31 TE Batteries

[Jestark]

Battery set up for 31 TE with twin Yanmar 315s. Presently have three 4D batteries - all dead. Any replacement recommendations? I've read of using group 27 or 31 (two) for starting and going with a 4D deep cycle for house. Or all three dual purpose 4Ds? Thoughts?

[Norseman]

I use a 27-1000 for start battery. (28TE with a Yanmar)
For house I have 2 Trajan 105.

For your 31, double the above perhaps?
Expect 5 years from those, although I did get 6 years on a sailboat.
I considered AGMs, but my charger/inverter says Gel or Lead Acid only.

[Pitou]

Battery set up for 31 TE with twin Yanmar 315s. Presently have three 4D batteries - all dead. Any replacement recommendations? I've read of using group 27 or 31 (two) for starting and going with a 4D deep cycle for house. Or all three dual purpose 4Ds? Thoughts?

I imagine that Albin wired your boat utilizing a separate battery for each engine and one battery for the house. While replacing batteries this is a good time if not already to become familiar with how your boat is wired as far as the batteries and switching is concerned.

I'd also ditch the idea of Dual Purpose batteries and get starting batteries for starting and Deebp Cycle for the house. Use the specific battery type for the specific use.

The 6LP's each need a starting battery of 660 CCA / 780 MCA. You can get there using an appropriate Group 27 or a 31. No need for a 4D.

As far as the house, it all depends how you use your boat. Do you spend all day and night or even longer on the hook sometimes? It doesn't sound like you have generator to charge your batteries if you get yourself into a low voltage situation. Remember the 31TE has two refrigerators and sometimes a freezer in place of one fridge. 6 volt golf cart batteries wired in series and in parallel are a very good option.

I moved from one 8D Albin supplied Dual Purpose House battery to six - 6 volt golf cart batteries for my house which gives me pretty good on the hook security at 765 Amps and ease of replacement over the 8D and a significantly larger reserve over the 8D. If you don't have the available footprint for six, consider 4 wired in series and parallel. In my 28TE I had 2 - 6 volt batteries in series and parallel for the house.

You're at a good time to consider these changes in order to customize and get away from the Dual Purpose batteries.

[Norseman]

had 2 volts for the house.

Typo maybe..?
Or you know something I don't.

[Pitou]

had 2 volts for the house.

Typo maybe..?
Or you know something I don't.

Thanks for the catch ..
Corrected to: 2 - 6 volt Golf Cart Batteries in series and parallel for the house

[Nancy]

Kevin, is it typical to wire 6V batteries in parallel as well as in series? I've never studied the use of them.

[Pitou]

Kevin, is it typical to wire 6V batteries in parallel as well as in series? I've never studied the use of them.

Hey Nancy .. I hope this helps:

By connecting two or more batteries together you can increase the voltage or the amp hour capacity and sometimes both.

To increase the voltage the batteries need to be wired in "Series".

In the insatance of my house bank having 6 volt batteries I needed to first increase the voltage of the 6 volt batteries to 12 volts as our Albin boats are DC wired for 12 volts.

Connecting the positive (+) terminal of one 6 volt battery to the negative (-) terminal of a 2nd 6 volt battery increases the voltage of the wired batteries to 12 volts. This is the "Series" wiring.

My 6 volt golf cart batteries are 215 amps each at 6 volts and this newly created bank at 12 volts is now 215 amps at 12 volts. In essence, by wirig 2 - 6 volt batteries in Series increases the voltage, but not the amp hour capacity.

To increase the amp hour capacity of the bank the batteries need to be wired in "Parallel".

Connecting the positive (+) terminal to positive (+) terminal and negative (-) terminal to negative (-) terminal increases the amp hour capacity. This is "Parallel" wiring.
By doing so the amp hour capacity of the bank is now doubled, tripled or even quadroupled depending how many batteries are wired in parallel.

In my House bank instance, by connecting the 6 - 6 volt batteries in Series and in parallel I have created a house bank that is12 volts with a 645 amp hour capacity.

Here's an original picture of my House Bank when first wired. The short legs are the series wires increasing the voltage and the long positve and long negative wiring is the parallel wiring:

House Bank.jpg

And a later picture with new fuel filtration and batteries all buttoned up:

House bank with New Fuel Filtration.jpg

[Norseman]

Kevin, is it typical to wire 6V batteries in parallel as well as in series? I've never studied the use of them.

Yes, very typical:
I have used 6 volt golf cart batteries all my life, a good, dependable and inexpensive solution, but they do require maintenance every 4-6 weeks or so, depending on temperature.

2D473A2D-A4DB-4632-9D2F-3D8913654D36.jpeg

[gerber30]

Just get the AGM golf cart batteries and there is no maintenance…did that on my 31…

[Norseman]

Just get the AGM golf cart batteries and there is no maintenance…did that on my 31…

AGMs was my plan as well, got them on my canal boat, a Cobia 175 with a 90 Yamaha, 7 years old batteries and still going strong.

The Albin charger says Gel or Lead Acid only, hence I didn't feel comfortable installing AGMs. (or maybe it will be ok..)
At any rate, not too much hardship adding distilled water every 4-6 weeks, gets me off my duff anyways.

[Pitou]

Just get the AGM golf cart batteries and there is no maintenance…did that on my 31…

I'll admit that the AGM's are convenient and I had looked at them in winter/spring of 2017 when doing a complete DC refit.

At the time of the refit, I was replacing the battery trays, ALL batteries inclusive of House, Starting & Genset, new battery boxes, securing straps, switches and adding a charger to accomodate just the House Bank separate from the starting and genset battery banks. To save some money I decided to go with the wet Deka Pro Master GC10 batteries and have 5 seasons on them and will probably get a total of 8 years maybe more with proper maintenance.

While I was on the fence over AGM's or flooded wet batteries I was advised that with the size of the bank I was creating and the amp hour requirements of the boat that watering would be every couple of months at the most. Since I'm always in the engine room doing other checks, I decided to save some money and go with flooded batteries. Turns out that I only end up needing to water them one time during the New England season which isn't too bad.

I use this battery water filler which it makes topping off flooded lead acid batteries pretty simple:
https://www.amazon.com/Cycle-Battery-Wa ... B00NB808P0

Battery Watering Jug.jpg

The next time around I'll probably give another look to AGM's as my new chargers are compatible, but flooded acid batteries are a pretty good value if taken care of.

[Norseman]

I use this battery water filler which it makes topping off flooded lead acid batteries pretty simple:
https://www.amazon.com/Cycle-Battery-Wa ... B00NB808P0

Cool, I just ordered one.
Been using the old fashioned red turkey baster style filler since I had my first motor cycle at age 15, which is 50 years ago.


Time to upgrade:)

[gerber30]

Yeah that makes sense. On my twin powered 31 access to batteries is more time consuming they below the floor panel between the engines…

[Nancy]

Thanks, Kevin. That's a great explanation. I knew that 6V batteries had to be wired in series to get to 12V, but had never thought about also wiring in parallel. Makes complete sense.

At the rate we're going, you'll be thinking about lithium batteries next time you replace them! Pretty sure the price is going to have to come down, though, for the numbers to work, at least the way I do my calculations.

[Pitou]

At the rate we're going, you'll be thinking about lithium batteries next time you replace them! Pretty sure the price is going to have to come down, though, for the numbers to work, at least the way I do my calculations.

Heck, if I scratched AGM's because of cost, there is not a chance that a lithium bats will ever find their way on to my boat. I could probably repaint the boat for the cost of a lithium refit!