Battery Dilemma

[underdog]

When I bought my boat 5 years ago the domestic battery installed was Lifeline AGM sealed 105ah and was probably several years old then. This has proved adequate for my needs.I have changed all my navigation and domestic lights to Led bulbs to reduce consumption.Apart from lighting I have a VHF, Chartplotter, Log and Depth guage. The other item is an Eberspacher D1lc which draws considerable current on start up;I normally run the engine to compensate for the heavy draw off current on start up.
Sooner rather than later I am going to have to replace the battery, however I have just looked up the price of replacing like with like at a hefty £360 plus carriage. Should I look cheerful and shell out or are there any cheaper alternatives that can be recommended?

 

[NickRobinson]

Most bang for your buck from flooded lead acid. Do you have a need for AGM? My 110Ah SLA was £58 on 24hr free delivery, a tad less than £360... You'll need to adjust any external alternator controller.

 

[AndyJ76]

If you have the space, for about the same price you could buy 4 Trojan T-105 traction batteries (which are very highly regarded for deep-discharge). This would give you a massive 550Ah
http://www.access-platforms.com/trojan-t105-deep-cycle-battery.html (I don't know this distributor, they were the first in a google search)

They're 6v batteries, so you'd need to wire them into groups of two in series to give 12V

 

[Richard10002]

If you have the space, for about the same price you could buy 4 Trojan T-105 traction batteries (which are very highly regarded for deep-discharge). This would give you a massive 550Ah
http://www.access-platforms.com/trojan-t105-deep-cycle-battery.html (I don't know this distributor, they were the first in a google search)

They're 6v batteries, so you'd need to wire them into groups of two in series to give 12V

450Ah...... Price is ex VAT, so £430 for 4, but still good value.

 

[Mistroma]

If you have the space, for about the same price you could buy 4 Trojan T-105 traction batteries (which are very highly regarded for deep-discharge). This would give you a massive 550Ah
http://www.access-platforms.com/trojan-t105-deep-cycle-battery.html (I don't know this distributor, they were the first in a google search)

They're 6v batteries, so you'd need to wire them into groups of two in series to give 12V

Excellent batteries. However, might be a bit OTT for the OP. If I'm reading the post correctly he has managed a fair bit more than 5 years from a single 105Ah battery. So he may well not require 450Ah (not 550Ah, I assume that's a typo).

I'm a big fan of the T105s but would be a bit of a waste if OP gets by with around 55-60Ah useable capacity.

 

[AndyJ76]

Yes it was a typo; I was in a bit of a rush. It may be over the top, but it's better to have more power and not need it than run out at a critical point. You certainly wouldn't need to run the engine while starting the Eber

Also, that's 450Ah on the 20C rate, so 20 hours at a continuous 22.5 amps. They should last considerably longer than that at a lower discharge rate.

For the OP, I'd probably go for 2 T105s rather than 4.. it was really a cost comparison than anything else

 

[NickRobinson]

Excellent batteries. However, might be a bit OTT for the OP. If I'm reading the post correctly he has managed a fair bit more than 5 years from a single 105Ah battery. So he may well not require 450Ah (not 550Ah, I assume that's a typo).

I'm a big fan of the T105s but would be a bit of a waste if OP gets by with around 55-60Ah useable capacity.

I agree- and the OP would need to match his charging regime to the new mega-bank too. If he has a single pot Yanmar or an OB with a lighting coil...

 

[KenMcCulloch]

Lifeline are very good batteries , no doubt about it. I think however for most of us recreational sailors they are complete overkill in terms of the quality/economics calculus. I just bought 2 new fairly ordinary batteries for about £180. The similar batteries being replaced lasted about 7 years and I would expect the same sort of life from the new ones.

 

[underdog]

Thanks for the comments
Space in the battery compartment is at a premium so am looking to replace existing battery with another of similar proportions.The boat,an Artekno H323, although 32 ft long is relatively narrow in comparison to more modern 32 footers at 8 ft 6inches. Charging is by the alternator from my yanmar 1GM10 shortly to be complemented by a 30 watt solar panel.