Battery charger comparison

I researched this issue in 2014 and bought what I think is the best…Blue Seas PS12, 40 AMP. You only need the 25amp model. In boating, sometimes buying the best the first time is cheaper in the long run.
https://www.bluesea.com/products/7522/P ... 12V_DC_40A
Many marine chargers can do the basic job, but any good quality charger should have a battery temp sensor and take that temp into account in the charge algorithms. The Guest charger installed by Triton did not even have that.
Blue Seas PS12 Pros:
Military grade like construction, many unique features (that may not matter to you), designed and built right in your backyard with the only 5 year warranty and very responsive US-based tech support (see the online complaints about trying to get Mastervolt’s Dutch manufacturer to support warranty claims (2 yrs), though Bob Austin likes his Mastervolt charger). Ability to dial down output if desired. Optional $90 remote diagnostic panel chock full of LED’S for the helm, if you like that sort of thing. I use a Battery Bug on the House battery. Bob uses a $8 Amazon meter. Whatever floats your boat.
Cons:
Most expensive. Requires a special Blue Seas VSR and wiring to take full advantage of the unique ability to add/drop individual batteries from Absorbsion mode. (I just Combine and Un Combine the House battery using the Blue Seas battery switches, and it’s on the Destination Pre-Departure/Arrival Flight Crew checklist).
Interesting tidbit… Blue Seas AND Mastervolt AND ProMariner AND Marinco (which bought Guest) AND Ancor AND Gardner-Bender/Sperry have all been bought by one company. You might not have as many choices as you thought.
Happy Hunting, and let the group know what you end up buying and why.
John
 
Patrick,

What chemistry type, size, and how many batteries are you planning to charge? Are any connected in parallel? Will you charge from shore power only, or will you use this charger with a generator as well?

This info will help guide you.

Greg
 
Aurelia":3nm9x1dp said:
Patrick,

What chemistry type, size, and how many batteries are you planning to charge? Are any connected in parallel? Will you charge from shore power only, or will you use this charger with a generator as well?

This info will help guide you.

Greg
Click to expand...

I am looking at connecting 2 group 27 or 31 flooded batteries in parallel. I will charge from shore and have a Honda 2000 generator on board.

The Blue Sea Systems charger looks very skookum, but a bit out of price range, thanks for the info on that as well info on a single company manufacturing chargers.
 
I too have a Mariner Prosport Charger (two bank - one on a AGM and one lead acid battery) for two seasons without any issues.
 
So I will assume you also have a starting battery along with the proposed house bank. That really points toward a two bank charger for your needs although you can of course use a 3 bank and combine two sets of leads so long as the manual condones it.

You would have about 75-100 amp hours at most to use safely from your house bank of power. If you are charging from shore power at a marina, you would be plugged in for 10-16 hours giving you that much time for charging. In that situation, a 10amp charging curcuit may be enough to fully charge your depleted bank overnight depending on loads and whether those loads are coming from 12v or from 120 when plugged in.

If you are charging from your generator, you don't want to run it for very long so having a more powerful charger will help minimize that running time. I know some boaters will use one smaller built in charger for shore power charging and another portable unit for fast generator charging.

Think about what 12v loads you will be running overnight so you can factor that into your recovery needs when plugged into shore power. Also think about how low you will generally be comfortable running down your house bank. Some folks don't like to go below a specific voltage, and knowing that can really change your charging needs and minimize you charger purchase down to only what it needs to be.

As an example, I use a 3.5amp charger for our whole boat of 220ah house plus starting battery. We run the boat daily and usually for hours so that is actually our primary charging mode. 3.5amps overnight also adds up to 30-50amp hours of charge and that is more than we normally draw it down. We are running a small freezer now so our situation might change a bit, but the draw is low enough that a little solar could bring us even again.

I don't have experience with either of the two chargers you are looking at but did run another Promariner for a couple of years with no problems. I would pay attention to the charge cycles on each and consider the above factors in you choice of bank # and overall voltage. Temperature sensing chargers sometimes use separate sensors at the battery or sensors on the charger itself but the reality for us northwestern boaters, is that our temps are just low enough most of the time that charging temp affects us very little. The use of AGM/sealed batteries mitigates it further.

