carbonfibre batteries

[willothewisp]

Lately I've been looking at carbonfibre batteries as a replacement for my well past their date lead acid ones. I came across Elecsol. I was told they were produced by Centurion in Holland. Anyone know for sure? I already asked Elecsol, but didn't get an answer. By the way, they are generally a lot cheaper in the UK!. Question: are they as good as they claim to be?

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[TonyBrooks]

I have no idea who makes them, but as I get asked about them quiet frequently I fitted a pair as domestic batteries nearly 2 years ago.

So far by us of the boats ammeter and voltmeter, plus hydrometerI make the following comments.

1. They broadly do as they say except they do suffer surface charge to a degree.

I would always use a hydrometer to check them, but allow for the lower readings because of the lower SpG of the acid used. Using a voltmeter would involve removing such surfacr cahrge as there is (in my view).

2. From word of mouth there would appear to have possibly been/ is a quality control issue.

3. Getting the guarentee honoured is often not as easy as one would hope.

FWIW I think I will go back to ordinary lead acids at half the price and be prepared to buy twice as many of them - unless my Elecosols really do last a long time.

Tony Brooks

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[Talbot]

I have a 90/110 elecsol as my engine start battery and will be moving it to use for my bow thruster/windlass. 400 CCA is more than sufficient for these tasks, and it is more compact than a standard lead/acid of the same size. However, I will be using standard deep cycles for my domestics when I replace them next year.

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[andyball]

Yes, they do seem to be made by a dutch firm - I spent a while looking into them recently (don't recall how I concluded that was so, I've forgotten), but not marketed under any other name I think, which seems odd.

If they did exactly what they claim, wd think they could sell container-loads of them all round the world.

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[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

I have two 125Ah elecsols. So far after two seasons I am very pleased.

I have flattened them a couple of times last winter when I had not isolated everything aboard, the stereo took one down when left on line for a month without charging. The eberspasher on a cold night another. They have seemingly not suffered.

Now I am more carefull they have not let me down since, I regularly check levels which have remained good.

I would advise them, I remember the bad old days on Top Cat with selections of batteries, I find now I can almost forget about them, like the Honda advert, isn't it nice when things just work!

FWIW I work alongside the industrial estate at Deeside where elecsol UK is based, if mine go wrong, you can be sure I will visit and stay until I am happy /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

I have heard before though, as Tony has said, getting them to honour their generous warranty can become a ball ache.

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>Top Cat Homepage</A>

 

[rickwat]

I have been pleased with mine. I have 2 banks of 2 x 100Ah (Elecsol). 2 were new last year but were combined with 2 x 90/110 Elecsols which didn't seem to charge right up but when I checked their date they were nearly 5 yrs old and had been carrying a couple of cheapo's for much of that time. I know you should really have split-diodes etc but if all the batts are equal(make,age,usage) it should sort itself out and that seems to be the case now. I have a Sterling smart charge booster and with the main switch set to both banks they seem able to make best use of the alternator's output for recharging.

I could imagine warranty problems,however, if the need arose particularly now it's 5yrs. It took 10 days from order to delivery to buy my last 2. Also their website is way out of date still showing the old range - I e-mailed them about this but got no reply. So verdict very pleased with batts but just hope I don't need aftersales.



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[quaelgeist2]

As you can see in the pdf @ the link below, the battery is produced by Centurion in NL.

The article is quite handy for general battery understanding , anyway.

chris

http://www.victronenergy.com/BookRVA/ElectricityonBoard rev5 sept2003.pdf

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[willothewisp]

Thanks for all your remarks. The Dutch firm of Centurion seems to be just as unforthcoming in their aftersales as Elecsol, and prices in Holland are much higher than in the UK, but considering carriage it adds up to abt. the same price.
Still think it's funny, though, I mean, them being more expensive in the country of production. I've found a mobile home supermarket near Rotterdam who supply the 90/110 for 180 Euros (abt. 120 pounds), so I guess my choice is made. One address charged as much as 302 Euros!

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[pvb]

X-tender....

Centurion have a brand called "X-tender" which is effectively the same type of carbon fibre battery as the Elecsol. Might be cheaper for you to buy locally.

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