Onboard Battery Charger Recommendations

[Cold Shot]

I'm looking for a new onboard battery charger for a 38' Luhrs. The old owner was going through batteries a lot. The boat has 2 new 8D batteries and a new 900 CCA battery for the generator. The generator is not purchased yet. The shore power cable and 50 amp fuse are new. The battery wiring and the wiring behind the panel still looks brand new. So I can only assume the culprit is a 25 year old battery charger. The lights on the charger also flicker a lot. The old charger specs are as follows:
AC Input

Volts 120V
Amps 10.0
Hz 60
Model VHD 1250


DC Output
Volts 12
Amps 50
Cells 6
Cell Type L.A.


Any recommendations for a quality charger that isn't over $500 would be great.


Thank,


Will

 

[LaBomba]

I have installed 2 ProNautic 1240P chargers on my last two boats with remote monitoring panel. They seem to work very well and don’t break the bank.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. CS. From what little I know that is a ferrite core charger and they are notorious for cooking batteries. You might want to look at cleaning up the wiring to your batteries as well.

 

[Northern Spy]

I'll second the ProNautic charger. Marinehowto.com (compass marine) has an excellent run down on Sterling chargers, including installation tips. Sterling's are marketed as ProNautic in much of North America.

 

[Comodave]

I have 2 Promariner chargers in my boat and had one in a previous boat. Really like them. I have a 15 amp charger for my stern thruster battery and a 60 amp one for my house and start batteries.

 

[JDCAVE]

Cold shot: I’ll let others answer the charging question, but I don’t really like all the cabling on your batteries. That’s really not a good idea. That should be done on a dedicated buss-bar with the appropriate fusing. Also, “wing nuts” are not a good idea on battery terminals.

Jim

 

[ranger58sb]

We have the original ProMariner 1240 (40A) charger, 17 years old, still working fine...

But we also just added a new ProMariner ProNautic 1260P (60A) which now includes several useful functions like settable charge profiles and a remote panel for some functions. So far, seems decent... but we don't have long-term info on it yet.

ProMariner's ProNautic-P and Sterling's Pro Charge Ultra are the same products.

-Chris

 

[C lectric]

I will second Jim Cave's comments.

I will also suggest that you better separate the two conductors on the top battery. NOW.

It looks to me like only a few wraps of electrical tape is keeping the wire terminals from wearing through and touching across from neg. to pos. That will provide a massive short circuit. Possibly a battery explosion.

Tape like that is no where near good enough.

Even if all you do is split a piece of hose lengthwise and secure it [Tyraps} so it is between the two conductors it will be a big improvement in safety. Then later you can sort out buss bars and some serious improvements.

 

[SteveK]

I will suggest an inverter/charger that has multi stage smart charging.

 

[EngNate]

I'll third both JD's comments and the Pro Nautic series chargers. I've now seen quite a few of them installed over several years, all doing a great job with no failures, even in commercial service.

 

[CMS]

I'll second the ProNautic charger. Marinehowto.com (compass marine) has an excellent run down on Sterling chargers, including installation tips. Sterling's are marketed as ProNautic in much of North America.

Sterlings are actually sold in North America. MarineHowTo.com and others are US based Sterling Power dealers. The two chargers were a joint design venture between ProMariner and Sterling Power.

This link may help with the installation:

Installing a Marine Battery Charger

The Sterling ProCharge Ultra is often a bit less $$ than the ProMariner's are, when purchased through a legitimate ProMariner dealer, not a gray market re-seller who may be selling you a product that is a factory second, returned item, a re-man or has no US warranty...

