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Maintaining your house batteries has always been a challenge for the boating community. Given all the new gadgets we just can't and won't live without anymore, we have an evermore increase in the need for bigger and better batteries. The best batteries I've ever owned for marine purpose have been the the 8D AGMs. Two of these puppies give me a very nice and maintenance free 514 amp hours. But then I have to charge them. I can run the engine but the charging system with two alternators still takes way too much time. And, I can't take advantage of the 85 horse power afforded by the engine. So, the engine must run without sufficient load to work the engine as it was designed. Perhaps there's a better way. Consider a charging system that better pairs your engine's 50-75 hp to an equally powerful generator. Well, you still can't take advantage of the charging system even if you could build it into your boat. Unless-- unless your batteries could handle a massive charge, topping off the batteries in say 5 minutes.  Consider this 5,000 watt generator mated to your diesel engine - http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_9040_9040. Interesting, but the 8D AGMs can't handle that type of heavy charge. Then consider the newest breed of lithium ion batteries. See http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/04/nissan_and_nec_.html. These batteries utilize nano-technology and carbon-less structures allowing for very large capacity batteries to be massively recharged in minutes without getting hot or risk of explosion. And, the shelf life of these things is decades, not years. I's certain the cost is prohibitive now for marine use. But, as the auto industry begins to adapt to these batteries, the cost will drive down substantially giving the marine industry - especially sailors a chance to upgrade their electrical storage capabilities. Send me your thoughts:
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