3 output Victron charger

[Plevier]

Getting back to brass tacks. My book of words makes reference along the lines of...

"
The starter battery is subject to 2 conditions of use.
1. Shallow discharge due to starting the engine once or twice a day.
2. No discharge at all.

In practice however the starter battery will very often be charged in parallel with the house battery, which is acceptable as long as the right type of battery is used and some decrease of service life is accepted.
"

So basically using the Victron charger as the OP has, with 3 isolated outputs - it needs 1 to house and 1 to engine. The last output remains unconnected as bridging not needed on this type of charger.

Batteries sit on the same charge stage until all the batteries are happy then move on to the next stage until it reaches the last state of charge.... lounging about waiting to be used. If the charger is still on when power is used then the Victron will act as a power supply until you really hit it hard, then power is also taken from the batteries.

The last few words make it clear that there could be a reduction in service life of the engine battery. So by that we conclude that using the Victron charger as a multi isolated output charger can be used to charge a high turnover domestic bank and a very rarely used starter bank but the starter bank may have a shorter lifespan.l

Just so. To forestall a possible response, yes it is "may" not "will", depending on the particular circumstances.

 

[Plevier]

I can't help but wonder why some people feel the need to constantly charge their engine battery, do they plug the car in every time they park it for a week? My car battery when disconnected will still start the car after many months and once reconnected and engine started, is topped up in no time. Boat engine batteries (assuming dedicated to engine, no domestic use) are usually under engine charge into marina and then isolated with no loads until next use so, why the need to have connected to a charger for week or 3 standing?

Agreed. Normal industry recommendation for stored batteries is recharge 6 monthly.
In practise I tend to give the engine battery a bit of charge time monthly or so. The rest of the time I isolate it from the mains charger.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Just so. To forestall a possible response, yes it is "may" not "will", depending on the particular circumstances.

LOL he said the same as i said back in post #14, the charger goes through its stages then sits on float acting as a power supply.

 

[Plevier]

LOL he said the same as i said back in post #14, the charger goes through its stages then sits on float acting as a power supply.

PaulRainbow, why don't you read and think about what people actually write instead of dashing off arrogant responses to what you would like them to have written?
It's clear that you are highly competent across a number of subjects and capable of giving good advice in general, but you are neither omniscient nor infallible and your attitude to others can frequently be quite unpleasant, and I'm not the first to say that.
I'm not going to start arguing with you word by word and I stand by everything I have written in this thread if taken in the correct context.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

Batteries and chargers are evidently the new anchors. Thanks for all the enlightening responses and the entertainment. Now can everyone just calm down a bit?

 

[RIBW]

Thanks for all the ...... entertainment. Now can everyone just calm down a bit?

+1
I used to participate on a satellite system design review meeting. We dreaded getting to the agenda item 'Power Supplies' because we knew every T, D & H would have an opinion and it would take ages compared to the discussion on say the 'Attitude Control system'. It seems not much has changed?
Cheers
Bob

 

[lw395]

I can't help but wonder why some people feel the need to constantly charge their engine battery, do they plug the car in every time they park it for a week? My car battery when disconnected will still start the car after many months and once reconnected and engine started, is topped up in no time. Boat engine batteries (assuming dedicated to engine, no domestic use) are usually under engine charge into marina and then isolated with no loads until next use so, why the need to have connected to a charger for week or 3 standing?

In my experience, there are a lot of boats around where for various reasons (or not), the engine battery has high self-discharge, and isn't great at starting the engine after say 3 weeks of not being used. Certainly my RIB battery needs topping up or after not using it for 6 weeks I'll be in trouble.
And yes I do plug my car in from time to time, as sometimes I use it very little and the electronics seem to flatten it.

I think, once you've abused a battery, self discharge can be a lot more. Not sure why, but I've seen quite small motorbike batteries on float charge taking tens of milliamps continuously.

