Mark,
Yes, I thought so to. These DEKA batteries are nothing special...they are ordinary workhorses that should give you a minimum of 3 years. Be careful because they look like Freedom batteries. They are not. Check the water at appropriate intervals.
I found this Panama dealer by going to DEKA headquarters at Penn Battery. My client bought from them without any problems. I think that they delivered to Shelter Bay. Be sure that you are clear on the connections and that you have jumpers to wire the pairs in series. The copper bars will not work. There is no issue with fit as these are Group 31.
Best,
Bill Rouse
720 Winnie St. Galveston, Texas 77550 832-380-4970
On Thu, May 30, 2019 at 12:40 PM Mark Erdos < mcerdos@...> wrote:
Bill,
That is a
deal!!! We will probably take her up on that before we head out to the Pacific.
On another note
– I heard, meaning I do not know for a fact – Batteries are very inexpensive in
FP due to subsidies provide from the French Government to encourage solar.
With best
regards,
Mark
Skipper
Sailing Vessel
- Cream Puff - SM2K - #275
Currently
cruising - Panama
www.creampuff.us
In Panama,
you can contact Melani Beleño <compras.logistica@...>
to have DEKA DC31DT lead acid batteries delivered to your boat at a dock
In April
2018 Melani wrote one of my clients the following: The price per units is $ 213.59, but
We give you a special offer for $192.23 per units, if you give us
the used units could you have a extra discount. The cost of
delivery is a $50.00
Phone:
(507) 322-3213 / 7 (507) 226-3693
Hi Mark,
Thanks for that. Yes, it’s all in the mix at the moment.
Lithium is not in the picture, mainly because of the need to change charging
and management equipment & regimes. Also, as you say, the risk of new
tech on-board when heading out into the wilds.
I could grab some unknown-brand conventional GRP31 flooded lead acids for about
USD200- per unit, available this week here in Panama. Risk of
early-failure, or short-life? Hmmm – this is a big unknown, but have
heard some horror-stories on batteries provided here in Panama. BTW,
standard no-name AGMs are about $450- here, off-the shelf. But at least
we’d be away.
Fireflies are under active consideration. Even if I might get one (or even two)
dud batteries, I would still have 10 left – not ideal, of course, but still
trucking. With the ability for deeper discharge (than AGMs or
conventional FLAs), having 5 pairs will give me approx. the same per-cycle
capacity as 6-pairs of AGMs, with more cycles.
As it stands, I am running the risk-analysis on sailing away with only 5-pairs
of my existing (3yo) AGMs operational (with one battery presently installed but
not wired-in, held ‘in reserve’), knowing that I am exposed to losing another
battery (or two). Which would still leave me with 4-pairs, before I get
the next opportunity replace the bank (in NZ or, under duress, in Tahiti).
It is an interesting dilemma to be facing.
I am open to all inputs and perspectives, just in case I am missing something
in the heat of the moment.
Thanks again, and with kind regards also to Cindy please,
David&Leanne
SV Perigee, SM#396, Panama
On 30/5/19, 10:26 am, "Mark Erdos" <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io
on behalf of mcerdos@...>
wrote:
Hi David,
The biggest issue I have with specialty batteries is the fact you
are getting ready to sail to areas of the world where a single replacement of a
like battery would be a big issue. Should you have a failure of one battery,
you may find yourself in a situation again where you need to replace the entire
bank or eliminate a pair. As for the warranty, will they ship a replacement
world-wide? If it were me, I would stick with what I know to be readily
available throughout the world. Just my unsolicited 2¢ worth.
With best regards,
Mark
Skipper
Sailing Vessel - Cream Puff - SM2K - #275
Currently cruising - Panama
www.creampuff.us
-----Original Message-----
From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io [mailto:main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io]
On Behalf Of David Vogel
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2019 10:27 AM
To: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Batteries: single failed battery
in the house bank, impact for other batteries
Thanks Bill, for the double-barrel response,
Batteries: We are leaning towards replacing the whole lot with
FIREFLYs, per Bill KINNEY on Harmonie. If this does not prove possible
within a reasonable time frame, we will disconnect the pair containing the
remaining single from the pair that contained the dud battery, and head on out,
anticipating replacement in NZ late 2020 if we can keep things going for that
long, otherwise Tahiti.
ONAN: In addition to replacing the Starter and –ve solenoid, I
went through all the troubleshooting steps as suggested and per the Service
Manual – all apparently OK and with no change – still a failure to crank.
When I finally got the technicians on board, they poked around finding nothing
and eventually plugged in an old Control-Board from an ONAN 21kVa Genset.
This, apparently, has enough commonality with the 7MDKAV to enable our unit to
crank, start and run (for 3 seconds before the protective mechanisms engaged
and shut the unit down; this test repeated 3 times). Thereby indicating
that all our switches, relays etc are OK, but the PCB itself is at fault.
