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Hi all...

Currently, we have six Sonnenschein A600 2V batteries and they're sat on the baseplate at the side of the engine with boards over the top of them. The starter battery is under there too and its EXTREMELY cramped in there as the swim tapers in at the stern. Well, one or more of the batteries is faulty and we want to change them - but - not have them in the same location - as normal leisure batteries are a lot bigger than these I have - even a 110Ah is bigger than one of mine. So, I'm thinking about having them repositioned on top of the diesel skin tank or somewhere else other than where they are - as there just isn't enough room for the ones I want. If possible, can people (if they have any) post photos of similar battery setups so I can get some ideas for our boat. I'd ideally like a decent amount of amperage available for cruising so its either quite a few 110Ah's or a smaller amount of higher amperage batteries.

So, if anyone can post a few photos for reference, I'd be most grateful. I'm not looking at starting a big debate about batteries really, just want some ideas for locations and what the bet way to secure them is - without any welding! I really don't want to have to get anyone to weld anything really... I'm going to be a good girl and ensure they're wired in 60mm cable too - for our Sterling 1500W combi charger/inverter. I'm also going to get a Smartgauge and a big doofer s/c relay etc...

Thanx!

Kay

x

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Current setup on the baseplate on the starboard side of the engine room...

You can see how small they are compared to the 110Ah starter battery!

 

DSCN1729.JPG

DSCN1730.JPG

Edited by kayDee
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Hi all...

Currently, we have six Sonnenschein A600 2V batteries and they're sat on the baseplate at the side of the engine with boards over the top of them. The starter battery is under there too and its EXTREMELY cramped in there as the swim tapers in at the stern. Well, one or more of the batteries is faulty and we want to change them - but - not have them in the same location - as normal leisure batteries are a lot bigger than these I have - even a 110Ah is bigger than one of mine. So, I'm thinking about having them repositioned on top of the diesel skin tank or somewhere else other than where they are - as there just isn't enough room for the ones I want. If possible, can people (if they have any) post photos of similar battery setups so I can get some ideas for our boat. I'd ideally like a decent amount of amperage available for cruising so its either quite a few 110Ah's or a smaller amount of higher amperage batteries.

So, if anyone can post a few photos for reference, I'd be most grateful. I'm not looking at starting a big debate about batteries really, just want some ideas for locations and what the bet way to secure them is - without any welding! I really don't want to have to get anyone to weld anything really... I'm going to be a good girl and ensure they're wired in 60mm cable too - for our Sterling 1500W combi charger/inverter. I'm also going to get a Smartgauge and a big doofer s/c relay etc...

Thanx!

Kay

x

 

I have the same problem [battery location] mine are in a ply box on the base plate in the engine hole. I'm getting a couple of metal frames made from angle iron to support a similar box on the swim, so it's off the baseplate and not restricted by the taper of the swim. Need to line the box with thickish plastic so that should the batteries ever leak the acid won't corrode the area under. Having two made, one for either side, one will have one starter and three leisure the other side four leisure, might be a bit OTT leisure wise, but have the spare room so why not. Will need to upgrade the charging regime and controls, more spending money for Gibbo, not too much though I hope. Also the water pipes from the engine to the cooling skin tank go directly over the batteries at the moment so a leak here could be catastrophic, even with a ply lid covering the box.

 

Having looked at your pics I think my engine hole is quite a bit larger, so my idea may not work for you. :lol:

 

 

Edit. Didn't realise thay made such a thing as a 2v battery.

Can you post a pic of the area available for the batteries? Could they be placed elsewhere, but adjacent to the engine.

Edited by johnjo
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Currently, we have six Sonnenschein A600 2V batteries and they're sat on the baseplate at the side of the engine with boards over the top of them. The starter battery is under there too and its EXTREMELY cramped in there as the swim tapers in at the stern. Well, one or more of the batteries is faulty and we want to change them - but - not have them in the same location - as normal leisure batteries are a lot bigger than these I have - even a 110Ah is bigger than one of mine. So, I'm thinking about having them repositioned on top of the diesel skin tank or somewhere else other than where they are - as there just isn't enough room for the ones I want.

Ideally batteries should not be mounted on the baseplate, even if sealed, in case the water level does get that high. The best solution if this has to be done is to put them on top of a shelf/bracket/feet so the terminals are about 18" off the bottom and any water can flow underneath.

I am lucky and have a lot of space on top of the swim, even though this is tapered, I have extended the plastic shelf to accomodate 7 - 110Ah batteries, and there is probably room for another if needed. Only drawback is the weight, but I ahve the gas locker on the other side, fine if both bottles are full.

Another option is to split the batteries from side to side, but can result in fairly long leads. If there is room in the engine compartment, the other popular place is in front of the engine on a shelf across the bearers, ok if you have the space and don't need to change the fan belt that often!