 

[noelex]

I can't help but wonder why some people feel the need to constantly charge their engine battery, do they plug the car in every time they park it for a week?

Lead acid battery life is longer if the batteries are given a periodic (for example once a month) charge to 100%. This is especially true for AGM batteries.

Many cars and motor boats with their long engine run times achieve this (or close to it), but yachts that rely only the engine alternator for charging the start battery often do not. It needs a long charge time to achieve 100% SOC. Start batteries are not expensive and it is perfectly acceptable to put up with a shorter life, but it is not difficult to hook up a small smart charger to the start battery so the battery receives this periodic 100% charge when connected to shore power. As well as the cost savings, it reduces the hassle of start battery replacement.

The only downside is when a battery has only just been removed from charge, if it has reached the end of its life it will often start an engine without hinting that there is a problem. This means even if the battery is in poor shape it will start the engine in the marina and the first failure is more likely to occur when out on the water or at anchor when the battery has not received any charge for some time. A battery that fails in the marina, before the trip, is probably better, although the house bank provides a back up to start the engine in these situations.

 

[GrahamM376]

In my experience, there are a lot of boats around where for various reasons (or not), the engine battery has high self-discharge, and isn't great at starting the engine after say 3 weeks of not being used. Certainly my RIB battery needs topping up or after not using it for 6 weeks I'll be in trouble.
And yes I do plug my car in from time to time, as sometimes I use it very little and the electronics seem to flatten it.

Modern car's electronics will flatten batteries, that's why I disconnect mine when being left for months.

As far as boat boat batteries are concerned, in common with thousands of others, we've had moorings for 25 years and have managed well without the ability to plug in, even before solar panels became popular.

 

[Caladh]

Dear all,
I thought I'd ask the manufacturer a question. The interchange follows.
[I am only an observer in this exchange, so no flak please. Personally, I will be fitting each battery bank with a separate charger.]

Me: I have read the manual but I am confused about how to charge two separate banks of batteries using two of the 3 outputs. If the battery on one output (e.g. the engine starter battery) achieves full charge, what is applied to the battery (say, a 20% discharged 'house' battery) ?

Victron: It is like with Communicating Vessels, the battery with the lowest SOC will get the most current .

Me: So if I read your answer together with the 'ABS' paragraph in the manual, a fully charged battery could have the ABS voltage applied for up to 8 hours after it is fully charged. That is, all outputs have the same voltage and the fully charged battery will not be floated until the discharged batteries have been fully charged?

Victron: correct when one battery is fully charged the absorption voltage will* only go to float when both batteries has filled up, but this will be no problem , because the current is low .

Cheers
Bob

Interestingly I posed the same question by email to Charles Sterling Jnr and got .....no response. I'm therefore assuming my Pro Charge is not as clever as I thought it was......

 

[lw395]

Modern car's electronics will flatten batteries, that's why I disconnect mine when being left for months.

As far as boat boat batteries are concerned, in common with thousands of others, we've had moorings for 25 years and have managed well without the ability to plug in, even before solar panels became popular.

I remember 20-odd years ago, taking the batteries home alternately in the dinghy to give them a proper charge. We also used honking great truck batteries and our 1B2 switches to start a baby diesel engine. We would also sail off our swinging mooring to go racing when the motor didn't start.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Interestingly I posed the same question by email to Charles Sterling Jnr and got .....no response. I'm therefore assuming my Pro Charge is not as clever as I thought it was......

The Sterling charger will go through its stages until the batteries are fully charged, it will then be in float mode. It will happily sit at float mode, maintaining the batteries and running any loads that you switch on, as a power supply. If, for instance, the charger is outputting 0.2a to the batteries and you turn 4a of lights on, the charger will output 4.2a, 4a for the lights and the same 0.2a into the batteries. Unless your loads exceed the rated output of the charger the batteries will not deplete and the charger will continue in float mode. The Pro Charge Ultra also has a standby mode, which i won't go into as it is well documented.