**NEW** 12V 608Ah Lithium batteries in stock built with a REC-BMS & Victron Cerbo GX. Installed as a package along with Wakespeed WS500 or Mastervolt Alpha Pro alternator regulator.

**NEW** Official UK dealer for www.wakespeed.com – the WS500 brings alternator charging control to a new level. CAN-bus integration with Victron & REC-BMS based systems.

**NEW** Beta 43/50/60 24V 180A Prestolite alternator with Wakespeed or Mastervolt external regulator. Can be factory fitted by Beta to your new engine during build. It’s the Balmar 97XD with hairpin stator and this version can run a freewheel pulley.

A picture is worth a thousand words – Checkout my Instagram account to see the latest work I’m getting involved in. https://www.instagram.com/four_counties_marine/ 

I’m a long established (23+ years) hard working independent narrowboat electrician and take pride in my work. I’ve gained my knowledge, experience and reputation working with top quality Boat Builders and Boatyards. I keep right up-to-date with the latest standards and developments in products & technology.

Specialising in work associated with power:

I’m properly setup with the tools, equipment & knowledge to tackle the jobs that I specialise in and work from a well stocked van & workshop. All of my work is done to the highest professional standards using top-quality parts and equipment.

Based from my workshop near Leek, Staffordshire, my central location covers many popular canals and marinas. Specifically insured to work on lithium battery systems, in any Boatyard or Marina, on any vessel.

No longer offering general electrical work, concentrating only on the jobs that I specialise in.

Ed Shiers 07922 163072. fourcountiesmarineservices@gmail.com The best way to contact me is by calling. If I don’t answer send a text or WhatsApp message and I always call back ASAP. It’s just me and I’m always busy so jobs need to be booked in months in advance.       

November ’23 case study illustrates the lithium & alternator charging jobs I do – scroll through my website for more detail.

Offgrid Aqualine narrowboat’s Victron 12V 660Ah AGM batteries lasted 7+ years and would cost ~£1600 to replace. After researching different options my customer goes for a quality 608Ah battery + REC Battery Management system: The REC-BMS is awesome: Active cell balancing; CAN-bus integration with Victron and Wakespeed; Multiple relay and optocoupler outputs to control equipment; It’s own 500 amp shunt, contactor and precharge module. Quality construction with tinned wiring harness; Similar to Victron’s top of the range Lynx BMS.

The battery is built into a box with cell dividers, 500A busbars, Blue Sea Class T & Terminal fuses. Installed neatly inside the cabin to avoid any low temp charging issues and minimise the cable runs. Victron lynx distributor is used to bring fuse holders and bubars into 1 compact unit. This type of system just can’t be compared to drop-in’s: massively better discharge and recharge rates, unstrained current handling with no electronic/flaky high current switching internal BMS. No load dump consideration which is always a risk with drop-ins especially when trying to achieve good alternator charging. A single CAN-bus lead connects the BMS to Victron Cerbo GX giving access to Victron’s brilliant VRM online monitoring system.

Also install a 200A alternator + Mastervolt external regulator on the Isuzu engine. Charging throttles down to 165A+ continuous. Enables a full charge from 30% in ~2.5hrs & engine runs perfectly with no hint of the high alternator loads.

My customer has spent the last 8+ years looking after the nice Victron AGM’s and switching to lithium brings a totally different approach. No need to regularly bring up to 100% – once a month is fine to enable cell balancing and state of charge calibration. Much more of the capacity can be used with recommended lower limit of 30%. Ultra fast engine recharge time with 40 mins returning 130Ah + a tank of hot water. Washing machine, electric kettle, toaster etc. can all be used with no engine running. In the Summer excess solar brings free renewable power – all electric galley, immersion heated hot water on brighter days and no engine running required at all.