Raymarine Smart Controller/Charging Battery

[anniebray]

This is the remote control for my autopilot. The battery is flat & I would like to recharge it at home as my boat is 1 hours journey away. I have a spare Raymarine socket & lead (3 cores...red black yellow). Does anyone know the appropiate charging voltage ? I'm hoping it is nominally 12v because I have a Gunson Automatic charger which has a permanent float switch presummably 14.5v

 

[sailorman]

raymarine site download /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Chris_Robb]

call them onRaymarine Company Anchorage Park, Portsmouth PO3 5TD, England Tel +44 (0)23 9269 3611

 

[anniebray]

Thanks ! I did just contact Raymarine Technical by phone. OK to charge at max House Battery voltage which in my case is 14.5v as I have maintenace free batteries. I was advised to incorporate a 3amp fuse for protection. So I shall connect my charger across a 12v battery & connect the smart controller (c/w fuse) in parallel with that.

 

[JerryHawkins]

A side issue - we have this unit too and I find the batteries don't last long on a charge and they run down by themselves within a week with the unit switched off. How do you get on?

 

[anniebray]

Hi Jerry.
I've also noticed the charge doesn't hold for long though never measured it ! The Raymarine teccy said the batteries were quite tough & he thought might last 1000 cycles. I have a spare lead so I could fix up to charge from a 12v socket rather than turn on all of the instrumentation for that purpose. Charge time is 5 hours.