Battery Charger recommendations

[Ephesian]

One of the things on the winter project list is to install a battery charger. So recommendations welcome, however ..

I have two battery banks: domestic is good old fashioned wet lead acid 220Ah (actually 2*110 Ah in parallel). Engine start is AGM. should I worry about the charger being able to handle both (can they?) or should I just connect it to the domestics on the basis that the engine battery will pretty much always get recharged after a few minutes of engine.

Secondly I want to mount the charger somewhere out of the way, in a locker or under a bunk. Do they typically need good ventilation?

I was looking at Ctek which get good reviews on the forums, but they don't seem to come with a remote display/control, so not sure they are great for mounting somewhere not easy to get to.

Finally, the boat typically gets plugged in to shore power then left for the week. I assume all decent chargers are good to be left connected like this?

 

[SJF]

Should I worry about the charger being able to handle both (can they?) or should I just connect it to the domestics on the basis that the engine battery will pretty much always get recharged after a few minutes of engine.

Ours is only connected to the domestic bank and that seems to work ok leaving the engine start battery to only be charged by the alternator. In the event that the start battery was flat I would just use the domestics to start it anyway.

Secondly I want to mount the charger somewhere out of the way, in a locker or under a bunk. Do they typically need good ventilation?

Our CTEK M200 (15A) charger gets pretty warm even just providing a float charge so I would be concerned about it not having good ventilation. I believe the manual does state that it needs good ventilation (as I think you'll find most do).

I was looking at Ctek which get good reviews on the forums

Been very happy with ours, used it when we've visited places with power available (not available on our home berth) and its always allowed us to leave with a fully charged domestic bank (180Ah) by the morning and has normally switched to a float charge before bed time whilst still keeping the fridge, lights and other items running.

Simon

 

[Tranona]

There are plenty of suitable chargers. You need something like a 25 or 30 amp multistage charger with 3 outputs that can be set to charge specific types of batteries. I have a Cheapy (relatively) Synergex 25 amp less than £200 for a start battery and a 270 AH house bank. Yes they need ventilation but mine is in an under bunk locker with vents on the side panel. Don't mess about with low power single output chargers - much better to bite the bullet and get the proper thing. Barden, Merlin, Furneaux Riddell and no doubt others will have a choice.

 

[BabaYaga]

I have a similar battery setup (3 x 80 AH wetcells domestic, small AGM starter) and have used a ctek 25 A charger for several years. It has performed very well.
One reason for choosing the ctek was the good IP rating, which means it is OK to install it in a (sometimes wet) cockpit locker. This is a better option, I think, than mounting it under a bunk, where the noise from the fan could be a problem. However, the current model M300 has a silent night mode (fan off), but the charging will be slower.
I would argue that the benefit of a multi output charger might not be so great. I have wired my old, simple 10 A charger to the starter battery and it seems it gets used only once or twice a year, during winter layup.
In line with this idea I think the ctek is (or was) sold with a small separate charger for the starter battery, but I don't no if that is still the case.

 

[SimonP85]

I also need to upgrade our charger and was considering one by Sterling - anyone with any experience of these?