Dolphin Battery Chargers - Any good?

MacYottie

MacYottie

New Member
Joined
22 Feb 2005
Messages
12
www.seaspirit.co.uk
Hi

Looking to purchase a Dolphin 30A battery charger to charge 2x 105Ah Domestic and a 105Ah Starter batteries - anybody have any experience of them or know anything I should before I purchase?

The dimensions are a better fit than the Sterling equivalent in our Vancouver 28.

TIA
 
We have the 40Amp version of Merlin's own take on Dolphin (Syncrocharge) - budget metal outer case with Dolphin innards. I think this allows them to be closer in price to Sterling which are made in the Far East. No idea whether Merlin's argument about the superior quality of Dolphin is true - I got this one as part of a larger package from Merlin at the SBS. I only fitted it in October but so far so good. It's very quiet in operation (compared to the buzz of the old transformer based charger). The fan only comes on when it's putting out more than 15-20A (which is less than 10 min usually) and as the charger is under the bunk in the aft cabin (Moody) it's important that it's quiet. When turned on it ramps slowly to 14.4V then floats back to 13.2V (AGM setting). It feels like a quality item.

Unless the charger is going to be visible you might want to look at the Synchrocharge as they are somewhat cheaper for essentially the same thing. Not an option if it's going to be on show though - they're not particularly pretty.
 
V happy with ours....

When I took the cover off to wire in the battery cables, I was impressed with the solid construction of the internals.... all heavy duty.....

Ours has run pretty much continually for a year now, and the batteries have remained nicely charged, and it hasn't missed a beat....
 
I have a 15A charger for 2*70A batteries. Much better states of charge than alternater or 'car' type charger. Also agree with the 'inside' looking well made.
 
I have the 20amp version installed in boat from new. 2 x output model charging 2x140 and 1x140 Ah batteries. It is on virtually continuously when boat is moored. Works well. Had no problems.

David
 
I bought a Dolphin charger form Merlin, has worked flawlessly so far, batteries are constantly topped up.

I had a bit of confusion about the AGM setting though, they dont have an AGM setting specified in the manual, and the Gel program is not suitable for AGM ) - I think I recall the recommendation was to use maintenance free battery setting, and this suited my particular battery manufacturers recommended charge regime to about .10 of a volt.
When I called Merlin, it turned out there seemed to be a 'translation' issue in the english verison of the original French manual. If you have AGM batteries, check about the program settings...
 
How do you find Merlin as a company?

I'm having great problems communicating with them via email - they don't seem to like email! I've had one reply to about 6 emails - maybe there all away on holiday...

I'm looking to buy a lot of kit (including a Synchrocharge), but I may have to take my business elsewhere.

Jerry
 
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