Replacing our Batteries and a Breath of Fresh Air! | ⛵ Sailing Britaly ⛵

In this video we fit 4 x 110 Ah AGM batteries to replace our boat's old house battery bank. We spent very little considering how much money we will save whilst living at anchor...
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Marine batteries are definitely not created equally. Whilst searching for our batteries we had many things to consider: Dimensions and price being primary considerations. However, some cheap 'Deep Cycle Marine Leisure' batteries have a life expectancy of just 70 recharge cycles! You may be able to get these batteries cheaply, but they are a false economy...
Lithium Ion batteries are the top of the range with 2000 + recharge cycles, but with each battery costing a small fortune, these were out of the equation for us.
We went for AGM Deep Cycle batteries with an expected lifetime of 600 cycles @ 50% Depth of Discharge. We will have 400 watts of solar panels installed on our boat keeping these batteries charged so we expect them to last us a very long time.
We got our batteries at a very good price here: www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/boa...
The church we visited is called All Saints Church and is in Frindsbury. The church dates from 1075 and one of the bells they ring there to this day was originally cast in 1260!
⛵ Sailing Britaly ⛵ brings you the sailing shenanigans of Chris (British), Rossella (Italian), and baby Emma (Britalian) as we sail our 1992 Bavaria 350. We make sailing vlogs of our cruising adventures and share any tips and tricks we can along the way. After all, sailors are one big family!
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Fair winds! 👍
Chris, Rossella and Emma
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#sailing #boatwork #refit #babyonboard

[@stuartmcmichael5250]

What a happy baby Emma is, and how fortunate to be able to grow up with all the adventures she’ll remember all her life.

[@SailingInconceivable]

Rosella is a champ. Emma really works the moral support. Chris, all you seem to do is get your hands dirty. ~Hans

[@bill4nier]

I think you'll be very happy with AGMs. There's been a number of sailors who have bought them, some well over a year ago, and couldn't be happier.

[@philsmith7398]

Rossella is a great first-time mum!! We had three kids under 4 years and even with a network of friends and family it's scary and stressful...so well done Rossella!

[@philsmith7398]

You too Chris- I can see you're a hands-on dad!

[@niccat7051]

Good info on the batteries 👍 Thanks for sharing!!

[@SailingBritaly]

Our pleasure, thanks for watching! 👍 Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@2mogar]

Happy baby!!

[@SailingBritaly]

😇👌👍

[@redwood1957]

Cute baby . Did you ever do your video on electrical drawings? Thank you Michael

[@johnryan2193]

Great advice on battery handling !thanks

[@SailingBritaly]

My pleasure John. I know I wouldn't want a face full of battery acid half way through a refit! Cheers, Chris

[@AndyUK-Corrival]

Nice one the batteries sound good value and not too big. Nearly at splash point so best of luck. Andy UK

[@SailingBritaly]

Thanks Andy, the splash vid will be coming soon (the next one...) Fair winds! Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊👍

[@svgitana2499]

She’s adorable and love the new boat 👍🏻🍻

[@seatravel8536]

Excellent video, almost time to start enjoying the fruits of your labor and sacrifices!

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you! Yes it is, we can't wait to continue our sailing adventures with Emma! Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma :-)

[@carbarrer6]

Emma is so sweet. Congrats!

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you Carlos! Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@janecartmale2884]

Love your channel, glad everything is going alright, I ve not commented before but been with you since the start of this refit. Cant wait to see your adventures with the family. Jane

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Jane, thank you for following along and for your comment. At the moment only 3.6% of our viewers are female- we would love to see that figure increase so please spread the word amongst your lady sailing friends. Fair winds! Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@jcregal3456]

I want to leave a comment because I think it helps your channel grow and I do so much like your videos. Good on you for updating your batteries but I was sorry to see you working without eye protection, you will want to see your family growing up. As a side note do you need covers for the battery terminals to get insurance or maybe just having them in the covered compartment is sufficient?

[@justprocrastinate4664]

Well done, Glad you dropped the splash deadline thing

[@SailingBritaly]

Yes a few things conspired against us on that one but we were glad that we set that date (months ago) as it gave us a high bar to aim for and we got a lot done in a short space of time. Fair winds! Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@thearchibaldtuttle]

AGM is the way to go! No liquids to worry about. Just make sure you have a charger that fits the specific charging characteristics of AGM batteries. I usually use vaseline spray to protect the terminals from any form of dirt and moisture.

[@navegandomivandestadt34]

another great video!!

