Mastervolt Battery charger replacement

[Ian MacAulay]

Good evening,

I have a 100a Mastervolt charger with 3 outs that we believe is faulty now.

I have my large ish domestic bank that the main 100a goes to and then a 10 amp to the starboard side bank for engine start only and then a 10a to the bow thruster batter to keep that topped up too.

Now I've got to replace it im real stuck with what route to go down. Do I buy the replacement chargemaster plus wit 3 outputs for all 3 banks or do I scrap charging the starboard and bow thruster bank and go with a combi charger that incorporates a 3000w inverter and just 1 100a output to charge the main port side domestic bank. The stb side and bow thruster are charged while running by the stb engine alternator. I have a 8kva genny onboard that I can use on the odd occasion we are at anchor and we need to cook or boil a kettle ect, Both chargers are about the same price but real stuck with best option to suit me.

Thanks

Ian

 

[Ian MacAulay]

One thing to mention is that some marinas we visit only supply a 16a supply that we often trip, with the Combi charger it has a feature that it will help when we require more demand... May be a plus point for choosing a Combi

 

[jrudge]

Bart has one for sale or did.

Clever kit but pricey

 

[crossy]

One thing to mention is that some marinas we visit only supply a 16a supply that we often trip, with the Combi charger it has a feature that it will help when we require more demand... May be a plus point for choosing a Combi

I fitted a victory Multiplus to our Sunseeker when the old charger gave up after a conversation with Bart.

It’s been brilliant and as you say, allows us to top up when we need more than 16 amp. The inverter is also more useful than I had realised when underway and at anchor for the low draw stuff like TV’s and Wi-fi etc.

I also fitted a smaller (30a iirc) Victron charger to keep the starter banks topped up.

 

[BartW]

The Victron Multiplus aswell as the Victron Quattro
both have a extra output for topping up a second battery bank,

these units can indeed deliver extra power from the batt's in addition to a preset max current from shore supply.
(you have to add the Digital Multi Contron panel , for setting the max curent)

other simple solutions for your truster batts:
- connect them in parallel to the engine bank (is there really need to separate them, thruster is mostly used when engines are running... )
- add a cyrix combiner

difference between multiplus and quattro is: the quattro has 2 x AC inputs, one for shore power and one for genny power,
(all AC coonections to one box)
but appart from that, they are the same.
if interested I still have a used Quattro 24V/5Kw. in perfect condition.

 

[Ian MacAulay]

Good morning


What a shame your one is 24v otherwise I would of taken that off you.

My bow thruster battery is up front with a 10a supply to keep it topped up. It's then connected to the domestic bank with a relay off the ingnition switch so when it's running it can get draw more power from a 95mm supply straight from the domestic bank. The domestic bank I've kept totally isolated as it's a all mastervolt AGM bank with a shunt device so I can totally keep a eye on what I'm using. My thought now is to get a combi charger 100a for my domestic and a small 10-25a charger for the STB bank. I will keep the thruster battery uncharged as when the engines are running the relay is closed then it's charging, all that battery is for is to beef things up as I was getting a large volt drop before.

The Victron Multiplus aswell as the Victron Quattro
both have a extra output for topping up a second battery bank.

these units can indeed deliver extra power from the batt's in addition to a preset max current from shore supply.
(you have to add the Digital Multi Contron panel , for setting the max curent)

other simple solutions for your truster batts:
- connect them in parallel to the engine bank (is there really need to separate them, thruster is mostly used when engines are running... )
- add a cyrix combiner

difference between multiplus and quattro is: the quattro has 2 x AC inputs, one for shore power and one for genny power,
(all AC coonections to one box)
but appart from that, they are the same.
if interested I still have a used Quattro 24V/5Kw. in perfect condition.

 

[BartW]

The Victron Multiplus can perfectly charge your domestic batt, AND top up the engine batt, with the second DC output.
while keeping the cirquits separated.

3000W invertor is unrealistic from a 12V battery !
I would consider 1600W or 2000W at the max,
realise that a 230V 1500W load creates 125 Amps load on the 12V domestic battery bank,
I don't know your batt. capacity; apart from draining the batt's very quickly, this curent is dangerously high !
(risc of sparks or overheating parts of the cabling and contacts)

a shunt device (battery monitor!?) is very good to have,
I would alway's recommand that.

 

[Ian MacAulay]

I have 3x 270ah mastervolt battery's with temp sensors, i thought 3000va was rather large too but I know how sensitive inverters can be with start up load I rater go bigger to allow start up of some items and the occasional kettle boil for short duration.

I've decided to stick with Mastervolt due to having their screen, shunt, and sensors already installed on the mastersbus network. I have spoken to the local dealer who's said to hold off for now on the second charger for the stb side bank as Mastervolt are bringing out a new charger that works with the combi charger so may be a good option for me. Seeing as this may be a option soon I've decided the combi charger is a good route for me to go as like I mentioned before we are often tripping the 16a supply at marinas we visit and that becomes rather annoying.

Currently I've wired my charge circuits in 35mm2 so I will change these to some 70mm2 as im moving over to the combi, the runs only about 1-1.5m so should not be too much of a issue there.

thanks again

Ian