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**a64pilot** · 02-10-2019, 07:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by sam_hawk

Another option I have found is 4 x Victron Gel 110ah for roughly €1200, Or 3 of the 130ah but not sure if that’s possible to have 3 in parallel?

That is what I would do, go Gel, but only if all charge sources can be set for correct voltages, that’s true also for AGM, if you cannot program all charge sources, I’d suggest less expensive flooded batteries, they tolerate abuse much better than Gel or AGM.

Assuming the batteries are 12V and your boat is 12V, then yes no problem with three in parallel.

rom · 02-10-2019, 07:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by sam_hawk

Another option I have found is 4 x Victron Gel 110ah for roughly €1200

Seems a bit expensive to me. Not sure about portugal but I know you can get Ultracell UCG batteries for a good price in spain. I have been using those (4x 250Ah) for almost 4 years, full time live aboard, crossed the atlantic twice, very happy. 400Ah seems rather light to me.
Edit: I forgot you have a good combo with solar & wind for a crossing and for your stay in the caribean. 400Ah could possibly work...

Flod · 02-10-2019, 11:46

Given the OPs circumstances I would simply recommend to buy the max Ah of FLA of a decent quality that fits in the space and then change them out when they get worn. It should be possible to find FLAs in the whole world even in pretty remote locations. And given that the OP don’t know if 3 is ok to parallel I don’t think he should start to use something “complicated” like lifepo4 (which I had used if I where doing a circumnavigation).

chowdan · 02-10-2019, 14:09

May have missed your post stating your budget, but in the USA(unsure about portugal), you can get Group 31 Firefly carbon foam batteries for $512/each. They have somewhere around 1000 cycles @ 80% DOD or 3600 cycles @ 50% DOD.

They should be a drop in replacement for your FLA, are fully sealed & have better sulfation resistance than AGM/GEL's.

Worth looking into

john61ct · 02-10-2019, 14:34

Firefly are a sub-type of AGM.

Excellent for PSOC resistance, but expensive for the NA market, and I think largely unavailable in most others.

**Pete7** · 02-10-2019, 14:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by john61ct

, and I think largely unavailable in most others.

True, those 'mericans having been buying them all up, come on now that's just not cricket.

Pete

Cricket is, nah too complicated.

ramblinrod · 02-10-2019, 15:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by john61ct

Or 2*6V 4*3V, 3*4V etc can work to, but fewer paralleled the better.

There are pros and cons to both series and parallel bank configuration.

Beyond the scope of this thread.

chowdan · 02-10-2019, 16:35

Very true. Most americans are greedy sons of bitches!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete7

True, those 'mericans having been buying them all up, come on now that's just not cricket.

Pete

Cricket is, nah too complicated.

Sailing4Jesus · 02-10-2019, 17:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by chowdan

Very true. Most americans are greedy sons of bitches!

Pete, Americans are greedy SOB'S? Well, it is clear that you are an unlearned poor soul. If not for America and American Military in WW1 & WW2 Europe would all be under the German Nazis. There is hardly one town in Europe that one will not see where hundreds of thousands of American Military Men and Women are buried, who died so those poor uneducated souls like you could use such low-class language to call us Greedy SOB'S. It has been said that; If you keep your mouth shut folks will think that you are Stupid, but if you open your mouth THEY WILL KNOW. I thank Almighty God that most Sailors are not racists as you by your statement clearly are. Also, Americans is correctly spelled with a Capital A, not lower-key a.

John 15:13 King James Version (KJV)
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Senior Chief Naval Purchasing Officer
The United States Navy, Retired

Uncle Bob · 02-10-2019, 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailing4Jesus

Pete, Americans are greedy SOB'S? Well, it is clear that you are an unlearned poor soul. If not for America and American Military in WW1 & WW2 Europe would all be under the German Nazis. There is hardly one town in Europe that one will not see where hundreds of thousands of American Military Men and Women are buried, who died so those poor uneducated souls like you could use such low-class language to call us Greedy SOB'S. It has been said that; If you keep your mouth shut folks will think that you are Stupid, but if you open your mouth THEY WILL KNOW. I thank Almighty God that most Sailors are not racists as you by your statement clearly are. Also, Americans is correctly spelled with a Capital A, not lower-key a.

John 15:13 King James Version (KJV)
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Senior Chief Naval Purchasing Officer
The United States Navy, Retired

Ever heard the term "tongue in cheek" ?

GILow · 02-10-2019, 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Ever heard the term "tongue in cheek" ?

I do keep calling for an irony font, but it hasn't happened yet.

GILow · 02-10-2019, 17:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete7

Cricket is, nah too complicated.

I once had the joy of explaining that cricket was a game that took place over up to five days, often without a result, to the Brazilian Coach of the Australian Women's Beach Volleyball team.

I honestly don't think he believed anything I told him.

**TrentePieds** · 02-10-2019, 19:26

Quote: "If you keep your mouth shut folks will think that you are Stupid, but if you open your mouth THEY WILL KNOW."

Ah, yes — somebody DID say that, didn't they? Tho' I can't quite remember who, and about whom :-)!

While I'm struggling to remember things, who was it who said that "the less a man knows, the more vehement will be his assertion that what little he DOES know is the only and the entire truth"?

Maybe there is someone here who's sufficiently plugged into the eternal verities that he can remind me ;-)

TP