[@oldsoldier]

Great info as ever keep them coming. Expect your in the water by now, can't wait Emma is so cute!

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi George, thank you. The next video will reveal all... :-) Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 👍

[@oldsoldier]

Can't wait seems a long time away Saturday. Enjoy the bank holiday!

[@larryedge7827]

Greetings from California USA I really enjoy what you and your family are doing keep it up. I had the same dream for our family back in the 80’s but life changed that so enjoy your dream.

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Larry, life is very unpredictable and we are very grateful for every day we spend together - wherever we are and whatever we are doing. We hope you can realise your dreams at some point. It's never too late... www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2971402/Across-Atlantic-garden-shed-84-year-olds-settle-Saga-cruise-ancient-mariner-ideas.html Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@jcfgh]

Well done old chap. Almost there.

[@SailingBritaly]

Cheers James! 👍

[@tombarker3608]

Yeah my weekly Emma fix. Such a cutie. So what's the plan after splash day. Your first trip is a shake down run then where?

[@jimjenkins673]

Loving your journey. Thank you for sharing so much. ,,,,,,,,,,,/),,,,,,,,,,fair winds.

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you very much Dan, we appreciate you taking the time to comment. Fair winds! Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@edrussell7960]

Another great one. What a cute family. Great info.

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you Ed 👍 Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you Ed 👍 Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@brandtparks6492]

Thanks for making these videos, I've learned a lot from them! I bought a 30ft Islander in September of last year and have been refitting it since then. I'm learning everything as I go, as I'm new to sailing and refitting. A question I have is this: I have two SeaVolt 810 batteries installed from the previous owner - would you recommend that I install a third, or even a fourth to be sufficient for a live aboard? Thanks for any help!

[@darrylmay4510]

As an electronic technician I would encourage you to use some conductive grease made specifically for battery applications. The battery terminals are lead and the connectors are lead. However, the bolts which secure the connectors are not. Dissimilar metals and you get galvanic corrosion. If you can limit the uptake of oxygen using grease, you are better off.

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Darryl, thank you for the advice. I was first taught about galvanic corrosion back in 1999 when I was undertaking an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineering technician on aircraft, and I now work offshore with underwater robots, often inspecting platforms which use anodes to galvanically protect the structures from corrosion, so I do know something about this subject myself. Our battery posts aren't lead, and neither are the terminals, but that is beside the point as without an electrolyte, galvanic action doesn't occur. Corrosion can still occur (oxidisation) and I understand why many people apply grease, in order to exclude oxygen and therefore avoid corrosion. However, I have never used grease and have never had any problems with an increase in resistance between the battery posts and connectors, even after years in a marine environment. Fair winds, Chris

[@curacao11]

baby Emma so cute :-) nice video

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you! Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma :-)

[@roderickmchardy3650]

cool

[@jjordii71]

Shouldn't you be using also some kind of plastic box to avoid leakages (I know those are sealed batteries), just in case? Thanks for sharing, I love your videos!

[@RobertCuschieri]

Batteries are usually heavy for a reason , thick lead plates which gives them more charge cycles. I would be a bit cautious about light batteries. There is no new technology as regards that, more lead makes a better battery.

[@SailingBritaly]

I have to respectfully disagree with you here Robert: the thicker lead plates on deep cycle flooded lead acid are there A) to resist warping and B) To reduce the negative consequences of shedding of lead. Thanks to the space between the plates on AGM batteries being jam packed with glass mat, both of these conditions are less likely and therefore the lead plates can be thinner in AGM batteries. The batteries we bought can be discharged to 50 % DoD (Deep Cycled) 600 times. Fair winds, Chris (+ Rossella & Emma)

[@srenechwald758]

Great video! One question - how does the charger (i assume its one of these semi intelligent cycle chargers) handle having different type batteries in parallel? Good luck splashing:-)

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you! Our battery charger is set to AGM so the wet cell starting battery will be 'undercharged' a tad due to the slightly lower voltage being applied during the float phase. However, the starting battery is only ever used for starting the engine and there are no other loads on it whatsoever so this we expect this to be adequately recharged by the alternator whenever we switch on the engine (just like a car battery). Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@KarlKarsnark]

Emma looks to be getting her sea legs already!

