Battery Charger

[Viper]

Check simple things first; ensure all the batteys' fluids are topped up and check to make sure that you have good, clean, tight connections both at the batteries and the charger (charge wires and battery cables). Try swapping the output to that bank and see if anything changes. It could be an issue with that bank's output in the charger or an issue with one of the batteries. If you get the same symtom when you swap the charger's output to that bank, try isolating batteries in that bank by taking one battery out at a time, retry and see if the symtom goes away after a particular battery is disconnected. A good electronic battery tester will also tell you if you have a problem with one of your batteries.

Is your charger temperature compensated, does it have a temp probe hooked up to one of the batteries? If not, feel all the batteries while charging and see if any of them are getting hot. Are all 3 banks of the charger actually being used/hooked up? Isolate the outputs too by disconnecting one bank at a time and retry in case one of them is faulty and causing the charger to short cycle. Check your installation instructions re hook-up though, the older chargers required all outputs/banks to be hooked up or jumped at the charger if you weren't using one of the outputs, hense my question above. The other item to check is internal circuit protection in the charger. I had a similar issue on a vessel and ran into a poor connection at a bank's fuse holder in the charger. The holder was a little corroded and caused intermittent operation.

[feeez]

Thanks Viper... I will add the below too my trouble shooting list for the spring.

Fraser

Viper wrote:
> Check simple things first; ensure all the batteys' fluids are topped up and check
> to make sure that you have good, clean, tight connections both at the batteries
> and the charger (charge wires and battery cables). Try swapping the output to that
> bank and see if anything changes. It could be an issue with that bank's output in
> the charger or an issue with one of the batteries. If you get the same symtom when
> you swap the charger's output to that bank, try isolating batteries in that bank
> by taking one battery out at a time, retry and see if the symtom goes away after
> a particular battery is disconnected. A good electronic battery tester will also
> tell you if you have a problem with one of your batteries.
>
> Is your charger temperature compensated, does it have a temp probe hooked up to one
> of the batteries? If not, feel all the batteries while charging and see if any of
> them are getting hot. Are all 3 banks of the charger actually being used/hooked
> up? Isolate the outputs too by disconnecting one bank at a time and retry in case
> one of them is faulty and causing the charger to short cycle. Check your installation
> instructions re hook-up though, the older chargers required all outputs/banks to
> be hooked up or jumped at the charger if you weren't using one of the outputs, hense
> my question above. The other item to check is internal circuit protection in the
> charger. I had a similar issue on a vessel and ran into a poor connection at a bank's
> fuse holder in the charger. The holder was a little corroded and caused intermittent
> operation.

[feeez]

Viper....

Further to this. I contacted Charles Industries, the manufacturer of my charger. I talked to an excellent tech support person their and he confirmed that my charger is not operating properly. They offer a flat fee reconditioning charge of US $220 and will fix anything that is wrong with the charger. It is something to consider but after I convert that to CDN $, insure, and ship it there and back I will have kicked a good hole in the cost of a new charger with a lot more bells and whistles.
I am looking seriously at the Promariner as a replacement with the remote panel. I am hoping that the wire gauges are compatible to what I already have in the boat.

Cheers All
Fraser

[Viper]

I would agree that the current dollar makes it impractical. You'll have a working charger but you'll be sinking too much cash into something that will still be 15 years old and may have a different component failure in the near future.

Remeber that each charge wire going to the individual banks must be able to handle full charger output if you're going with the ProNauticP series. The wire size is determined by combining the lengths of both the positive and negative cables in the circuit. This gives you the circuit length. That and the charger output will determine the size of wire needed.

Plan your install so that the unit is close enough to the batteries that will allow for the length of the temp probe cable to reach a house battery while keeping in mind that the remote display cable must also reach the unit. Don't mount the charger right above a battery. Gasing off will shorten its life.

http://promariner.com/products/dry-mount-marine-battery-chargers/pronauticp-series/

[feeez]

I read through the manual from the link you provided. I am understanding the "round trip" as opposed to just the length of the positive.
In our boat the positive wires from the battery charger go to a breaker panel on the aft wall of the salon. Each battery bank has its own breaker (Bank 1,2, and generator). I will be most likely getting a 50 amp charger so from the manual the breaker must be rated at 60 amps. I will have to trace what happens after that breaker when I get back to the boat in the spring.

Thanks again for your tips on this....

Cheers
Fraser

[Viper]

From the breaker, it's typical to go directly to the bank or to the main battery switch for that bank. If a switch is used, there should be heavier battery cable already from the switch to the bank so it's typical that you only need worry about the length of the circuit from the charger to the switch. Take the longest charge length, add the ground length and use that to determine the wire size that you'll use for all the banks.

Have a few things I want to do in my bilge too but the cold temps aren't very motivating!

[feeez]

Ah.... yeah. I woke up to -24.8 C this morning....

Time to put another log on the fire!!