Battery Charger Recommendations?

[mikeporterinmd]

We like to use a fair amount of 12V power - lights, radio, VHF, etc. And while
doing so, I'd like to have the batteries be charging when 120V is available.

To that end, I plan to install shore power and a 20Amp or so charger.

Right now, it looks like:
CHARLES 93-12205SP-A CHARGER 5000 SERIES 20A/3 BANK or
CHARLES 93-12155SP-A CHARGER 5000 SERIES 15A/3 BANK (more likely of the two)

or

Newmar PT-25

or

STATPOWER TRUE CHARGE 20+ 12V 20 AMP 3 BANK CHARGER

The Statpower and Newmar have remote panel options, but the Charles
chargers are true multi-bank chargers that can output full power to each
bank (hence the likelyhood of a Charles 15Amp model).

They all cost roughly the same - $250 or so, give or take $40.

Anyone use any of these? Any noisy? My old ferro unit buzzed, but it was
below decks, so I couldn't generally hear it.

I am planning to install the unit in the galley, up near the Wallas, with the panel
in the Helm (Blue Sea 3043) and the inlet under the starboard gunnel using
a Hubbell HBL303SS. Yes, I could use the nylon one, but I like SS!
The Blue Sea digital meter panel looks cool, but I can't justify the extra
cost (+$100) unless someone can suggest another reason. We'll use one of
the circuits for the charger, one for outlets, and the extra for whatever
nefarious purposes I can come up with.

I have a good source for most of this, including the wire.

Batteries: will probably go with a group 27 house unless we install
some sort of fridge, then 2x27.

Comments or suggestions?

Thanks,

Mike

[thataway]

I happen to use the Xantrex, just because it has the temp compensation and has the circuits for AGM. Although a battery charger will put out 15 or 20 amps for a battery--unless it is labled a 40 amp charger, it will not put out two 20 amp charges.

The question also is how fast do you want to charge your batteries. If you are running a generator and want to charge as fast as practical--then the larger charger makes sense. If you are sitting at a dock and using 10 amps for 3 hours a night--and then little power the rest of the 12 hours at the dock, then a smaller charger is sufficient.

I am a fan of the Group 31 batteries--they are physically slightly larger than the 27, but have significant more capacity. We happend to do fine with two group 24's on the 22--but rarely were at a marina, and running the engine more than kept up with the battery needs.

I have not hear any significant noise from any of the modern chargers.
Good luck on the project.

[Da Nag]

[mikeporterinmd]

[mikeporterinmd]

[thataway]

Mike,
Which model Charles put out 15 amps on each of 3 battery circuits? (Ie: puts put 45 amps) I have reviewed all of the models both in catalogues and on the web site and don't find any which does this.

Thanks,

[dtol]

The Xantrex XC5012 is the charger that I plan to use on my new boat (if it ever happens) and it provides 50 amps to each of 3 banks. Xanatrex recommends that each bank be at least 100ah. There is also a 30 amp model suitable for banks of 60ah or greater. The neat thing here is that you can specify the chem type battery for each bank and the advantage to that is if bank 3 needs to be inside, use a gel.

You need a start battery isolated right? You don't want your electronics to get hammered right? And, you have a windlass, inverter, (in the case of the CR-25) thrusters, refer, down riggers, and for you southern folk, AC etc. etc.

In some cases, not all, 3 banks are good.

[thataway]

I attempt to size the charger so that with lead acid batteries it will give a max charge rate of no more than 25 % of the batteries capacity. Ie; a 100 amp battery would be charged at no more than 25 amps. The only reason to have a very high capacity charger is for very rapid charging batteries, which usually means limited run times on a generator. Either at anchor or in a sailboat where power is generated over a short time each day's genset run.

For large battery banks, I have used chargers up to 130 amps (Golf carts of 600 amp hours).

AGM batteries are more in favor than gel cells, because of a number of factors, including tolerance to higher voltages (one has to consider this very strongly if using outboards, or inboards without very sophisticated regulators). Many of the outboards charge at up to 14.4 volts--anything over 14 volts would ruin a gel battery in rapid order. So we have to select our batteries for what the charging sources are--both the 110 volt charger/and engines.

[mikeporterinmd]

[mikeporterinmd]

[dtol]

[mikeporterinmd]

Thanks for all the help. I ordered a Xantrex XC3012.

Mike

[thataway]

Smart chargers/regulators have been around for quite a while. Just having a "Smart Charger" will not necessarilly prevent over charging--one needs to be be able to either adjust the paremeters of charge and/or have temperature sensors. Even for the Xantrex XC series, a battery temperature sensor is strongly recommended. There are certainly several advantages of this charger, including very frequent voltage sensing checks as well as different parameters for the different battery banks. But not all chargers have this degree of sophistication. One needs to size the batteries and charger with the needs of the boat--a C Dory 22 generally has minimal battery needs--the C Ranger 25 may have far more, with larger refigeration and a windlass as well as thrusters, however all of these are small boats.

I cannot emphasize too much the problems which may occur using a gel cell with outboards--even most inboard engine alternator regulators are not suitable, unless you have all gel cells, with a special regulator. The AGM battery has pretty much replaced gel cells in recreational boats. Putting a high capacity (starting type) of battery up foreward for a thruster/windlass makes sense in larger boats, where there is a long run of wiring. I didn't get a look at the wiring to the thruster on the C Ranger 25 this weekend, but the bow thruster was very responsive, and some folks playing with it didn't time it out, so I suspect that the wiring was more than adequate. I prefer to keep weight out of the bow in a small boat because of the pitching and hobby horsing it can tend to create. I probably would start with the factory wiring and see if it is adequate. It makes sense to have one larger bank for the house system, than an extra battery for an appliance (Windlass or thruster) which may only be used a very small percent of the time in this size boat. It is difficult to know when to draw the line and put extra batteries foreward--and although we tend to think of the C Ranger 25 as a "trawler"--it is a planing hull, being run at semi displacement speeds so far.

[mikeporterinmd]

Well, as for the weight in the bow: I'll probably remove the 100'
of chain that's there right now and see what it weighs. 100% chain
isn't the best choice for an anchor line - at least on the Chesapeake.
It's also darned annoying to handle without a windlass. I'd hate to
mess with it in a hurry. I guess with gloves on, it would be OK.

I'll refresh myself on AGM vs. Gel vs. whatever other options there
are before I actually buy a windlass. I've pretty much spent the
budget for the time being.

Sure, a 22 is small, but it's dark, too. Needs more lights. And lights
with switches, too! And probably some 'red' lighting, too, for night
vision. And a stereo would be nice. And cockpit lighting. We like
to read outside, and for some reason we keep needing brighter and
brighter lighting to read by.

But, the reality is that refrigeration is what consumes the most
power, and if we get some sort of electrically powered fridge
setup - cooler, whatever, we will need something in the range of
2x27 or 31s (I don't know much about grp 31).

[mikeporterinmd]

Fans, too. It's nice to run a fan all day and night...they don't use a lot of power, but ...