I’m back showing another piece of my boat’s off-grid power setup. After covering the solar panels and one lithium house bank, this time I’m looking at the second bank made up of two Xantrex 240-amp-hour lithium batteries plus the main 2000-watt Xantrex marine inverter charger that handles shore power or generator charging at up to 100 amps. These batteries have been with me three years now, first in the RV and now their third season on the boat, mounted in a forward cabin compartment where the old inverter used to live. I pulled them out to check for any corrosion in the marine environment and to inspect all the connections and wiring.
Everything looked solid with no corrosion or loose lugs after three years. The batteries sit on a platform and bolt down so they stay put when the boat moves. I also checked the inverter connections, bus bars, fuses for the inverter and windlass, solar inputs, and the Junctek battery monitor with its shunt. The Xantrex batteries themselves have internal Bluetooth, but the app is pretty basic and not always accurate, so the external monitor gives me a clearer, quick look at voltage, current, capacity, and temperature. Overall, the system has been reliable, and I’ll cover the solar controllers in a follow-up video to finish out this year’s off-grid install.
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