the hook . It likely spends most of its time in marinas . ( marina hopping ) or a lot of fuel charging . You got lucky it seems

[Flod]

I think for most of us the change to lifepo4 is not only about cost. Boating is not for cost conscious people. It’s about the much better performance and the fact that it makes our life’s when we are off grid on the hook much easier. Then if Lead or AGMs or whatever is cheaper in a TOC I personally don’t care. I sail maybe 6 weeks a year and spend a serious amount of money/day on this. The lifepo4 is barely noticeable in the big picture [emoji3]

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Flod

I think for most of us the change to lifepo4 is not only about cost. Boating is not for cost conscious people. It’s about the much better performance and the fact that it makes our life’s when we are off grid on the hook much easier. Then if Lead or AGMs or whatever is cheaper in a TOC I personally don’t care. I sail maybe 6 weeks a year and spend a serious amount of money/day on this. The lifepo4 is barely noticeable in the big picture [emoji3]

Well said. It's a quality of life issue when you live and cruise on your boat full time as we do. We spend ZERO money on extravagant cars, appliances, houses, trips, clothes and the other things most people justify spending a lot of money on, instead we invest in our boat and our lifestyle living on the hook as quietly and remotely as possible in beautiful places.

The same folks who chime in that they wouldn't spend that amount of money have their own priorities and things they spend a lot of money on. Lithium batteries aren't their priority and that's OK, it just gets tiresome when trollers criticize posters for making choices they wouldn't make. If they're reading this I'd like to request that they grow up and accept differences in others, it's pretty basic human civility. "Enjoy your popcorn," jeez...

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Congrats on the upgrade. Looks like it will work well for you. 👍

Since I have AGMs and will be replacing them in the near future - I was wondering what thoughts, if any, you gave to going with FireFlies and not lithium’s? I have read several of the battery threads here but am interested on your process


Thanks - Ron

[Seafarer7]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

We have a center cockpit Nauticat 43 and a previous owner installed a hardtop that fit two residential size solar panels perfectly, protects us from the sun and rain, and it provides mounting for a complete enclosure. The front of the enclosure we use for a windshield.



At anchor we tie off the boom to one side so it doesn't cover the solar panels.

Congrats SV__Grace! That’s a major update!
With regards solar, if memory serves me well those panels on Grace are each a Trina 230watt (total 460 watts). They are 24v nominal. Got those along with the MPPT controller - typically saw up to 27 amps @ 12v DC charge. If you were to swap those Trinas out for REC 450w panels you could boost your total solar output from 460w up to 900w, and get better low light performance. You could also get much better overall performed with an upgraded MPPT controller (the one I installed skips absorption IIRC and goes into float at the 13.4v range.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Seafarer7

With regards solar, if memory serves me well those panels on Grace are each a Trina 230watt (total 460 watts).

Seafarer, how is it that you are familiar with our solar panels?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

Seafarer, how is it that you are familiar with our solar panels?

Where is Your home marina?

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Where is Your home marina?

Hi Newhaul, we are full time cruisers and live on the hook, so no "home marina," which is why upgrading to Lithium is a big deal to us and worth the cost.

Where are you located?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

Hi Newhaul, we are full time cruisers and live on the hook, so no "home marina," which is why upgrading to Lithium is a big deal to us and worth the cost.

Where are you located?

I'm home ported at the Railway Marina in port orchard. Across from the PSNS graving docks .

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Smokeys Kitchen

Congrats on the upgrade. Looks like it will work well for you. 👍 Since I have AGMs and will be replacing them in the near future - I was wondering what thoughts, if any, you gave to going with FireFlies and not lithium’s? I have read several of the battery threads here but am interested on your process Thanks - Ron

Hi Ron, I'm no expert and prefer to get my recommendations from people who are, but I do keep up with boat tech and everyone has an opinion, so since you ask for mine, here you go.

The Firefly carbon foam AGM has now been around long enough to have proven itself and would be my first choice if I didn't live on the hook.

For full time cruising and maximizing solar/wind generation and minimizing generator time, Lithium seems to be King, and so far, on this typically cloudy day here in the PNW, we're loving ours.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by newhaul

I'm home ported at the Railway Marina in port orchard. Across from the PSNS graving docks .

We've anchored off your marina several times visiting Port Orchard and Bremerton and plan to return soon as my wife misses the PO farmer's market!

The foot ferry to Bremerton is awesome, and from there we can catch a bus to pretty much anywhere we can't go by boat, including SeaTac.

I believe our sister ship Raven's Dance owned by our friend Donn Lassila was at Railway for a long time before he moved to Alaska, you know him or his boat?

Port Orchard is a sweet place to be, good choice!