 

[Pete Meisinger]

I suspect the old charger was overcooking the batter banks. BUT... I have never had an 8D last over a couple years. Could be that I also had an old charger (which I have since replaced). Lets start a campaign to outlaw 8D's on trawlers, at least for owners over about 65 years old. Too damn heavy...

pete

 

[Baker]

I suspect the old charger was overcooking the batter banks. BUT... I have never had an 8D last over a couple years. Could be that I also had an old charger (which I have since replaced). Lets start a campaign to outlaw 8D's on trawlers, at least for owners over about 65 years old. Too damn heavy...

pete

Undercharging batteries will kill them as well...especially FLA batteries. If the OP had that 10amp charger on the 8Ds then that is likely the problem. Someone else commented that they never get more than a couple of years out of 8Ds. That is likely the result of undercharging. I have a friend that is marine electrician. He said it is not uncomon for him to do jobs similar to this. When he adds up all the loads on the DC system to be 50amps....and the battery charger is only 40amps....there's your problem. Mainstream boat manufacturers(ie Carver) are notorious for this. One of the jobs mentioned was a Carver 53 with only a 40 amp charger. They couldn't figure out why their batteries kept dying.... Interestingly, the 35 foot Carver I just sold had an 80amp Charles charger. That had to be an option as it looked OEM. But that is an excellent charger.

 

[Scottwb96]

I would check out craigslist/offerup/FB Market place. They have Magnum's, Mastervolts, Victrons on there all the time..

secondly, START OVER with all those cables!!! Are those even marine rated cables? Those lugs on the end DEF don't look like they are. They are also wrong sized lugs, you can see they are to big for the binding post if you look closely...

Here's a Blue Sea on for sale...

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/bpo/d/newberg-battery-charger-new-blue-seas/7081517869.html

 

[OldDan1943]

Cold shot: I’ll let others answer the charging question, but I don’t really like all the cabling on your batteries. That’s really not a good idea. That should be done on a dedicated buss-bar with the appropriate fusing. Also, “wing nuts” are not a good idea on battery terminals.

Jim

Jim when I looked at that picture, I thought "rat's nest" so I guess we agree.

Time to get a marine electrician out to replace the wires to the proper length.
Per the battery charger...... I too shall watch and learn.

 

[BruceK]

We have an ancient OEM ferro resonant charger I only use when onboard and cruising. In the marina the batts are well maintained by our solar array. I would not be confident using it on shorepower at the marina because of the overcharging reputation these chargers have but, on the hook it is a potent effective reliable charger despite it`s age and design.

 

[FF]

The problem could be the 8D batts. IF they are not deep cycle and are used as house batts they die early as most 8D are vehicle starting batts.

Start batts die rapidly if drawn down often.

 

[Vinny]

At work my towing company swears by 2 bank LaMarche Conastvolt chargers on their boats.

On my boat I using a 3 bank Samlex charger.

 

[Nepidae]

Your boat is a 1997, according to your profile, did the PO put an old charger in a new boat?

You also mention a charger, but presuming you may want to spend some time overnight on your 38' boat, you might also want to consider an inverter.

Your wiring & wing nuts were mentioned already, address those and would suggest that if you have wiring that looks like it does, you should have all wiring checked by a ABYC tech. Shore cords should be replaced with Smart Plugs as well.

Generators will cost you plenty, I looked and saw a $10-15K cost for our boat. We went for a larger house bank and Balmar charging equipment.

It all depends on the cruising and/or use you are putting your boat into, bare boat charter? Does the charter company have any say? Are you doing this on your own, did you consider liability?

Check on what the charter comp says or your lawyer for liability.

$500, you are dreaming. With all you should do you are looking at closer to 2 boat bucks without the generator.

Good luck.

 

[clyde]

hallo mr cold shot, several years ago, probly 5, i looked and looked, found a company by the name of...CHARLES INDUSTRIES, BOUGHT A 6O AMP from them...works great, even comensates for cold weather! guys name i dealt with, is LARRY BUDD @ 217) 932-5292...i have had other chargers over the years, but nothing like this!! good luck...clyde

 

[Scottwb96]

Here's another CL find for a GREAT charger (Mastervolt).

