LIVING OFF-GRID AT SEA | 26kW lithium upgrade! | (Episode 363)
May 10, 2026 · 22 min · 179K views · Phuket
What this video covers
Eight Battle Born 270 Ah lithium batteries replace ten older 100 Ah Battle Born units on a Lagoon 450 catamaran, doubling the bank from 1,000 to over 2,000 amp hours and enabling a planned air-conditioning system across four cabins.1:11 Colin walks through the safety case for Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries in response to recent negative press, noting the manufacturer's claim of zero fire incidents across 400,000 units and calculating that the boat's maximum realistic draw — dual 3 kW Victron inverters plus a windlass — pulls roughly 32 amps per battery against a 270-amp rated discharge.1:11 Installation involves a Victron Lynx distributor with per-battery fusing, equal-length 4/0 cables, custom wooden brackets for a fifth stacked battery, and a Battle Born hub connecting all eight cells to a Cerbo GX for per-battery monitoring via the Battle Born app.7:50 Separately, a badly corroded aluminium fuel tank is pulled from its locker — a job that reveals a rotten engine-room bulkhead hidden behind it.0:21 The tank, pitted by diesel bug and water after 14 years, will have its bottom cut off and replaced by a welder using 5083 aluminium, with a new stripping point added, at a cost of roughly $1,000.13:26 Equal-length battery cables and per-battery fusing are the key practices confirmed during the lithium install.7:50
Boats in this video
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