[@SailingBritaly]

Emma is definitely practicing for our adventures ahead! Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@timrowe9583]

Hi, This is a very interesting video thank you. I am changing my electrical system to include two house batteries, both isolated from each other with one serving only the fridge and the other the rest of my house stuff. My batteries are charged mostly by solar through a Votronic controller that has settings for both types of AGM batteries a d a trickle charge port for the starter battery. My problem is how to check the alternator charge to see if this is compatible with the AGM types of battery. I note in the Adventurer data sheets they advise charging at 14+ v but top up at 13.5 to 13.8. How have you managed this and what is the difference between charging and top up? Quite interesting.

[@pagegreer700]

The water the the splash is insight.

[@SailingBritaly]

Absolutely Page: next video! Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@jimanderson2518]

It's not grease it is Di-electric grease (none conductive)and yes you should use this as it keeps the salt air off the terminals creates an oxygen barrier......guess what salt build up does to your terminals ?. Look it up It's not an opinion. Btw the only reason I subscribe is your daughter is so dam cute. Ok and I love sailing. Your a great family enjoy life and sail on sail on⛵⛵⛵⛵⛵⛵ Put it on😣

[@philthefarrier9469]

Jim Anderson if you need dielectric grease just use petroleum gel

[@jimanderson2518]

Phil The Farrier petroleum jelly is used for other things

[@philthefarrier9469]

Jim Anderson I will leave your personal life out of it. Lol. No judgement

[@nomadequipment2177]

🤣🤣🤣🤣you guys

[@stevenhs8821]

12:00 Do you mean run-of-the-mill grease or dielectric grease to not use? Dielectric has solved so many automotive electrical problems I've had, so I can't imagine you mean specialized dielectric grease.

[@claremaccarthy7308]

Hello you three, thanks very much for the videos. Absolutely super. Here's a question about living as a young family on the hard: how do you move your lovely little Emma up onto the boat? Our own kids are well grown up now so and hop aboard themselves no problem, but I'm just curious about how to lift a wee babe up a nasty ladder (for when our kids give us grandchildren!) Thanks, and have a happy summer.

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Clare, thank you! We always used a baby carrying harness to bring Emma up and down the step ladder. We of course went very slowly and carefully every time and it was perfectly safe for Emma. It is so much easier now that we are in the water though! Fair winds! Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@claremaccarthy7308]

Yeah, that's the way to carry very precious cargo. Thanks for replying. It's only been 25 years (!) so I had forgotten about the great baby harnesses we used way back then. Fair winds to you too from a little Albin Vega in Copenhagen :-)

[@simonjones388]

hi chris just a point as I don't know your full electric set up if you put 4 new batteries in you will have a better delivery rate for your 540 volt inverter if you have one

[@tobynash.4924]

Usefully video there! Just getting around to needing to replace my batteries - how did you get on with these? They're still around and they seem to pretty affordable. Would you recommend?

[@SailingBritaly]

Still good: our solar system keeps them well topped up. I recently went to the boat after a year, they were at 100% charge and when the gas ran out I made my coffee using a heat gun run via our inverter... Good value batteries in our experience. Chris 👍

[@ahbushnell1]

safety glasses?

[@seanmulligan1339]

Nice one could you get one more in

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Sean, yes we could but our budget allows for the four for now. Based on our experiences on our last boat (2 x 100 Ah House batteries and 2 x 100 W solar panels) we believe that we could spend a couple of months at anchor with these 4 batteries and not need any more. However, depending on what 'bells and whistles' we add (and how often we use the washing machine!) it is nice to have room for future expansion. Fair winds! Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@seanmulligan1339]

Sailing Britaly well if your not going to strap them in a catch on the compartment would be good. I know they cost a bomb mine did, some guys are using golf cart batteries🐳nice weekend to youse

[@shauntoomey3299]

Can you fit some flame resistant foil under your battery covering seat ?

[@shauntoomey3299]

OKuusava you are probably right not much clearance there. Was just thinking about sparks and timber.

[@ckh2815]

Somewhat surprised you can wrench on one terminal while holding the other. How did you do that?

[@SailingBritaly]

Over the years I have honed my thumb muscles with a strict exercise regime... plus the terminals have a flat edge which engages with the head of the fastener, allowing it to slide in and out, whilst preventing it from rotating. 😂 Fair winds, Chris 👍

[@ckh2815]

But you were holding both the + and - terminals on one heavy Ah battery.at the same time Could get exciting. Lucky?

[@SailingBritaly]

That's not a problem with 12 volts and dry hands...

