Batteries & Solar

[Charles Q Treichel]

I am not concerned about wiring 2 new 6 volt golf cart batteries in series from a reliability point of view. The odds of one battery failing (in one of the three cells) is no different than one cell of a 12v battery which would also shut you down. I am told that all the boat people are doing this because the 6 volt Trojen golf cart batteries are so rugged and offer better value for the money. Going with the series/parallel idea with 4 batteries doubles the capacity and, if needed, seems like a good idea. I have not gone the inverter route for 110v just because of the cost. (I do however have a cheap 600wt inverter for small thinks like shavers etc,) I agree, keep things simple

[man7sell]

After many years having boats, your are correct with the golf cart batteries. They last a long time, are designed for very deep cycle. Best value for the watt$
I am installing the same system on my 1945 steel tugboat only 4 banks of 6V x2 batteries.
I have a friend that is using train batteries and these are 2V cells so he needs 6 each to make 12VDC. These are economical as rebuilds but heavy. How cares in a tugboat.

[man7sell]

Oh forgot. several smaller inverters from harbor freight is what I use for the tug 115VAC. I do have a 100watt ambulance altenator for an independent charging system. Trouble with most TV altenators is they are designed to recharge a car or truck starter motor battery which requires totally different charging sequence than a deep cycle RV type battery. TV altenators are a quick top up type, deep cycle take a long steadier charge over time.