We’re n
ow trying to source one of these control boards.
Cheers,
David&Leanne, PERIGEE, SM#396, Panama
Bound for French Polynesia
From: <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io> on behalf of Bill Rouse
<brouse@...>
Reply-To: <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io>
Date: Sunday, 26 May 2019 at 1:30 pm
To: <main@amelyachtowners.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Batteries: single failed battery
in the house bank, impact for other batteries
I am not sure, and I believe you believe the same. With thousands
of miles ahead of you and 3+ year old battery bank, I would consider changing
the entire house bank, especially since getting 3-4 years is average for
high-use Amels.
Good on the lead acid start battery.
When troubleshooting the Onan, I believe the weak point is the
cable that runs inside from the negative connection post to the battery side of
the Negative start solenoid. The connection post where cables from the
battery switches connect is located on the left side, facing, about half way
down. I believe you can easily bypass this undersized cable by connecting a
jumper from that connection post to the battery side of the negative start
solenoid. You could also test the negative start solenoid by connecting that
jumper cable to the starter side of the negative solenoid. 1 jumper cable can
be used to test two items. If the problem turns out to be the negative start
solenoid, don't leave that jumper on the starter side of the solenoid
permanently.
Best,
CW Bill Rouse
Yacht School - Supporting Amel Owners
www.YachtSchool.us
720 Winnie St
Galveston Island, TX 77550
+1(832) 380-4970
On Sun, May 26, 2019, 11:24 AM David Vogel <david.vogel@...>
wrote:
Greetings all,
Whilst trouble-shooting an unserviceable ONAN (failure to crank),
I checked out the health of the 105Ah 800CCA AGM start battery (good), and
house-bank (12x105Ah AGMs). Start and house batteries were all AGM, same
model and date-of-install (Sep'16).
All tested OK, with the exception of one battery in the house bank,
which failed the State-of-Charge test with an Open-Circuit-Voltage (OCV) of
11.00V (as measured, so no surprises here), unstable; and failed
State-of-Health of CCA of 35.0A).
The other battery in the pair containing the failed battery
surprisingly tested OK, with SoC 12.72V [92%] and SoH CCA of 642A [91%].
As an interim step, whilst considering broader options ...
... I replaced the good start-battery with a 100Ah/700CCA flooded
lead-acid battery; removed the failed AGM battery from the house bank, and
replaced it with the 'good' AGM start battery. The performance of the
house battery bank immediately improved, I guess due to the absence of the
parasitic load of the failed battery.
However, concerned about the remaining battery in the new pair
contained the failed battery, I have been keeping a close eye on the charge
volts, current, and temps of all batteries. 24 hours after the
swap-out/in, during the second charge cycle, I noted high charging current to
the new battery-pair containing the old-start battery.
The smart-charger was ordering ~150Amps from the 175A/24V
Leece-Neville (normal for the start-of-charge-cycle) - 5 battery-pairs were
accepting about 20Amps each (OK and as expected, at ~20% of the '20-hour rate'
of 105Ah), but the 'at risk' pair was accepting 40 to 50Amps. Temps for
the 5 'good' pairs were about 1ºC above ambient and stable; but the temp of the
questionable pair was ambient +2ºC and rising. I stopped the charge cycle
after 30 minutes; and isolated the questionable pair from the house-bank by
removing the bridging strap between the batteries in the pair. Shortly
after the cessation of the interrupted charge cycle, the temperature of the
high-current pair peaked at 36.5ºC (ambient other batteries +2.5ºC).
I am seeking clarification regarding: Is is likely that the
remaining battery from the 'old pair' had already suffered irreversible damage
(such as an internal short), thereby reducing internal resistance, thereby
accepting a higher charge (than the other 'good' battery pairs).
On the basis of temperature alone , I do not think I have
suffered temperature-related damage to the old start battery. However:
Question - is it likely that 30-minutes of charge at twice the
maximum recommend bulk/absorption current charge-rate has resulted in permanent
damage to the previously 'good' start-battery?
This discussion shared for the learning, and also for the benefit
of trouble-shooting by other unfortunates who may in future find themselves in
a similar predicament.
Thanks in anticipation ...
David
SM#396/Perigee
On anchor, Brisas, Pacific side of Panama
Departure for the Marquesas pending the
return of the ONAN to service
Diagnostic tools: Magneti Marelli BT002 Battery Tester; FLIR
TG165 Spot Thermal Camera; Voltcraft VC-595OLED Digital Clamp Multimeter.
Note: the OLED display on the Voltcraft multimeter is impossible
to read in direct sunlight, so next time I would choose a model with a
different type of display. Otherwise, this is a great tool, although I do
not use the BlueTooth functionality.
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