Unattended Battery Smart Charger

[Norman_E]

If its the type of charger that I have for my garden tractor batteries it has one big drawback for unattended boat use. If there is a power cut, even for seconds, it switches off and does not switch back on again which could let your batteries discharge if nobody goes to check up occasionally.

 

[Caer Urfa]

I contacted Ctek back in 2014 when I first installed my charger to check was it ok to leave it on, never had a problem to date see copy of e-mail:

Sent: Tue 11/02/2014 12:48
To: Mike Newby
Ctekchargers.co.uk [sales@ctekchargers.co.uk]
Hello,

The charger can be left connected indefinitely, as long as the battery is within the charger's specification (ie. 100Ah or less).

You'll need a second charger to charge the second bank.

Kind Regards
Dominic


On 11/02/2014 11:40, Mike Newby wrote:
Good Morning

I have fitted a *C-Tec MXS 5.0* charger on my boat to charge the main
engine starter battery which at present I do when I am aboard, however
is it safe to leave this live charging when I am

away from the boat for three weeks at a time?

I also in future would like to charge both my engine starter battery
and the boats domestic battery at the same time, do I have to purchase
another charger or are there leads to connect to both

batteries and would the charger cope with this set up?

Look forward to hearing from you

Best Regards *Mike *

 

[[2574]]

My Victron charger has been on for the past decade except whilst we are away sailing. No problems to report as yet.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I do - that's economics not safety, the TV on "standby" consumes something like 80% of what it does when you're watching. And how come, if this is standby, does it take just as long to start as if switched on from cold?

I don't believe that. It may once have been true, but it's now become a standard piece of greenwash mantra whose veracity nobody actually questions. Such a telly would, as I understand it, be illegal in Germany and various other places, and since the manufacturers want to sell the same product worldwide, they ensure that their standby meets the low-energy requirements on all models.

I think the claim was about energy rather than power: a TV on standby consumes much less than a TV running but the average TV is on standby for around five times as long as it is being used (the Jeremy Kyle watching classes aside).

 

[Fendant]

My Sterling Pro Charge Ultra is always on when I am docked.
Except the fridge ( I like to have a cold whitewhine/beer or ice cubes for G&T when I get to the boat on Friday evening ) everything else electric is off, when I am not on baord.
We had power cuts, due to some stupid DIY boater, who plugged his self wired power cord into the outlet and blew the fuse. The Sterling came on again after power was restored.

 

[[2574]]

My Sony tv would use 2.4kw per annum whilst in standby mode, about 44p per year I reckon.

 

[JumbleDuck]

My Sony tv would use 2.4kw per annum whilst in standby mode, about 44p per year I reckon.

I think the expensive ones to keep on stand by were later CRT ones which kept the tube filament hot or warm all the time. There is no reason why a modern LCD TV should use more on standby than a tablet, since the electronics are basically the same.

 

[KellysEye]

I left a 240v smart charger on with no problems, however a galvanic isolator must be fitted. If there is a problem the RCD will trip, the same is true if you are charging in garage.

 

[Chris_Robb]

This is my thoughts based on experience of a Sterling Pro Charge Ultra. I used to leave it on all the time (wet cell, lead acid batteries, not sealed) and I was very impressed with the the fact that I had fully charged batteries when I went down to the boat. What I failed to appreciate was that the water level in the batteries dropped faster than I had been used to. The end result was that I ruined the batteries. Of course if I was frequently down at the yacht, then I could have topped the batteries up more often had I been aware. I work away from home month on month off, so the charger was left on for at least 6 weeks between visits.

What I understand now is that smart chargers are very good at rapidly charging the battery, compared to non smart and basic engine driven alternators / regulators. It is therefore easier to have batteries in a good state of charge which allows them to be left for a period of weeks without any charger being left switched on.

It could be that my issue is entirely down to infrequent monitoring of cell levels and that had I kept them topped up and left the charger on all the time, then there would have been no issue. I never experienced any overheating problems and the summers do get reasonably warm, the yacht side was facing southwards and the locker where the charger was mounted did get warm. My charger had a fan in it.

For next season I am replacing all my batteries and my plan is to charge them fully, use the boat, then charge them fully back at the marina and then switch of the charger between visits.

I had the same set up and the batteries went completely dry in 4 months. If you are anywhere sunny a far better solution would be a solar panel through a proper regulator. Or use a time switch to run the charger for a set period of time once every 2 weeks. You cannot run them for just an hour a day as they go into equalization mode on start up, and you don't want to do that every day