New house batteries needed?!?! - 2020

OK it is time! 

Our house batteries are toast. 

We have had our MASTERVOLT house batteries Part #61002600 for seven years and three months.

January 2020 - We are currently anchored in Bahia de Navidad Lagoon Mexico 

 

We tested each battery with a Multimeter. They tested good - the lowest was 6.3v. 

But the real test should be under load.

 We have had to remove and replace the cables a bunch of times

 to test the batteries and to size up the cables and ends for future batteries.

  

 The batteries show good at 13.00 volts but do not hold a charge

 long when it comes to any significant draw.

 We tested the load by trying our Lewmar H3 Anchor Windlass while on battery power. It worked no problem before. This time it just clicked and sent the Link 2000 into a frenzy.

Next we tested the winch we use to drop and raise the engine end of the dinghy. Same thing happened. So they do fail on a load test. Also they used to hold up well while running my CPap machine at night and now they drop down below 70%.

We announced to the morning VHF cruiser's net that we needed new batteries so s/v Silkie said they got AGM batteries at Cowboy Auto in Melaque  So Danny s\v Cyclades came to the rescue again by giving us a ride in his car.  We went hunting for 6 volt deep cycle AGM batteries to replace the ones we have.

 After a good search in Melaque and Santiago/Manzanillo, we found that getting 6 volt deep cycle AGM batteries here in Mexico is a real challenge, expensive and it would take some time for them to be shipped. 

 Danny convinced me that 6 volt, deep cycle, Wet-cell batteries are more practical here in Mexico and so far I agree.

 We found LTH, a Mexican brand battery here in Mexico. They are about $500.00 for all four instead of about  $2500.00 USD or more.
 So here we found our LTH batteries. 

We were going to go to Zihuatanejo with our Frigoboat turned into a ice box

 but there are other things at play.

 We can live with an ice box as the refer pulls the batteries down overnight to about 0.

But then there is the Spectra Ventura Watermaker 200TDeluxe which will probably not run as it will draw too much at 8 amps.

Also the Garmin Class A Drive Unit for GHP 12 (autopilot) which may give us problems with low house batteries.

 Also how long will the batteries last in an emergency with the bilge pumps running.

And there is more so we decided to replace the house bank with the 6-volt wet cell deep cycle golf cart batteries.

The shop is located on the highway past Centro Melaque and the military base.

 

The new wet cell batteries (LTH L-GC-2122M) are 230 ah where as the old MASTERVOLT house batteries Part #61002600 were 260 ah so a 60 ah less difference.. So now we will have 460 ah instead of 520 ah.😒

Mark: LTH
Model: L-GC2-122M
Height: 27.9
cm •Width: 18.0 cm •Length: 26.0 cm

BCI: GC2
Type: L-GC2-122M
Application: Deep Cycling.
AMP-HR Capacity (20 HRS):
232 Capacity Reserve (Minutes): 122 x
75A Polarity Poles to front


/ (+) Wet weight (max. kg): 29.1 This battery is ideal for application in 6 Volt golf carts


More than 80 years in the market support our commitment to providing you with security and
confidence. As a leading brand of accumulators nationwide, LTH® offers a wide range of products for different applications, all developed with innovative technology that imposes new standards in the industry.
WARRANTY VALID IN ANY LTH SERVICE CENTER IN THE
COUNTRY.

 

 

 

 Here are the new batteries!!

The shop will deliver them to the Barra Water Taxi on Monday 1\20\2020 

and we will give them our old AGM batteries for trade in. We are at anchor.

Debbie is measuring the height to make sure it is correct for our space.

We have a local we hired who will help with the heavy lifting.

 Here we have our cables laid out to make sure they will reach. The studs are smaller but we will make them work till we get back to Puerto Vallarta where we will have more resources.😎