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/bpo/d/north-lakewood-mastervolt/7088093783.html

 

[Cold Shot]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I’ll make the changes on the terminals and add a buss bar with fuses. I went with the 50amp ProMariner. After installation and reading the manual I booted it up and chose the Power Supply Mode. It also had a Battery Charger Mode which is compliant with some California crap. On the power supply mode it comes on and starts charging at between14.4-14.7 volts. After a few hours I check the screen and it has gone down to 13.3 volts. I left and came back 2 days later and it read 0 volts on the screen. I checked both batteries with a volt meter and they were both down to 12.4v. I have to flip the breaker for it off and on again to initiate charging again. This has happened twice. Should I be using the Battery Charger Mode? I was told that in a power outage in the battery charger mode it will shut down and not reboot. The batteries are only 7 weeks old.

 

[Nepidae]

First, it would seem to me that charging should stop at 14.4 - 14.7V and kick back in again at 12.4V. Is your charge a 3 step charger, Bulk, Absorb & Float?

Second, you don't mention the size and batt type of the bank. I don't have a ProMariner so can't help with that. We have 6-L16 AGM batts.

Third, I don't know what gauge you are using to read the voltage, is it in the ProMariner or a stand alone. I have a Xantrex charger/inverter with a separate System Control Panel. With that I can set the lowest level I will allow the batts to get to before the batts are shut down or charging starts (I have 2 charging methods, currently).

We can get 2 full days out of our battery bank before they hit about 12.4V.

We'll be adding solar panel this yr and a Victron MPPT will control those thru the charger/inverter kicking in the solar when the batts level drops. BTW, all of this will be handled automatically based on the System Control Panel.

Here is a chart which gives you the charge levels for different battery chemistry;

State of Charge Sealed or Flooded Lead Acid battery voltage Gel battery voltage AGM battery voltage
100% 12.70+ 12.85+ 12.80+
75% 12.40 12.65 12.60
50% 12.20 12.35 12.30
25% 12.00 12.00 12.00
0% 11.80 11.80 11.80

You can see that at 12.4V you, with wet cells?, are at 50% which you shouldn't go lower without some battery damage.

It would seem your gauge is trying to tell you that is 0%, charge the batteries.

The chart above is 1 of several, another AGM chart shows 50% at @12.0V.

Hope this helps.

 

[OldDan1943]

Here's another CL find for a GREAT charger (Mastervolt).

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/bpo/d/north-lakewood-mastervolt/7088093783.html

"This page deleted by its author"

 

[Cold Shot]

What setting do you use for your house and starting batteries on the ProMariner PS or BC? I bought the 1250.

 

[OldDan1943]

Starting with about 13.4 volts. (3x4D house batteries) When I use my microwave and inverter, I see the voltage drop to about 11.5. When the micro wave finishes, (couple of minutes) the voltage bounces up to at least 12.5. I never watched to see how long it takes to get the voltage back up to 13+volts with the Xantex 40amp True Charge charger on shore power.

 

[CMS]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I’ll make the changes on the terminals and add a buss bar with fuses. I went with the 50amp ProMariner. After installation and reading the manual I booted it up and chose the Power Supply Mode. It also had a Battery Charger Mode which is compliant with some California crap. On the power supply mode it comes on and starts charging at between14.4-14.7 volts. After a few hours I check the screen and it has gone down to 13.3 volts. I left and came back 2 days later and it read 0 volts on the screen. I checked both batteries with a volt meter and they were both down to 12.4v. I have to flip the breaker for it off and on again to initiate charging again. This has happened twice. Should I be using the Battery Charger Mode? I was told that in a power outage in the battery charger mode it will shut down and not reboot. The batteries are only 7 weeks old.

If the charger is in PS mode, and that is happening, it is not working correctly. Did you buy it from a legitimate dealer?

 

[Cold Shot]

I bought it on Amazon

 

[CMS]

I bought it on Amazon

You'll likely need to return it, unless ProMariner tech support can help. Amazon offers zero support and the only option is usually a return.....

BTW what did you pay for the 1250P?

 

[Comodave]

Amazon has the 1250P for $491. Several choices but that was the cheapest one I saw.