Battery Chargers

[ianhud]

Need to get a mains charger for my yacht. Have 2 batterys.
Any advise on what charger to buy, and charge rate would be helpful.
Money, as always with boat owner tight, but dont want to buy something cheap only to find out not a lot of good.

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[Guest]

Many people for many years have used good old Halfords / Car accessory shop chargers and a trailing lead / mains supply to the boat to power. Most have found it adequate and not seen need to do much else.
With the increase of items fitted to boats and the increased load on batterys .... some have had to look at this more seriously. Various chargers are now available on the market that have constant current, constant voltage etc. etc. Steppable charging rates as well.

The caravan market revolutionised the market with the appearance of such items as Zig Panels - they are something else and marine versions soon appeared. (I don't know what difference there is between 'em ?)

So for a guy like me - even when I was using my boat a lot more - I had a common Argos special Charger slung under the bunk ready for when I tied up ina marina and connected my shore lead. A 5W trickle solar panel charging the battery while I was away, kept it up and ready to go ...., inboard engine standard alternator to On-Both-On-Off switch.

I have only changed battery once in 5 years .... out of the two on board.

So you will get all sorts of advice that takes you from simple spectrum - as me ..... to the keep it charged at all costs serious level. They are all valid - the point is WHAT do you require ?

Is it weekending and boat stays in marina through week - with occasional longer trips ? My set-up does it.
Is it more than that with all sorts of electrical accessories like cold-box's, stereos etc. etc. - then the upgraded serious route is more relevant.

So there you are - you have to give us a clue as to the amount of load you are going to put on your battery set-up and frequency of use .... then a more tailored answer can be given.

Phew ...... I can have a rest now .......


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html>http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html</A> For all those disbelievers ! /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

 

[VicMallows]

Can only echo everything Nigel has said, including the fact that those with money they can't otherwise use will all be telling you to buy some fancy switched-mode charger......along with galvanic isolators (this year's in-thing??) etc, etc.

Vic

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[andyball]

echo Nigel's views.

If you do decide you need an x Amps charger, bear in mind that many cheap & not so cheap ones will almost never produce their claimed output current. A 4 Amp charger I use at home (not bad quality) puts out well under 2Amps once the battery voltage reaches 13V & drops quickly from there, this even with large batteries.

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[charles_reed]

If you are prepared to monitor your system voltage and be on hand to turn the charger off then by all means use a standard car-type charger.

If, however, you want to leave the battery to charge you need to get a pulse-charger or a switch-mode charger.

Taking the well-meant advice posted in this thread could result in a very large expenditure on replacement batteries, if you do leave them to charge over long periods.

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[VicMallows]

Charles,

Don't know when you last bought one, but even the cheapos from halfords switch down to 13.8v these days (yes, I was surprised .... still using the brute-force one I built 40 years ago). I agree they will take a long, long time to really fully charge the battery.

Vic

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[HenryB]

Gunson make a cheap charger which can safely be left in permanent float mode so that it never cooks your batteries. All for about £20 from Argos. I must admit that I don't use it on my boat which has a solar panel and regulator but I do at home on a battery used for test equipment.

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[Guest]

OK - lets correct my post !

I didn't mean to imply that the charger should be left on while boat unattended ..... that is taken care of by the trickle charger solar panel ..... available for 24.99 at friendly car accessory shops ......

The serious charging is only done while on board - or when you know that next day you will be on board again.

I did at one stage experiment with a 7-day time switch that switched the cahrger on for short periods each day and rested the battery for long periods between .... it worked very well - but I stopped as I was concerned at leaving it for long periods unattended ...... now I have an alternative system that adds to my simple set-up .....


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html>http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html</A> For all those disbelievers ! /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

 

[halcyon]

The size of charger depends on battery size, ignor loads ( unless you plan to sit in a marina all day ) and fit a charger equal to 10% of your battery bank. If you have a 100 amp hour battery, fit a 10 amp charger, remember cheap charger's are rated RMS, about twice the average current, thus 10 amp will give you around 5 amp. If you have a split charge relay that is bi-directional you are ok with a single output, otherwise charge one bank at a time. The thing to remember is not to leave it on all the time, or you can badly boil the batteries, also a lot of cheap chargers claim to have automatic control, still to find it in some.



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[VicS]

Nothing to add to what others have said except welcome to the forum.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>

 

[Guest]

Keep it simple ....

The biggest heartache is when you go fancy .,.... marine items like to be simple and repairable with a set of pliers, screwdriver and sticky tape !!!

OK - I'm joking here - but so many boats I have seen with all singing dancing set-ups that if anything goes wrong - boy its a nightmare. My present boat - its nav lights have stopped working .... of course the wiring is buried under headlining .... passes through rail tubes, you cannot ID which cable goes where ..... UGH !!!!!! I think I'll just buy a set of battery lights and do like my mate and clip those on instead !!!!

So keep it simple, keep it good .....

Oh yes - some may laugh at this one - but for me it has proved invaluable - buy a LED Battery / alternator tester from Halfords / Les Smiths .... 9.99 - shows charge and battery state .....


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
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[ianhud]

Re: Keep it simple ....

Thanks for advise. Halfords here i come!!

Ian

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