[@kevinfisher1345]

Ha ha that battery mishap bit that you shown while is not good and yes dangerous is nothing like one I seen once as kid back in 80's. Small local racing team couple stores down in back alley way was trying to jump start their race car (doing last day final work on it late Fri afternoon etc). I recall hearing something about they suspected the battery was dead but decided to see if could be jump started .. anyway they had hooked up jumper cable to the battery in race car, after about 30 sec to minute with one of the guys standing just in front of the race car, the battery exploded. Blasted prolly a good 20 - 30' straight up in the air, and needless to say to guy was screaming and unable to see with all the battery acid that had blown into his face and eyes. One of the good reasons why you should always put negative lead to ground instead of on the dead battery like they had done.

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you for the additional warning Kevin: batteries should definitely be respected. Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@C_R_O_M________]

Emma sono un piccolo passerotto! Lei deve incontrare il mio Gianni chi ha sette mesi. Ciao dalla Grecia!

[@nomadequipment2177]

Ya gotta do the temperature conversions for the Yanks, they're pretty slow 😂🤣🤣🤣😉dear Americans: plz don't shoot me kthx🤣❤

[@BillTheButcher5150]

what are you feeding that baby spinach? She's growing so fast God bless oh by the way I found myself unsubscribed I've been watching since the beginning I resubscribed -sv Gryphon. nyc

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Drake, Emma is breastfed but she also eats a little bit of pretty much anything we are eating too. She loves food! Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@t147han]

77 not 82........25 times 9 divide by 5 plus 32.equals 77.

[@BePoosh]

cuttest baby ever

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you! 👼 Fair winds, Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@VmaxBR549]

I am not sure where you got your info from but you need to go aback and get your money back for bad advice. Lead acid in that enviroment will easily last an average of 10 years at 50 % discharge rates. One of the longest full time sailing channels Sailing Emeral Steel have been maintaining lead acid batteries for over 30 years now and average 10 years between changouts. So that model must work. Another consideration of AGM is they have a different charging charectoristic than a lead acid battery which you replaced. So your charger is probably NOT optimised for AGM batteries and can reduce your battery life considerably. In your justification for a battery you are seriously mixing apple and orange advice to get what you want. Good for your ego but not for your house batteries. And that is from 40+ years of working with storage batteries Just a thought, (;-) TP

[@SailingBritaly]

There is nothing wrong with Lead acid batteries and it was not my intention to try to say there is. I got a lot of my information from alphabatteries.co.uk - who sell all battery types including lead acid, AGM, gel, tubular gel and lithium ion. I was working with restricted dimensions and a small budget and wanted to get the best batteries possible. That website gives you lots of filters and a ton of information about each battery, including the battery life in expected recharge cycles. (As they sell all battery types they have no 'axe to grind' they are just a very professional company who like to inform their customers so that they can make the best purchase for their needs.) I paid close attention to the recharge cycles for each battery and quite a few of them (lead acid mostly, but - as you will know with your 40 years of experience - not all lead acid batteries are equal) had a predicted life of just 70 cycles, which was very unexpected and surprising to me (most places that sell batteries would never give you this essential information). My intention with sharing all this info is nothing to do with my ego- it stems, like many things that I do in life, from my desire to help other people. I hope that others can learn to look into the predicted recharge cycles of batteries when they buy so that they can get a great deal just like we did. I have 100% respect and admiration for Emerald Steel and they certainly know their stuff, so on this we can agree. By the way, our 4-step intelligent battery charger has dip switches to set the battery type and it is set to AGM. Fair winds, Chris

[@kevinfisher1345]

I doubt there was anything wrong with the info given. Stated cheap lead acid batteries with 70 cycle life are on the market. Of course what was not provided is that ideally one should not be going through full charging rate cycle as that is not great for the lifetime of the battery, nor is realistic for most situations and people. However, there are plenty of 24 mo and 36 mo cheap lead acid batteries available. Would you like to take a guess at their rated cycle? Although not highly advertised yes they will only last 70 - 100 cycles. But if charged properly they will last 24 - 36 mo's. Cycle life span is not highly advertised as it simply does not sound as good to say 70 cycles, sounds better to say 24 mo's. I am sure manufacturers have done proper 20 hr SoC tests on battery and know very well how long they will last with average discharge and charge life. Some of the better (and more expensive) deep cycle lead batteries will easily last 10 - 12 years. Have even heard some lasting couple years longer. But you need to ensure they really are deep cycle and not just claimed deep cycle or some other mis-leading label. Those AGM purchased will prolly last good 6 years, so half the life span but at roughly 1/5 cost. As to the charger, yea depends, but any decent charger has adjustable settings for various types of batteries built in.

