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Post by manifold on Aug 13, 2009 19:41:50 GMT
We are often sailing in harbours with no electricity available and might stay there for few days. Therefore we needed more battery capacity. Because SO30i is not a big boat, it took few hours to figure out where to locate all the extra batteries. The project is not ready yet, but I thought to share some pictures of this project (sorry about bad English -- technical vocabulary is not my strongest points). Anyway... Total battery capacity is now 3 x 105 Ah free time + 1 x 70 Ah engine start battery, making it 385 Ah total... Original battery box (2 x 70 Ah, one for the engine and one for free time use) New battery box under construction... The base plywood needed some support and I mounted few horizontal battens (plywood). The base plywood (36x36 cm) attached. The original battery box is too small for bigger batteries. Therefore I had to break one of the walls. ... And fitted similar base plywood (36x36 cm) in the original box. New battery box is ready. Only problem is the height (~20.5 cm). You just have to find batteries which are around 19 cm tall maximum. Some kind of drawing: Please contact me if you have any questions on this project...
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Post by Torsten on Jan 24, 2015 20:15:24 GMT
Hi manifold,
I also own a SO30i and am interested in the pictures you made. Unfortunately they are not visible to me and direct to imageshack ... Could you fix the links ?
Cheers hansi
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Post by vasko on Jan 25, 2015 11:24:28 GMT
on my Sun Liberty 34 - not a big boat too, I managed to fit 3 additional house batteries too - I build a battery holding box for the 3 additional batteries under the bow bed - to have a batteries in proximity to the bowthruster.... I covered the plywood rack with grp to protect it in case battery liquid is spell out.. and looked great on design ... but this is where all started thinks that I needed to add later : 1. four long ( 17m each) 220amp battery wires from the original battery place in the starboard locker to under front bed ( HUGE exhausting job:) - two for charging. two for discharging 2. decoupling on every single battery from the other using diodes ( that is why I needed the two additional cables to separate the charging from the discharging path) - you need this to make sure that if one battery died this will not affect the other + preventing battery explosions and liquid spilled everywhere 3. all 4 batteries need to be exactly the same ! - and deep cycle ones (e.g. varta professional - LFD 75 or 90 - best use the same for starter too) 4. battery monitor with another 4 cables from the chart table to the original battery place - without it you do not have any idae what is happening 5. battery guard with alarm if the voltage drops under 10.5 6. you need battery straps too - to hold your batteries in place in event of hash rolling 7. you need to make sure that your motor driven charger is minimum 10% of the whole battery power on the boat including the starter battery - e.g. if you have 4 x 100amp house and 1 x 100ah starter - then you engine alternator need be minimum 50ah 8. you need to have good ventilation in the compartment where the additional batteries are - you may need to add also quite fan from a computer box with timer switch or another automatic one ------- and in the end why you just not consider build a house battery from protected li-ion 18650 cells ? ( btw: you really need to make sure that they are protected as most of the advertised as protected do not have any protection)
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Post by dbostrom on Jan 25, 2015 17:54:23 GMT
Really? I'd like to hear more about that! So tempted by lithium chemistry of one kind or another but the failure modes are scary.
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Post by MalcolmP on Jan 26, 2015 10:04:39 GMT
Hi manifold, I also own a SO30i and am interested in the pictures you made. Unfortunately they are not visible to me and direct to imageshack ... Could you fix the links ? Cheers hansi Hi Hansi I will email Manifold for you as I see he has not been on the forum since 2009 - the imageshack images have been removed Malcolm
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Post by MalcolmP on Jan 26, 2015 10:09:38 GMT
Hi Hansi I will email Manifold for you as I see he has not been on the forum since 2009 - the imageshack images have been removed Malcolm Sorry that looks a dead end as just got a bounce back from his last email address
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Post by vasko on Jan 26, 2015 17:28:35 GMT
Really? I'd like to hear more about that! So tempted by lithium chemistry of one kind or another but the failure modes are scary. 1. you need to buy one battery cell from the model that you choose 2. check it if the protection is working - with power consumer like bulb which will consume the battery in full and if the protection is there when the voltage goes to 3.5v the battery should cutoff the bulb - this way you also will be able to determine how much useful discharge you can get from this cell in AH 3. bring the battery cell to pieces to make sure that it has actually a pcb controller that deals with the protection FYI - generally you should expect about 2AH useful discharge from any 3.7v , 18650 li-ion cell - no matter what is written - UltraFire is good brand, but the problem is it actually UtraFire or just the plastic wrap has a UtraFire logo - There were somewhere in Google/youtube a description how to recognize a original/proper UltraFire cell - e.g. you do not need a expensive one you just need to make sure that you have done the checks example how to check if a cell is protected when braking it to peaces : www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?169200-Photos-of-Protected-Lithium-Batteries
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Post by dbostrom on Jan 26, 2015 17:44:25 GMT
Thank you, Vasko.
Let alone other attributes, the weight saving alone from lithium is appealing.
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Post by vasko on Jan 27, 2015 12:20:00 GMT
Thank you, Vasko. Let alone other attributes, the weight saving alone from lithium is appealing. if you are based in US you can try to get a good offer for li-ion battery from this guys : www.balqon.com/
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Post by vasko on Jan 27, 2015 12:30:33 GMT
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Post by Torsten on Jan 30, 2015 16:32:09 GMT
Hi Hansi I will email Manifold for you as I see he has not been on the forum since 2009 - the imageshack images have been removed Malcolm Sorry that looks a dead end as just got a bounce back from his last email address Thanks for your help. Cheers Hansi
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