waterboy222

My two bank battery charger crapped out on one side last year and now i noticed im not getting any lights off of it at all.. So i started pricing new ones and they are pretty high.

Is there any reason I couldnt buy a regular fully auto battery charger and cut the clips off the end and hard wire it in to the boats panel just like the old one was? I know id probably need one for each battery but id still be saving a couple hundred dollars and I think ive figured out a spot for them.

What would the differences be?

dogturd21

The marine battery chargers are spark protected, and have a lot of intelligence built into them for periodic top off, etc. I would say to keep checking the classified or Ebay and see if one pops up.

US1 Fountain

I just replaced my Guest 10A 2 bank with a ProMariner 30A bank charger last week. I wanted a charger to also double as dock side power and found this Promariner to be perfect. Higher amps, 1, 2 , or 3 bank use, dock side power, 3 stage. $299 For a few bucks more, you can go 40A or even 50A. Just depens on what you are needing.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|328|51495|985|316472&id=764815

The Guest chargers didn't have a high enough amp charger w/o going huge cruiser size. More than what I needed. Their Bluewater series only went to 20A. Not big enough.

I don't think I'd risk the auto type for use in an enclosed engine compartment.

Joe92GT

We sell chargers to standby generator manufactures like Cat, IR, ect. While I am not familiar with marine specific chargers, I can tell you what to look for.

Make sure its a smart charger, matched to your battery type. Make sure it has dual mode voltage limiting and current limiting, and switches appropriately based on battery charge level (voltage).

You also want temperature compensation, and an external lead for the sensor if the charger is located separate from the batteries. Change in temperature significantly changes the voltage that the batteries can be floated at with out harming them.

You also want the lowest possible ripple in the output wave form. Ripple is what you get when you go from AC to rectified DC. Every time the AC switches you get a slight ripple through the rectifier, if this ripple is above the appropriate float voltage it will overheat the batteries, then they vent acid and will hold less total amp hour capability.

The number one cause of bad batteries is bad chargers and charging practices.

waterboy222

i didnt think about the spark issue.. looks like ill be stuck carryin a charger in until the i can afford to replace the charger.. do you know if theres anyone i could send my charger to and have it rebuilt?

dogturd21

I dont know about rebuilding the chargers- they are cheap enough that it might be a through-away item.
Xantrex Truchargers on eBay run around $235 to $350 depending on size and model. I have 2 x group 27 batteries, and I think mine is a model 30, but a model 20 might work fine.

You do not mention what brand you have, so its difficult to know how to proceed- perhaps the manufacturer offers and exchange program for a discount ?

sunchaser796

Stick with marine chargers. They are UL approve and listed for marine use. There are alot of different chargers on the market that does different things. What you DON'T WANT is a charger that runs full time meaning once the battery is full charge it will continue to charge and burn the battery up. Others are designed to charge and once the proper voltage is reached it shut down and every so often will auto on charge and shut off. the oter choice for chargers that don't shut down completely is to install a 110 vac timer between your shore power and the charger. Set it to run for 2 or 3 hours a day depending how often the bilge pump runs or what electronics you using a memory. Good Luck !

pstorti

I have this one from my boat and it worked great and not super expensive.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...056&hasJS=true

I have the Pro Sport 20. I sell it to you for $100.

Joe92GT

Kinda of true. You can float a battery all day long at the proper voltage (13.2V), 24 hours a day, 365 days a year as long as your temperature compensated.

What you can't do is float it at a charge voltage (higher than 13.7), or have a bad signal coming from the charger (ripple).

Also temperature compensation is extremely important, because it greatly varies the float voltage of the battery.

All the chargers we sell are UL, but not rated for marine use. I'm sure we could mount them in a sealed enclosure, but at price point its not practical.

This is one of our competitors, but they have marine chargers that I know are good.
http://www.sens-usa.com/en/applicati...-sens-products

Wally

if you can pop the cover off your old one id take a look inside and see if theres any fuses in there that may have popped.......thats what happened to a friends boat few years back......one side didnt charge and it turned out to be one of those glass tube fuses inside the charger....