[@VmaxBR549]

The point is you fell for the sales speil concerning lead acid verses GlasMat. You quoted the worse case senario for lead acid verses the best senario for Glass mat. The data on their website was DESIGN to lead you to the purchase of the higher profit margin product. I have never met a batteries house yet that did not tend to drive you to the higher profit margin batteries in lue of a best return on your investment, THAT is the nature of the beast. It is good that your shore charger can be set for Glassmat batteries and that is good IF you plan on spending a lot of time hooked to shore power. How about your Solar system ?? is teh charger designed for glass mat ?? Same for teh engine alternater. They are NOT designed specificaly to charge batteries. Their primary design is to supply power to pick up teh service load of a vehicle. It is a secondary function to maintain a battery. So to use it as a primary way of charging a battery leaves you with a less that optimal charging profile for a glass matt and could easily lower teh service life of the bank. Teh best option there is to use a charger desinged to take teh power from teh alternator then split it 2 ways one to supply service power when teh engine is running and the other to charge the Bank while underway. Next issue is running multiple charge sources on one battery bank. All of teh normal charging devices assume they are the ONLY system on line and one system can interfere with another devices ability to properly charge a bank. SOme devices allow an interlink between devices so they all can share in the charging process. Now one would think to just get a combo charger that takes all teh available power sources. Shore , Solar, Engine,Wind and uses teh best profile available. And there are system like that out there. BUT in a cruiser environment where you are always making repairs in exotic places you may NOT have access to a spare unit if part of your system fails and it kills teh entire unit. Leaving you will no way to Recharge your bank . This is all leading back to being able to properly recharge your bank based on teh needed profile and teh available power available to recharge with. Get it all correct and you can have a very long battery service life NO MATTER teh battery type . Get it wrong and you may not be much better that teh Cheapo senario even thought you paid a great deal more for your setup .

[@darrenphughes]

From what I've seen from listening to many people talk about batteries, they're like religion; everybody else's opinion is wrong for one reason or another. Go with the batteries that best suit your needs. Vmax, I'm sure you will too.

[@jackpatteeuw9244]

I have to disagree with much of your battery information. First, at least in the US, "marine" batteries arr NOT true "deep discharge". They are a compromise between a "starting" battery and a deep discharge battery. As a compromise, they are NOT the best for either application. From ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝𝑠://𝑤𝑤𝑤.𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟-𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐.𝑐𝑜𝑚/𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔-𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟/𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠-𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔/𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝-𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒-𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦-𝑓𝑎𝑞.ℎ𝑡𝑚𝑙 These are some typical (minimum-maximum) expectations for batteries if used in deep cycle service. There are so many variables, such as depth of discharge, maintenance, temperature, how often and how deep cycled, etc. that it is almost impossible to give a fixed number. Starting: 3-12 months Marine: 1-6 years Golf cart: 2-7 years AGM deep cycle: 4-8 years Deep cycle (L-16 type etc): 4-8 years Rolls-Surrette premium deep cycle: 7-15 years The last 2 battery type listed are commonly found in solar home. A quick way to compare 2 batteries/battery banks is by weight (the most important part of these types of batteries is the amount of lead in them). Heavier will store more energy. In the US, the most cost effective solution for a battery bank for a small home/cruising boat is multiple 6V golf cart batteries. They are moderately priced, can tolerate discharging to 50% SOC well, and are readily available at many stores, not just "specialty" stores. Trojan and Rolls-Surrette are the best brands but there are others that are very good.

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Jack, please be more specific with what you disagree with, so I have an opportunity to reply. One specific thing I respectfully disagree with what you just said is: " A quick way to compare 2 batteries/battery banks is by weight (the most important part of these types of batteries is the amount of lead in them). Heavier will store more energy." This is not true. Wet cell batteries made for deep cycling have to have thick lead plates to resist warping and to reduce the negative effects of shedding. Weight is a penalty which is endured to increase the longevity of the battery's life. More lead does not mean more energy. You could make a wet cell battery weighing 20 kg which could be 50 ah and designed to last a very long time, or a 19 kg battery with thinner plates which could be 100 Ah (stores more energy to use your term), but which would have a shorter lifespan with deep cycle discharging. AGM batteries like ours have glass fibre mat packed between the plates. This mechanically resists warping and reduces the negative effects of shedding. Therefore less lead can be used but the battery lifespan is increased. Our batteries (despite being cheap) are expected to last 600 cycles to 50 % DoD and were the best choice for us given all of our other requirements. Fair winds, Chris