Batteries... Whats better?

[geoffcollins]

Many smaller ones or fewer larger ones?

 

[pvb]

Fewer larger ones would probably be better from a reliability viewpoint (connections, etc), but large batteries can be difficult to find a home for and are very difficult to manhandle. I use a bank of 6x110Ah batteries.

 

[William_H]

The size of battery you buy would usually be decided on price/availability and weight in terms of lifting them into place.
Electrically batteries in parallel have to be watched for the problem of one failure pulling the others down 6volt batteries in series may be a better option. A dud can be replaced but it is probably likely that the survivor is due to die anyway. olewill

 

[RAI]

I chose mine on the basis of the most capacity that would fit in the available space. I ended up with four 110 Ah batteries.

One advantage of the old wet cell technology is that it's easy to test the individual cells with a hydrometer. When one cell dies, the battery can be removed, the remaining batteries in the bank still sustain the services. A hydrometer can test the cells in a single big battery too, but when one cell fails, the whole battery has to be scrapped.

 

[alexrunic]

Have one starting and one domestic say 110 amp then have less electrical gear on board its supposed to be a yacht not a home from home sorry to sound a arse, but its true. i used to be able to run an auto helm, vhf and gps all day long, plus lights in cabin for a small amount of time and not change my battries for 3 to 4 days on my old 18 footer.

 

[geoffcollins]

Thanks for the responses.

Cheers

Geoff