Advice on a battery charger please

[Colvic Watson]

Tech details:

2 domestic batteries, 105ah and 75ah, no starter battery (10hp o/b). Two other batteries of approx 70ah each used for electric outboard and other stuff. All semi sealed.

The domestic batteries take a hammering with the inverter from time to time and lots of other 12v stuff so I like to keep them up to scratch. This has been easy so far because we rarely stray from marinas. 2010 is going to be different with 5 weeks away from anything but occasional shore power. We will carry a good quality 240v genny with us to heat the water and charge the batteries twice a day. But our very reliable Halfords charger only produces 5amps so it would mean having the genny on for about 10 hours to keep up!!! I reckon we need to put in 50amps a day so questions are:

1. Can those batteries handle 25 amps?
2. What's the best charger to get?

Thanks as always, Simon

 

[mitiempo]

Hi
Flooded lead acid batteries will accept 25% approximately of their amp hours in bulk charge mode, so a 100 amp battery will accept 25 amps. Amperage higher than 25% is wasted but will do no damage as the battery will only accept so much and after it passes the 80% charged point it will accept less, the last 20 taking quite a few hours in first absorption mode, and finally the last bit at a trickle. As I'm not local I'll leave the charger recommendation to someone else.

 

[kiboteam]

Sterling chargers are excellent value. Moreover they are powerpacks, so once the battery is charged properly (UIUO stages) it will serve as a power pack to feed all your instruments without over charging your batteries.