Shopping for a new charger

Just installed a new house bank consisting of six 220ah golf cart batteries. I'd now like to upgrade to a smart charger. What would the collective wisdom here recommend?

Boydster said:

Just installed a new house bank consisting of six 220ah golf cart batteries. I'd now like to upgrade to a smart charger. What would the collective wisdom here recommend?

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Just upgraded to a Charles 60 amp.

IOTA, with the smart regulator - check ebay for prices

bshanafelt said:

IOTA, with the smart regulator - check ebay for prices

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Same here... It's not "marinized" but it's a darn good charger for FAR less money. Quiet, cool, doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but I am happy with it.

The charles Industry charger are among the best chargers made.

Its pretty rare to hear of one failing.

We have the new digital unit as our engine and gen battery charger, with a switch to provide backup power if the inverter/charger dies.

Since we're taking a vote, I vote for Newmar Phase Three chargers. They are very reliable and their three phase charging seems to make batteries last as well. They are common on commercial vessels as they meet
American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) standards.
Battery Chargers

Thanks for the advice all, but I suppose I wasn't very clear in my initial post. What I was looking for, besides brand recommendations was what kind of amperage should I be looking for?
My old "dumb" charger was around 125 amps, considering I'm now running smaller capacity batteries than before, do I need a smart charger with that kind of rating?

My old "dumb" charger was around 125 amps, considering I'm now running smaller capacity batteries than before, do I need a smart charger with that kind of rating?

Depends on what you need the charger to do.

If you are mostly dockside and just need to keep up DC loads 20-40A will be plenty.

Remember it has 24 at all times hours to charge .

If you spend loads of time in the hook,with std wet batts, and need a rapid recharge of your house set (3-5 hours noisemaker in 24) selecting a percentage of the house batt capacity works best.

Usually 20% works well IF the charger is a smart unit.

Only if you have AGM would a larger charger be required as they will absorb more from a deeper discharge state .

Big AGM is best recharged with a 135A or larger alternator with smart V regulator.

FF

You need not less than 66A output and no more than 130A (assuming your golf cart batteries are flooded-acid and not AGM). I'd go for a 100A charger and de-rate it to, say 80A so it is never working hard. Victron Centaur chargers are very smart and super reliable. Alternatively, consider a Victron 'combi' inverter/charger: auto-regulates charging depending on what inverter loads are on. MasterVolt also make chargers and combi's which are high quality. Every bit as important as the charger is a battery monitor: again, Victron and MasterVolt are superior in my experience. (No affiliation, etc)

Charles Ind are ok but old-fashioned and heavy; same with Newmar. Stay away from Xantrex