Carver Owners Forum

Ok, here's the latest...
I have a Charles 30 amp charger. It looks like the battery type switch is on the back of it. No way in hell can I get to that switch.
I'm going to touch base with Charles to see if there is some way to tell how it is set up now. I can't assume it is switched to AGM just because the boat has AGM batteries. Charles owner's manual shows the charger comes from the factory set up for gel batteries.
Until I figure out how the charger is set up, I'm not doing anything.

I agree with the suggestion to use the AGM on the genny and not hook up the house charger to it. Providing the genny is charging properly, it'll maintain that battery on its own. If you do decide to go with a separate small charger just for the genny, don't cheap on, you want a smart charger that can be switched to an AGM charge curve.

I don't know how you can tell what charge curve your current charger is set to short of observing the position of the selector switch or taking output readings with an accurate digital meter but that won't be an easy thing to conclude given that the output really depends on the condition of the battery and where the charger is in its cycle. We're talking very little voltage differences between curves at the state for which the specs are listed.

Ok guys...
The charger comes from the factory set up to charge gel batteries. Is that a universal setting that can be used for the other 2 as well?
I see that AGM uses the least amount of voltage, so what happens if I have flooded batteries on the AGM or gel setting?
Is one combination of battery and charger setting ok to use and another a big no no.
I'm guessing AGM battery on the flooded setting is the worst. Am I right on this?

Should I just give Charles a call on this?

buster53 wrote:Qr Bbpost Should I just give Charles a call on this?

I would and have , they have been helpful in clearing up some of my questions. Lay out your situation and see what they say, can't hurt.
Viper is right....seems the only way to tell for sure is to crawl down there, undo the charger and look at the back of it. After rereading maybe you just did that, sorry....

bud37 wrote:

buster53 wrote:Qr Bbpost Should I just give Charles a call on this?

I would and have , they have been helpful in clearing up some of my questions. Lay out your situation and see what they say, can't hurt.
Viper is right....seems the only way to tell for sure is to crawl down there, undo the charger and look at the back of it. After rereading maybe you just did that, sorry....

Believe me, if I could get to the charger, I would unmount it and take a look. I just can't. My body won't fit. If I was 5'2" and 110 lbs....no problem.

buster53 wrote:Qr Bbpost....The charger comes from the factory set up to charge gel batteries. Is that a universal setting that can be used for the other 2 as well?
I see that AGM uses the least amount of voltage, so what happens if I have flooded batteries on the AGM or gel setting?
Is one combination of battery and charger setting ok to use and another a big no no.
I'm guessing AGM battery on the flooded setting is the worst. Am I right on this?

Should I just give Charles a call on this?

You should use the proper setting. The wrong setting can over charge or undercharge. Neither is desirable. As I mentioned before, there is very little difference between each curve but it makes a difference when it comes to proper charging and maintaining. Here is an example of the different curves by battery type. Your charger may differ skightly but not by much.
Battery Type......Conditioning....Auto Maintain
Flooded------------14.8 VDC----------12.8-13.6 VDC
Sealed-------------14.4 VDC----------12.8-13.6 VDC
AGM----------------14.4 VDC----------13.0-13.4 VDC
GEL-----------------14.0 VDC----------13.2-13.7 VDC
Lithium------------13.8 VDC----------13.2-13.8 VDC
Calcium-----------15.1 VDC----------13.2-13.6 VDC
Equalization------15.5 VDC----------15.5 VDC

Thanks Viper, I appreciate that.
I think I'm going ahead and swap out the dead battery with my genset battery and buy a flooded starting battery for the genset. I'll just turn off the charger to the genset battery. All 3 batteries have an on/off switch for that.
I'll have to hire someone to unmount the charger and when I do, I'll go ahead and switch it to flooded and then replace the house batteries at that time.

buster53 wrote:Qr Bbpost Ok guys...
The charger comes from the factory set up to charge gel batteries. Is that a universal setting that can be used for the other 2 as well?

I'm sure they set it that way because the gel setting won't immediately damage any other type of battery (exept perhaps lithium, but most chargers of the time didn't anticipate lithium being used in marine applications). Gel batteries get RUINED quickly if even very slightly fed with overvoltage. Running less than optimum voltage on flooded or AGM wlll eventually reduce their capacity but that will take years. So, as a 'factory ship' setting, the GEL setting had the least chance of doing damage.

Have the optimum voltage for the type of battery gives you the optimum life.

I agree with Viper on the genset charger. If you do get one, don't cheap out on it, as you wan't it reliable. It doesn't need to be very big though... a 5A charger would be more than enough.

km1125 wrote:Qr Bbpost

buster53 wrote:Qr Bbpost Ok guys...
The charger comes from the factory set up to charge gel batteries. Is that a universal setting that can be used for the other 2 as well?

I'm sure they set it that way because the gel setting won't immediately damage any other type of battery (exept perhaps lithium, but most chargers of the time didn't anticipate lithium being used in marine applications). Gel batteries get RUINED quickly if even very slightly fed with overvoltage. Running less than optimum voltage on flooded or AGM wlll eventually reduce their capacity but that will take years. So, as a 'factory ship' setting, the GEL setting had the least chance of doing damage.

Have the optimum voltage for the type of battery gives you the optimum life.

I agree with Viper on the genset charger. If you do get one, don't cheap out on it, as you wan't it reliable. It doesn't need to be very big though... a 5A charger would be more than enough.

+1
The default setting from factory used to be flooded which has since changed as the GEL curve and may be the safest bet if the installer neglects to change the setting but you kind of render that selectable feature useless unless you actually use it and take advantage of its engineered intent which is to prolong battery life based on battery type. In this particular case, who knows what it's set to. If it doesn't get confirmed, I'd recommend checking your fluids periodically, something you should be doing anyway even with a smart charger.

There's many ways to skin a cat if you're worried about the genny not starting due to a low battery because it's not on a charger. Instead of a charger, you can install a switch to parallel the genny battery with an engine start battery to start the genny if its battery gets too low for some reason.

OK, I exchanged several emails with Charles.... they were very quick to respond and very helpful.
He didn't seem very concerned if I have flooded batteries on a lower charge. One positive aspect to that, I won't have to top off the water as often.
He was way more concerned that I only have a 30 amp charger for my boat. He said I should have much more.
On that note, I also emailed Carver and they told me the boat left the factory with an 80 amp charger. So someone swapped out the charger at some point.