SECURE YOUR BATTERY BANKS

I read with great interest Tim Murphy’s “All Electric Pros and Cons” article (November). I’ve been acquainted with Tim for two decades and know him to be a capable and technically savvy journalist. His treatment of this especially complex subject could not have been more accurate. Like many other new technologies that come along in this industry, it’s tempting for authors to wax poetic about their attributes while minimizing the shortcomings. One particular thing caught my eye, however. I critique many battery installations; the photo on page 64 caught my attention. Battery security is a pet peeve of mine, and this bank fails miserably. Each of these rows of batteries appears to be retained by a fabric strap with a spring-loaded friction buckle. For seagoing applications, batteries must be especially secure. To paraphrase the American Boat and Yacht Council’s E-10 Standard, storage batteries should not be able to move more than 1 inch in any direction when under a load of twice their weight. § The batteries almost certainly don’t meet this standard. Fabric straps are prone to stretching and chafe. I believe this standard to be too lax and have lobbied for it to be changed. Under what conditions could one embrace a battery (bank) moving 1 inch with, for instance, every wave a vessel encounters over a weekslong passage? What happens in the case of a knockdown? Batteries—lithium-ion and conventional—should be completely immobilized. I noted as well, the batteries shown in the article lack a gap between them for heat dissipation. The lithium battery bank pictured (above) is completely immobilized using a rigid clamp design, and incorporates gaps.