After pretty extensive research that included making a spreadsheet of almost every LFP battery currently on the market with stats such as shipped cost and cost per 100Ah, I’ve finally narrowed my boat battery choices down to four. The goal is a battery of about 3-400Ah with low temp charging protection and external monitoring.
Option 1: Aolithium 3x 100Ah for a 300Ah battery at $1,302 shipped
Option 1: Aolithium 3x 100Ah for a 300Ah battery at $1,302 shipped
- Pros: Redundancy is provided by 3x parallel batteries. Great build quality. Openable case to inspect internals or if BMS ever needs replacement. 300A continuous discharge possible.
- Cons: Uncertain how long the company might be around and what the warranty support is like. Smallest capacity and highest cost per Ah.
- Pros: Amazing build quality. For all the complaints about the company odds are better than many others they’ll still be around to honor it down the road, minimal wiring/cables.
- Cons: Don’t love the idea of only having a single battery. If it fails on a trip or needs to be sent in for warranty service I’m out of luck. Lowest potential discharge rate at 200A continuous. Monitoring is by PC instead of Bluetooth (not a major con).
- Pros: Highest capacity overall and lowest cost per Ah for batteries with Bluetooth monitoring. Known quality of all the components. Redundancy is achieved with 2 parallel packs.
- Cons: Use of my time to assemble the packs. Not great options for casing the batteries. Extra cost for miscellaneous parts and battery enclosures.
- Pros: Absolute lowest cost overall and per Ah. Redundancy is provided by 3x parallel batteries. If a battery dies it can easily be swapped out with only $300 sacrificed.
- Cons: Probably no warranty support. No Bluetooth monitoring so no way of what’s going on internally. Very little faith that these batteries will provide the 10-20 year service life the other contenders might as it’s a sealed box if anything goes wrong inside.