"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

I agree totally. Liquid lead-acid batterys have a bunch of problems. They
are obsolete technology for boat use. Gel or AGM are far better choices.
Even with a dedicated battery compartment Liquid Lead-Acid batteries
are still dangerous.

Doug
s/v Callista


Drop by a battery shop with the big golf cart batteries. Turn one of 'em
upside down and see what leaks out with the caps on. I dare ya...(c;

The best batteries for a boat are those big, honkin' fork lift batteries,
but most have no place to store that much energy or boat enough to float
that much weight.....

POWER is our friend.

What worries me in a glass mat battery is COOLING. The wetcell battery is
cooled by convective currents in the electrolyte. The flow through the
plate separators vertically keeps a constant flow of cooling water
preventing the plates from warping. How do you cool an AGM battery all
wrapped up in INSULATING FIBERGLASS when that big, honkin' 180A alternator
is trying to satisfy a boater who wants to charge the hell out of it for an
hour to shut down his little diesel, instead of letting it charge SLOWLY so
it can absorb the energy in its relatively slow chemical reaction to
charging current??

Nope...I like liquid-cooled, hard motion (golf cart or fork lift)
batteries...thanks. EVERY big truck comes with them...Ships, too! I
wonder why??

I suspect his friend had either a primary wiring short with no fuse link to
melt, like most boats are wired to the panel, or an internal cell short
out, which is very rare in a modern battery...very rare.

Question - Is he a smoker or could have had something hot near the charging
cells? There's very little gassing, now that we got rid of the antimony
plate supports, unless he was charging the hell out of it fully charged.