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victron lithium fogstar

We were pleased to be asked to carry out a complete lithium upgrade and charger/inverter installation on board a sailing yacht, Wild Angel at Port Solent. The owner had conducted some research beforehand and had decided on Fogstar Lithium batteries, which we were happy to supply as one of our preferred lithium brands.

Keen to have as much capacity on tap as possible, we replaced the existing 580Ah AGM bank with 1200Ah of Fogstar lithium batteries. Note that AGMs shouldn't be discharged below 50%, so 580Ah of AGM/lead acid only really gives you 290Ah of usable capacity. However, lithium allows you to utilise all of its capacity, effectively quadrupling the amount of power available on board this sailing yacht.

There were a few practical challenges to overcome with the installation. Wild Angel is a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 50DS, fully kitted out with a generator, air conditioning, water maker, bow and stern thrusters. Whilst the accommodation is palatial as you would expect from a 50ft yacht, despite her size, with all the existing kit there was very limited space for a large 3kw Victron Multiplus Inverter/Charger.

The only viable option was to build a new bulkhead behind the aft cabin near the steering gear, accessible only via a removable panel in the aft lazarette. It was a tight working space but we managed to fit it in nicely.

The second hurdle to overcome was the slightly larger size of the lithium batteries. By trimming some material around the battery box and installing a new smaller (but just as mighty) starter battery, we managed to make it fit.

With all this new power on tap, it was essential to have good monitoring, so we installed a Victron Smart Shunt and Cerbo GX MK2 with touch screen display.

Charging the lithium battery when underway is taken care of by a Victron Orion XS DC-DC Battery Charger.

As part of the installation we also tidied up some of the existing wiring and fitted a new consumer unit, as well as swapping all of the internal halogen bulbs for LEDs.

What equipment did we use for this installation?

What did our customer say?

Victor at Sealutions Marine designed and installed a 1.2kah lithium system on our Jeanneau sailing yacht. The quality of work, advice and support has been absolutely first rate and I would have no hesitation in recommending him or using his services again: a great guy to work with!

 

If you would like to discuss a lithium upgrade for your boat, contact us today to discuss your option! We offer both supply only and supply and installation in and around Chichester, Portsmouth and the Solent.