NaviMon - Smart Boat Monitor
Draft: 20th Jan 2026
The NaviMon Battery Control System (BCS) is designed to work with all types of batteries in any mixture that you have. The BCS will manage all your battery types and banks of cells. With the BCS attached to your system, it will monitor and control the power distribution to maximize a multitude of battery configurations; this allows you to get the maximum bang for your buck for your investment in your power system. With the NaviMon BCS, we will utilize every battery to its maximum potential so when you rotate it out, you will have gained the complete life from that power source.
There are certain circumstances that can happen with batteries that we cannot detect. Batteries are a mainstay of boating: they charge your phone, wifi router, and lighting. If you have enough power, they power your fridge, cooker, and washing machine. The NaviMon BCS will manage the system, but it relies on the battery bank(s). As a potential customer of ours, we would like to inform you a bit about different types of batteries that can be found on your boat.
If you have a boat, you are 99.99% certain that you will need a battery — or two, or three, or a lot more! For those people with boats in that 0.01%, we tip our hats to you people still maintaining a good old steam boat, but what are you running your lights and other electronics off? Even your humble smartphone still has a battery in it that might be dangerous to your boat. Food for thought.
We are going to group the most common batteries and what you need to be aware of. All batteries can be potentially dangerous, but it is not necessarily a cause for concern as long as you are aware of the potential dangers.
The good old lead-acid battery. It is solid, reliable, open to abuse, and almost without danger. But be aware: these batteries can give off explosive gases if overcharged, and explosive gases are not good!
Having said that, lead-acid are the most reliable and robust batteries available. If you have the space and weight-carrying ability on your boat, you can't really go wrong with this setup, and it is about as safe as it gets with large storage of electrical energy.
On the smaller side, there are NiCad (Nickel-Cadmium) and similar rechargeable batteries like NiMH. You might find some old-school "exotic" batteries in air sensors and maybe some old cameras. All of these are totally safe; the worst they normally do is leak some goo and ruin your electronics equipment. That is always a bit of a bummer.
These predated Lithium-ion and were used widely in the helicopter and airplane hobbies. Please do not allow these batteries anywhere on your boat. They are old tech and should no longer be used. They will probably burn down your boat!
These batteries were and are a revolution in battery tech compared to the old-school batteries. The energy density makes these batteries very powerful while taking up a minimum amount of space. These batteries are ubiquitous; they are everywhere. They are in your smartphone, power tools, electric car, and electric bike.
These batteries can be very dangerous. But as the saying goes: "With great power comes great responsibility".
If you have a high-quality battery (e.g., Panasonic) or are using a good brand, there is a very high probability that your Lithium-ion cells will never give you any problems. In the [very] rare cases that these batteries cause a problem, they are very dangerous. Depending on the size of the battery, it will easily melt through every layer of a plastic (GRP) or wooden boat. Even in a metal boat, you might not sink, but you likely have a load of items that will catch fire with the violent nature of these batteries.
Just be very mindful: treat them with kid gloves and they will supply their magic electrons to enhance your life. If you treat these batteries poorly—by using a crappy charger, dropping, or damaging the pack—they will definitely let you know.
Lithium-ion, as a rough guide, is okay up to about 100 Watt-hours. You really don't want a Lithium-ion battery above that capacity on your boat if you can help it.
The next step up for safe storage of larger quantities greater than 100Wh are LFP batteries. They do not store as much energy as Lithium-ion, but they are significantly safer. They still need to be handled with care, but the main difference is when things go wrong: LFP batteries will give off lots of very toxic gases, but they will [most probably] not burn your boat down.
As of writing in 2026, these are the batteries that are a good option for cabin and auxiliary power requirements within the boat hull.
These are not technically a battery, but they are an interesting power source that can be charged quickly. Compared to Lithium-ion and LFP batteries, these capacitors have a very low energy density and as such will never give off that many toxic fumes or catch fire.
We are currently looking at this technology for our devices as a last-resort power function when the source battery becomes depleted.
We are in the future, and there are advancements in battery tech all the time. There are two major technologies on the horizon for the general population:
Whatever the future brings with new battery technology, our system will be ready for any battery system you choose for your boat.