The Downward Spiral

We discovered at the weekend that our batteries are finally on the downward spiral. The combination of using the diesel heating again, the fridge being on, the electric kettle and the slow cooker has finally started to take it's toll on them.

They are far from completely useless mind and we will continue to use them this winter, there seems to be little point replacing them for what use they will get in the next couple of months and then the following two or three ashore and plugged in. So we will replace them when the boat is relaunched ready for the new years start to the holiday season. There is still plenty of life left in them, some people no doubt would say that we are replacing them far too early, but we like to be able to rely on our batteries rather then hope and pray with crossed fingers that they will last the night out.

This set won't have done bad. They were installed in May 2012 so have far outlived our previous sets of batteries and will have been on for almost five years by the time we replace them in the Spring. Not too bad as we do tend to use our batteries whilst out and about cruising. We will certainly use the Varta branded batteries again as we have been impressed with their performance right up until last weekend when they gave us the first inkling that all is not as it once was.