Malua has more than enough amp hours of battery to maintain the systems and I invested in the very best batteries available at the time. I started six Sonnenschein 6 volt 200Ah connected in parallel and series. There is also a 12 volt 85Ah Sonnenschein starter battery – now changed. They are both gel construction which will work underwater and require no distilled water or maintenance. The one bank works flawlessly however after 12 years of almost continuous use it was time to replace the other bank before setting off on a long cruise back to Australia. I had organised in Deltaville USA to have six 6 volt replacements and paid the money. When I arrived back in the USA the money had gone and there were no batteries so I set about sourcing identical ones. The importer unfortunately only had four so not wanting to wait four months I took them.
OK six large heavy batteries out from under the bunk up the conpanionway steps over the side and down to the freezing ground below. A block and tackle and a power winch did the trick then up the new ones come. Did they fit… yes exactly so connect them up and then look around for 240 volt AC to charge them because as you know the USA is 110 volt. No luck so I had to wait till I got the generator working to charge the new bank. That now gives me 800 amp hour of house battery.
In Panama the starter battery deceided that it would not put enough power into the starter to reliably start the Yanmar so that I dumped and I set about getting a new battery. Unfortunatly that was not as good as my Sonnenshein and in November 2015 I replaced that with a new Optima gel battery. We will see how that goes.
That battery did not last as long as i should have and was replaced in 2020 with another new Gel battery. This proved to be one of the keys to starting the generator.
It appears starter batteries do not last on Malua because I have replaced them on two occasions.
Update Replacement
After the COVID lockdown and the lack of use of Malue something had to give and the batteries installed in the USA would not hold a charge. The idea of a set of six 6 volt means that if one fails you have 5 or in fact 4 left to keep going. It was quite easy to establish which battery had faild so I just isolated that and one we sailed.
The major cause of the failure is I think that the solar panels keep both banks charged at a 13.8 volt but it is very superficial change and when a good load is placed on the battery it cant take it. I think there is a way to charge the bank at a high voltage over time but I did not wish to risk that. I have now put this theory out as a Solar Barrier. A layer of charged material on the surface of the plates at the correct voltage but not deep enough to take a load. The solution to this problem is charge via AC at a high voltage for some time or even four times. The long term solution disconnect the solar panels from the house batteries while not on the boat.
Further Battery replacement – just one bank
I was again confronted with my second bank under the port bunk not holding a charge while cruising the Tasmanian channel prior to the VDLC rally so to conform to the rally “rule” I decided to purchase a new set of four gel batteries. Thankfully Duncan H had his car and his charm plus help from a friend and we found a set in the industrial area of Hobart. What a pleasure to deal with a business owner that knew what he was talking about. He saved Duncan in Bathurst harbour by flying a set to him.
I installed four Big River 6 volt AGM under the bunk and connected them up for the cruise. They held up well but have subsequently been quite disappointing in the number of amps they deliver over time as compared to my Sonnenschein 6 volt 200Ah. I will have to monitor them.