Are you thinking about upgrading your boat batteries to the superior technology of lithium? Here’s how DCS make it a breeze. Upgrading a Jeanneau 39i.

Posted by DCS | November 21, 2017October 10, 2018 | BATTERIES

ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT UPGRADING YOUR BOAT BATTERIES TO THE SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY OF LITHIUM? HERE’S HOW DCS MAKE IT A BREEZE. UPGRADING A JEANNEAU 39I

Alex contacted DCS back in August ’17 enquiring about what would be involved in upgrading to the DCS 12V marine range of batteries. It’s a question we get asked all the time. The short answer is they would be a direct drop in replacement and there would be nothing that would need to be changed. However, to get the most out of the battery upgrade, we always take a detailed look over the existing setup and make any worthwhile improvements to best enhance the performance of a DCS lithium batteries.
Alex’s existing setup was;
– 3 x 105Ah AGM house batteries (which only provided a usable capacity of around 95Ah, being 30% of 315Ah and totalled 108KGs)
– 2 x 150W solar panels (300W total)
– 2 x 10Amp solar regulators
– Charging the house batteries directly from the engines 80Amp alternator
– Cristec CPS2 12V 40Amp mains/shore charger
– Cristec RCE electronic dual battery isolator (for isolation of starting and house batteries)
This is a pretty typical electrical setup for boats of this size.

Another request that Alex had was that he didn’t want to be spending thousands on a wind turbine and wanted DCS to ensure that the battery and solar system could cater for all his power needs, even during overcast cloudy conditions.
With a great platform in place the upgrades consisted of;
– 3 x DCS 12V 100Ah batteries
– 2 x LG Neon R 360W solar panels (720W total)
– 1 x Votronic MPP430 marine and lithium spec solar regulator (31.5Amp)
– 1 x Votronic LCD remote display monitor
– 1 x 60Amp low voltage disconnect

Removing the old AGM batteries wasn’t as straight forward a task as usual, as they had already started degassing and leaking lead acid everywhere.

The acid was eating the timber floor and this needed to be cleaned and neutralised before the new batteries could be installed. Otherwise you run the risk of the acid eating away the new battery cases.