L16 6 Volt Batteries

I'm starting to design my inverter system so I'm talking to a lot of people. I'm thinking about a 2000-2500 watt inverter to power a TV and perhaps a battery charger for the phone or laptop with enough power left over so my wife can make coffee in the morning without running the genny. I'm planning on a true sine inverter/charger and enough batteries to last for just a night maybe two.

Talking with others at my marina I've heard more than a couple people mention the have L16 6 volt batteries. These look like 2 golf cart batteries stacked one on top of the other. It looks like these batteries have over 400 amp hours each and use vertical space as opposed to horizontal space. I'm thinking 2 of these would give me an 800 amp hour inverter bank, which means I can use 400 amps which should be more than enough to last a night or two.

Is anybody else using these type of batteries? I'd also appreciate any tips you may have about installing a new inverter system and the logic behind my thinking.

Do you have the space for the taller batteries? I looked into the L16H Trojan but discovered I did not have the height needed. It would have been cool to put six or even eight of those L16H on my boat. As it was I chose eight Crown CR235s. I did a quick price check (ebay) and the L16H is $.80/amp-hr and a T105 is $.62/amp-hr.

May someone has info/opinion on longevity of larger amp-hrs batteries.

IMG2 said:

...these batteries have over 400 amp hours each and use vertical space as opposed to horizontal space. I'm thinking 2 of these would give me an 800 amp hour inverter bank, which means I can use 400 amps which should be more than enough to last a night or two....

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Most inverters/boats are 12 VDC. At 6 volts, 2-L16 will give ~400 amps at 12 volts for your inverter bank. You'll need 4 to get the ~800 amps you're looking for.

Our house bank is six Interstate Workaholic L16HCL batteries. They provide all the power we usually need. They are big, heavy, and fairly expensive. I know this because I replaced all six about a year after we bought the boat. We also have a 2500 watt inverter. We can power most AC loads like a toaster oven, charge computers and phones and so on without difficulty.

Larry M said:

Most inverters/boats are 12 VDC. At 6 volts, 2-L16 will give ~400 amps at 12 volts for your inverter bank. You'll need 4 to get the ~800 amps you're looking for.

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L-16 batteries are awesome..they are designed for floor scrubbers....but good god they are heavy and ungainly.golf carts are less $ per amp hr, easier to deal with but will take up more sq ft. of space.
Hollywood

L-16 batteries are awesome..they are designed for floor scrubbers....but good god they are heavy and ungainly.

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They are indeed. They run forever. And yes they are heavy. We hired some young gullible guys to lift our old batteries out and the new ones in.

>I'm planning on a true sine inverter/charger and enough batteries to last for just a night maybe two.<

Sine wave inverters are need for heavy loads like an air cond or water maker running of the alternator.
Or load matching boosting low shore power or a tiny noisemaker.

Minor loads like a TV , phone batt charger or even a microwave dont give a damn about wave shape , so a $200..... 1500W will be just fine.

Big battery banks are required to operate a DC fridge or freezer for days on the hook.

A set of 4 T-105 would probably be overkill for your proposed use.

Thanks all for your input, as I'm still in the planning stages it's easy to make changes to what I think I want versus what I really need.

Fryedaze and Hollywood, thanks for talking about $ per amp hour, I hadn't thought of looking at it that way.

Since I won't have a great demand, I was thinking about 2-L16's instead of 4-T105's. If I've got the math right 2-L16's = 800 amp hours at 6 volts or 400 at 12 volts. The T-105's would be 420 amp hours at 6 volts and 210 at 12 volts, right?

1 - T105 = 225 amps at 6 volts. 4 - T105's = 900 amps @ 6 volts or 450 amps @ 12 volts. (20 hour rating)

Markets | Trojan Battery Company

Sounds like a lot of overkill for the loads described, both in battery and inverter capacity. To the OP: What runs your fridge? That is the thing that normally defines house batt capacity requirements.

Just a thought
Have you Looked at trojan t145?

I put in four of them in. They are only 3/4" higher than t105 but put out 260amp verses the t105 that put out 205. The weight increase is about 15lbs more than t105.

