Sunday, 31 July 2011

Banking on the batteries

Yesterday whilst we were trolling around the IWA Festival at Shobnall Fields, Burton-upon-Trent we met with PB Batteries to discuss requirements for Yarwood.  As I tripe write this Joe is listing the wattage of all the items that we will be using aboard Yarwood and emailing the list to PB Batteries.  They in turn are going to calculate the size of battery bank we will require and let us know.  Joe has been giving some considerable thought to the type of batteries we might opt for and  his has concluded that a 2volt traction option will suit our needs.
My 'laywomans' understanding of this is; Normal batteries can be discharged safely to about 60% of their rated capacity whereas the traction battery can be discharged to nearer 30% of their rated capacity - in short  we have a longer interval between charges. 


The battery bank will be located in the hold under the tug deck and serve a useful secondary role is stabilising ballast.  When we hear back from PB batteries about the size of the recommended bank I will post again but we think we are looking at something in the region of 800 amp hours.

2 comments:

  1. That's what we have on Eolian, and it works out quite well for us.

    bob
    s/v Eolian
    Seattle

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Bob
    That's good to hear. We are hoping that this type of battery will suit our usage as well.
    We will hear soon how big the battery bank needs to me to meet our requirements and how much space it will take up in the hold.
    Lesley

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