We consulted with Wayne from Wheelhouse Marine as to our options. We decided on a Victron 3000 inverter/charger complete with controller and four 3.4V x 100A lithium ion batteries linked in series.
The new batteries were supplied by Trevor from Drive by Nature in Queensland. Trevor was instrumental in advising what would suit our needs and the correct installation of the lithium batteries. Once the decision was made the batteries were immediately dispatched to Darwin.
The benefits I saw in changing our boat house batteries to lithium ion are as follows:
- Charging – Lithium batteries will charge to 100% without a flat spot unlike lead acid that will only charge to 80% then trickle.
- Lithium batteries can be discharged down to at least 30% without impacting the life of the battery.
- Lithium are much lighter and take up less space. If needed I could double the the size of the house bank in the same area as our old lead acids.
- Maintenance free.
- It has been suggested that the life span should be about 15 years.
At first I was put off by the perceived cost of lithium batteries but my calculations suggest in the long term they are cheaper than lead acid.
To date we can’t be happier.
NB: We haven’t replaced the solar controller so can’t comment on the effectiveness of the solar charging on lithium. Will report in due course.
