I have to disagree with Dave. A lithium battery for the windlass would be a huge waste of money and drastically overcomplicate things. Lithium batteries are great but require substantial alterations to the boat's electrical system. Even for the windlass application, precautions need to be taken. A "drop-in" style lithium battery could work in this application (definitely not as the boat's primary bank) but even that would add unnecessary risk and expense. With a "drop-in" LiFePO4 (Battleborn, Renogy, Dakota, etc), the battery still needs a dedicated DC-DC converter (battery-to-battery charger) to safely charge at the battery's voltage and current limits. These style batteries disconnect themselves internally in case of over or undercharged events. This is not what you want if you have to pull up the anchor in an emergency. Plus these batteries start at around $600 for a 12V 60Ah. You can find more details on the limitations and design requirements of lithium aboard by reading my (username RMA) contributions to this thread <https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f166/lithium-upgrade-design-input-required-247382.html> on Cruisersforum.
The correct solution is to buy the appropriately sized <http://assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/newsletter/images/DC_wire_selection_chartlg.jpg> marine cable to run the windlass back to your house bank. I ripped out the forward windlass battery on my 38 the moment I bought the boat and ran 3/0 the entire distance. Buy your cable by the 100' roll and save a fortune. You can use the excess when you decide to upgrade your house bank to LiFePO4 or install a larger inverter/charger. I bought mine at wireandcableyourway <https://www.wireandcableyourway.com/3-0-gauge-tinned-marine-battery-cable-ul-1426-100ft> and paid ~$330 including shipping for Ancor brand marine tinned 3/0. On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 10:09 PM Dave S via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > Or.... use a lithium battery which doesn’t need to be vented, can be > oriented in any direction, and would likely weigh less than the incremental > heavy gauge cabling run required by the windlass.... connection to the > charger could be much smaller depending on the expected charging rate, and > dod is greater, requiring a lower a/h rated (smaller) battery for the > equivalent usable capacity. > > Charge via a small dc:dc charger off the house system. > https://ca.renogy.com/renogy-12v-dc-to-dc-on-board-battery-charger/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwi7yCBhDJARIsAMWFScNT2ifqnsnfIeF-stcBCY7Z0uqGfL40x2HY83wccuRItirzuy_Ap_QaAhnoEALw_wcB > > Dave 33-2 > > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Mar 15, 2021, at 9:13 PM, Dave Godwin via CnC-List < > cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > > Pete, > > Since I’m not on the criteria list of having mounted a battery for the > windless in the bow/v-berth area on our 1982 37’ I thought I’d weigh in > anyway. Apologies in advance but I have to agree with Josh. > > I mounted a Lewmar windlass on a shelf in the anchor locker. I thought > quite a bit about doing what you are thinking about. And discarded the idea > pretty quickly. > > I didn’t want to add any more weight to dragging down the fine entry of > our boats. Anchor chain was enough. I didn’t want to add another battery to > the existing system. I’ve already done enough fabrication on the boat so > wanted to avoid that too. I didn’t want to think about charging the battery > that far forward either. > > I settled on just running large cable from the house bank in the port > locker to the windless along the port hull to the anchor locker with > waterproof glands through the bulkhead. The breaker switch is located to > port (next to existing battery switch location) at the base of the > companionway steps. The solenoid for the control switches are mounted up > under deck, to port in the anchor locker. > > Just my $0.02. > > Pictures of installation available upon request. > > Best regards, > Dave Godwin > 1982 C&C 37 - Ronin > 1998 Mast & Mallet Thomas Point 34 - Katana > > P.S. Our powerboat deals with powering the windless in the same fashion. > > On Mar 15, 2021, at 7:13 PM, Peter McMinn via CnC-List < > cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > Hey all, > > As I prepare to mount a new windlass on my ‘85 37, I intend to install a > new AGM 12v on the centerline just aft of the holding tank. There is plenty > of room here for a battery platform and accessibility is fair. I’ve done my > homework on voltage drop, cable size, etc. but if you have specific > experience on a 37 with a fwd-mounted battery, I’m mostly ears. > > My question relates to ventilation. The under-berth space is fairly large, > but I know AGMs need to gas and I don’t want to create a hazard. Any > suggestions for adding an adequate vent to this area? > Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with > the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks > - Stu > > > Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with > the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks > - Stu > > Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with > the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks > - Stu -- Fair winds and following seas, Charlotte Freeland & Riley Anderson SV Freight Train Middletown, CT USA
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