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I have the same problem [battery location] mine are in a ply box on the base plate in the engine hole. I'm getting a couple of metal frames made from angle iron to support a similar box on the swim, so it's off the baseplate and not restricted by the taper of the swim. Need to line the box with thickish plastic so that should the batteries ever leak the acid won't corrode the area under. Having two made, one for either side, one will have one starter and three leisure the other side four leisure, might be a bit OTT leisure wise, but have the spare room so why not. Will need to upgrade the charging regime and controls, more spending money for Gibbo, not too much though I hope. Also the water pipes from the engine to the cooling skin tank go directly over the batteries at the moment so a leak here could be catastrophic, even with a ply lid covering the box.

 

Having looked at your pics I think my engine hole is quite a bit larger, so my idea may not work for you. :lol:

 

 

Edit. Didn't realise thay made such a thing as a 2v battery.

Can you post a pic of the area available for the batteries? Could they be placed elsewhere, but adjacent to the engine.

 

As my boat safety chappie said... have you ever seen corroded ply?

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My batteries are all in boxes on the base plate. There is a big black plastic box made of 1/4" acid-proof plastic which takes 3x110Ah batteries, and a smaller grey plastic box made of similar plastic which takes the recently-added 4th 110Ah battery. These boxes were both custom made (several companies will do this for you)

 

The starter battery is in the off-the-shelf yellow-lidded plastic battery box in the other side. You can see all 3 boxes in this picture.

 

3010090863_bea16522bf_o.jpg

 

I certainly don't expect that I'll ever have more than 15" of water in the bilges - and if I did, the fact that my batteries may be going flat because of this would be one of the least of my worries!

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Kay,

 

Rather than people posting pictures of their set-up, which may for various reasons not be possible on your boat, would it not be better for you to post pictures of the likely locations you have, so it prompts ideas in people's minds ?

 

You mention possibly "on top of the diesel swim tank", but I'm not sure if you mean the engine's cooling skin tank, or whether you have an actual diesel tank located on the swim in some manner.

 

Where all your tanks, and your exhaust are will be highly influential, as will be how one gets through the engine room, if it's a trad stern.

 

FWIW ours are located in wooden boxes mounted on the left hand swim of the boat, on the side where the "corridor is not". I was only able to easily fit in 3 * 110AH domestic, plus a similar sized (physically) starter - overkill for our frugal needs, but much below what many people seem to need.

 

I don't have pictures, but if you think swim mounted batteries might work for you, I could snap some when next on board.

 

Oh yes: From my experience if you put the batteries anywhere with no easy access to the fillers, (assuming they are not a sealed type), then you WILL neglect checking them, and topping up on a regular basis. Ours are just about OK in this respect, but only just about.

 

Alan

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Ours are sitting on some plywood, on some steel work, on the base place, under the coal bunker.

- All fairly neat, but totally inaccesable as theres zero headroom between battery and bunker, and you can only get access to two to remove them, so they must be taken out before the other two are. And the leads must be disconnrect before that.

 

So what ever you do make sure access is fairly good. My plan it to remake the tray so that is a large sliding unit. So the two pairs of batterys and isolator (1/2/both) switch and charger can be slide out with just +ve -ve and mains lead bridging the gap.

 

 

 

Daniel

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Hi all...

Currently, we have six Sonnenschein A600 2V batteries and they're sat on the baseplate at the side of the engine with boards over the top of them. The starter battery is under there too and its EXTREMELY cramped in there as the swim tapers in at the stern. Well, one or more of the batteries is faulty and we want to change them - but - not have them in the same location - as normal leisure batteries are a lot bigger than these I have - even a 110Ah is bigger than one of mine. So, I'm thinking about having them repositioned on top of the diesel skin tank or somewhere else other than where they are - as there just isn't enough room for the ones I want. If possible, can people (if they have any) post photos of similar battery setups so I can get some ideas for our boat. I'd ideally like a decent amount of amperage available for cruising so its either quite a few 110Ah's or a smaller amount of higher amperage batteries.

So, if anyone can post a few photos for reference, I'd be most grateful. I'm not looking at starting a big debate about batteries really, just want some ideas for locations and what the bet way to secure them is - without any welding! I really don't want to have to get anyone to weld anything really... I'm going to be a good girl and ensure they're wired in 60mm cable too - for our Sterling 1500W combi charger/inverter. I'm also going to get a Smartgauge and a big doofer s/c relay etc...

Thanx!

Kay

x

 

Hi Kay,

 

Don't know if this is any help to you but I opted for 6v Lead Acid batteries with automatic watering. I did a comparison of Trojan and US Battery offerings - I've ended up with 4 x 283Ah batteries giving 566Ah at 12 volts and at less than £600 for the lot. The comparison list I put together includes a wide range of capacities, the sizes and weight. It's in a .pdf document and you can download it from:

 

http://www.synibex.com/PDFs/Documents/6v%2...n%20Doc%201.pdf

 

My batteries are in a plywood box which sits on top of a steel frame. They're fully enclosed with a ventilation system to evacuate gasses when under charge. The ventillation system has a small fan triggered by a voltage-sensitive relay and a fan over-run timer. It cost me about £60 to put together.

 

Sorry but I don't have any pics at the moment!

 

Regards,

 

Colin

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