Thought it was worthwhile sharing my recent experience with some less than one year old Lead Acid batteries, writes Brian Cavill.
For no apparent reason, one of four batteries decided to over heat and dramatically start gassing for no apparent reason (they are normally charged by a Victron Solar charger).
My boat is of semi traditional design so the battery bank is under a hatch out in open so maybe would have let some gas escape.
Unfortunately there are holes into the cabin area both sides for pipes and cabling. The net result was the cabin started to fill with the noxious gas!!
Fortunately it was daytime and we had windows and doors open.
Let this be a warning to everyone. There really should be a venting system in the engine compartment and the holes through to the cabin should be filled. My boat was a sail-away so not sure if this is implemented on fully finished new boats? If it isn't, it should be!
Another point worth noting is that the standard alternators fitted to diesel engines are unsuitable for use with Lithium type batteries. This is because of the batteries very low internal resistance which can result in excessive current demand on the alternator and consequent overheating. An external regulator is required to manage this.