Battery Charger - Victron Centaur or Sterling Pro Charge Ultra

Richard10002

Richard10002

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The Victron Centaur has a 3 stage charging profile which seems to have a fixed 4 hour absorption charging time, whereas the Sterling Pro Charge Ultra seems to have an adaptive absorption charging time.

The adaptive seems to be preferable as Victron have it in their more expensive Phoenix models.

I've been a Sterling fan for a while, but Victron seems to be a higher quality brand, and I've just had a bad experience with a refurbished Sterling product. New products have a 2 year warranty, so I am leaning towards the Sterling.

Given that I can buy a Centaur 60A or a Pro Charge Ultra 60A for about the same price, £425, is Victron quality preferable to the better charging profile?

I can't justify £600+ for Mastervolt, or for the Victron Phoenix.

NB adaptive charging seems to be where the absorption phase is set at a multiple of the bulk phase, rather than a fixed period.

The answer could be "How long is a piece of string?", or "its the luck of the draw". Searches suggest that some favour one and some the other, and there don't seem to be repeated issues with either brand, but I'd appreciate some up to date thoughts.

Many Thanks
 
Richard,

I can't offer any technical opinion on the merits. I bought a 24V version of the Pro Charge Ultra and have been very happy with it. My boat sits for long periods unused when I am at work and I keep it plugged in all the time. My battery bank is about 5 years and was always in some sort of state of discharge that limited its ability. Anyway, after fitting the charger the batteries have a new lease of life, as one would expect. I would say that the feature (can't remember the name) which de sulphantes the plates has been a wonder. The batteries actually hold their charge for longer. However, that could also be because they are now actually charged. I can recommend the Pro Charge Ultra series.

Regards,

BlowingOldBoots
 
Having inherited a couple of multi output charges which eventually bust, I now have 2 single output (switchable 3/4 stage) chargers, one for each domestic bank. Bought from caravan shop, cheaper than chandlers and, if one goes down I can parallel the 2 banks on one charger.

Very disappointed when I stripped the multi-output chargers, they were both single output split to 3 outputs via diodes so, all banks got the same charging regime regardless of state.
 
I think I'd go for the Victron, which looks to me to be a better quality product. Victron equipment generally is highly regarded and fitted by better quality boatbuilders. The Sterling products are, I'm sure, mainly satisfactory (after all, the ProCharge Ultra is a rebadged ProNautic), but I'm always put off by Sterling's lousy documentation, spelling errors, ugly graphics, etc.

If you decide to go for the Victron, it's only £391 here.
 
I have just had a Victron Phoenix fitted to replace one that failed. I was informed that it was the one (of the Victron range) I should choose if I ever intended to leave the batteries on charge unattended for any length of time.
 
joha said:
+ 1 for CTek. Conect and forget, had a bad experiance witrh Sterling.
Click to expand...

CTek do look good, and read well, but I've got a mobitronic 25A charger, which is fine...

What I want is something that pumps more amps in faster. CTek have a max of 25A as far as I can tell.

I use a generator to charge, rather than being plugged in to shore power 24/7, so speed is important
 
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