IMHO one can seldom have too big a house bank or inverter. Too small, definitely. For those of us that cruise with guests, a coffee pot, toaster and hair dryer gets you well above 2000 watts real easy. Kick the microwave on and oops we're now looking at 3000 watts total on the dial.

And definitely go pure sine wave, FFs protests not with standing. The advantages are too numerous to mention but for sure gizmo charging, computer monitors and induction cook tops like a well shaped curve rather than stair steps. When my Xantrex MSW could no longer keep the microwave clock from tripping a PSW was on the horizon, Magnum 2800 with 8 Trojan 105s.

Harbor Nights said:

Just a thought
Have you Looked at trojan t145?

I put in four of them in. They are only 3/4" higher than t105 but put out 260amp verses the t105 that put out 205. The weight increase is about 15lbs more than t105.

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I think I read somewhere that the T105's have a deeper space below the plates, thus giving more room for sediment to settle (longer life?).
Confirm or deny?
I'm still reading and hopefully learning.
Ted

Ski in NC, my fridge is powered by one of the 8D's while at anchor and 110 while on shore power.

While I stated my needs were minimal, my guess is there might also be a table lamp and a fan running also. Who knows what other 110 volt devices might get used if I had the power.

IMG2 said:

Ski in NC, my fridge is powered by one of the 8D's while at anchor and 110 while on shore power. While I stated my needs were minimal, my guess is there might also be a table lamp and a fan running also. Who knows what other 110 volt devices might get used if I had the power.

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You will only add loads over time, not reduce them. To me a big part of the "cost" to adding an inverter system like you describe is not the cost of goods, but the work involved in planning, designing, and building it. I only like to do that once, so prefer to build for the long run. I think you are on the right track with a 2500w sine wave inverter (charger too, right?), and a reasonable sized battery bank.

But you mention running the fridge off an 8D? I presume that's a house bank? If so, you might consider just expanding the capacity of the house bank and running the inverter off that.

FWIW, I also use T-145 Trojan 6 V batteries and I use 6. I installed them in 2001 and I lived aboard until 2010. We made many many trips using the batteries and I only charge them when they are low. I never leave the charger on continuously as that shortens any batteries life. I know we can argue that the sales brochures all say these new smart chargers do bla bla bla, but what they don't do is leave the battery alone until it is 70 or 60 or 50% of charge before it charges again.

Bottom line is, I still have the six in my boat and yes I still only charge them as needed. They will all last much longer if you follow suit.

Hell, you don't immediately hook up a charger to your car every time you stop it do you? Then why do you do that in your boat?

Capthead said:

Hell, you don't immediately hook up a charger to your car every time you stop it do you? Then why do you do that in your boat?

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Because of many reasons. The most important one is to keep my boat afloat in case it takes on water.

I lived in a marina for 30 years and we has derelict boats with no batteries that sat there for years. If you go chasing "IF'S" you will have a long day. Still 34 years later we don't get that many sinking boats. Good maintenance is the best insurance.

Capthead said:

...you don't immediately hook up a charger to your car every time you stop it do you? Then why do you do that in your boat?

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Our generator and engine batteries are only charged by their own alternators. The discharge rate is about 3%/month so they can go months plus and still serve their purpose.

Our house bank is charged via the Outback charger/inverter. We live on the boat

Capthead said:

I lived in a marina for 30 years and we has derelict boats with no batteries that sat there for years. If you go chasing "IF'S" you will have a long day. Still 34 years later we don't get that many sinking boats. Good maintenance is the best insurance.

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My T105's are 6 years old and still running strong. My charger must be very smart. I see zero advantage in not keeping the charger on. Your batteries may last a little longer than mine but the $ savings is negligible.

Thanks, Larry and Stretch. You just helped me decide whether to keep my old 3-bank low output charger hooked up now that I have a new 55A single-bank charger to install. It'll be much simpler to just install the new charger in its place to charge the house bank using existing wiring and circuit breaker and leave the old charger disconnected as a spare. I also have the combiner available (selectable on/off) if I need to share the charge with the start battery.