Carver Owners Forum

The Charles charger on my 1999 350 mariner is due for replacement. Issue is the location. Only access is via the storage box on port side dinette I will replace with victron phoenix smart charger 50a/3

I have enclosed my renders of possible solution and welcome feedback on What others have done

Something that I considered when we replaced ours in the same model.
They have remote displays and controls for some of these units now so getting an eye on them may not be a regular need IMO. In reality once you get the charger working and trust it, ya really forget about it.

The only thought may be to try and keep the engine compartment air separated from the salon space air, that tub kinda sealed that hole under the seat cushion. Now I realize this may be next to impossible but can be kept to a minimum with some thought.

How hard was getting access to wire the new one? My drop in storage bin didn’t seem to be sealed but the panel they installed ahead of engine bay did

UPDATE UPDATE - On review again, decided against the portal and will just install the Victron. However, I was informed that ventilation should be installed. Even though this is the factory install, a friend of mine who works for a boat builder was surprised to see no ventilation fan in the dinette set; he recommends putting one. Anyone have this as an issue? The Victron has heat sync and I don't expect too high temps.

There's probably more air movement in there than you think. Isn't it open to the bilge? Of coarse a couple of vents in close proximity would help but I don't think you need a fan. It's all a moot point though if you shove a bunch of stuff in there for storage and limit circulation.

It’s sealed to the bilge and there’s a large plastic storage bin that drops in place

dlldxb wrote:QR_BBPOST It’s sealed to the bilge and there’s a large plastic storage bin that drops in place

That entire side is open up forward under the galley, center bilge, to below the bridge etc.....just look under the forward storage bin next to the galley...you can climb in there if no extra AC unit....lots of air movement imo. Check it out to see.

The old ferro charger would have got hot.

My use case won't be an issue. I don't trust shore power grounding, so I use a 20W solar maintainer for each AGM battery at dock. Only plug into shore when onboard and run ac, otherwise, not. BTW removed gen set on last haul out and use ecoflow delta2 max for anchor loads, I ran direct power to it from dock to keep the onboard wifi active that powers camera and sensors to keep eye on. it is isolated from onboard AC loads, so complete galvanic isolation . So agree, just one for one replacement, I'll add a separate bluetooth temp sensor in that compartment for monitoring