If you have a VSR battery connection in place between your house and start battery, you might even be able to use a single bank charger becuase it will share its charge with the other bank when above the set voltage.

The on demand feature of the Promariner would give you more amps to the house without wasting amps on the start battery and I personally like the charge profiles on these units more than the mastervolt. The mastervolt is a little yachty in design/features and that is not necessarily a good thing for all applications.

If those are your brands, I think this might be a good choice

http://www.amazon.com/ProMariner-ProSpo ... ort+20+plu

Or even this unit depending on your thoughts on the questions above.

http://www.amazon.com/ProMariner-43012- ... s=prosport

Greg
 
gulfcoast john":2juu9ngs said:
I researched this issue in 2014 and bought what I think is the best…Blue Seas PS12, 40 AMP. You only need the 25amp model. In boating, sometimes buying the best the first time is cheaper in the long run.
https://www.bluesea.com/products/7522/P ... 12V_DC_40A
Many marine chargers can do the basic job, but any good quality charger should have a battery temp sensor and take that temp into account in the charge algorithms. The Guest charger installed by Triton did not even have that.
Blue Seas PS12 Pros:
Military grade like construction, many unique features (that may not matter to you), designed and built right in your backyard with the only 5 year warranty and very responsive US-based tech support (see the online complaints about trying to get Mastervolt’s Dutch manufacturer to support warranty claims (2 yrs), though Bob Austin likes his Mastervolt charger). Ability to dial down output if desired. Optional $90 remote diagnostic panel chock full of LED’S for the helm, if you like that sort of thing. I use a Battery Bug on the House battery. Bob uses a $8 Amazon meter. Whatever floats your boat.
Cons:
Most expensive. Requires a special Blue Seas VSR and wiring to take full advantage of the unique ability to add/drop individual batteries from Absorbsion mode.
John
Click to expand...

+1. I'm installing an ACR/switch and a charger as well as a dedicated start battery. I'll probably leave my marine battery in as my house battery as it has been issue free and never failed me on its own, and I know I can start my motor with it, even if I'm having problems with it and need to do a lot of cranking. I intend to add a PS12 from Blue Seas. for me the extra cost is well justified in a better electrical system, but I have to be a bit more self-sufficient than those of you who frequent more populated waters.
 
Just a note to all. That Blue Seas PS12 and Mastervolt chargers mentioned in posts above are dry mount units intended to be installed in a dry and well ventilated location. The others mentioned are waterproof units that can tolerate wet environments giving more mount options on our small boats. The 25 Cruisers do have more cabinet space to accommodate dry mounting while the less cabinet space and stern positioned electrical nature of 22s make the waterproof type have more appeal.

Or to put it another way...
What type of space would you like to preserve more of, dry storage or wet storage?

Greg
 
Good point Greg, My charger (not either of these) is a waterproof one, with only one LED, either red or green. it is mounted on the underside of the Splash-well bottom. Yup, I can see that LED, if I lay down on the cockpit sole and slide my head back under the splash-well. I can see if it is charging from my helm seat, on my battery volt meter. Not too much Automatic stuff, but it charges when it is plugged in. (Might use an update along the way some time.)

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

1_10_2012_from_Canon_961.highlight.jpg
 
I neglected to say that I do indeed having a starting battery, right now a Group 24. I also have a VSR to isolate starting and house batteries.

I have added a 50 qt ARB fridge freezer. That is what started all of this having to add more AH.

We plan on cruising and gunkholing around the San Juans and Gulf Islands. More time on the hook than plugged into shorepower and with the ARB unit, not having to run for ice.

Our 12 V needs at night are minimal. A couple of interior lights for a couple of hours and the anchor light. In the past, the Group 24 has always given us good service. With the ARB 24/7 and anchored out for 72 hours, I need some AH to keep everything going.

I guess I could connect the Honda Gen directly to the paralleled house batteries and monitor voltage since there is a chance of overcharging.

Right now, solar is not in the cards. I know in the future, it probably should be.

I just want to get the right charger for shorepower, since I have the stock Guest 5 amp and it is going on 11 years old and I know what can happen to it.
Like I said, I could directly go from generator to batteries for charging on the hook. I wonder, however, if charging would happen faster if generator was plugged into shorepower pigtail cord and put AC through new charger.

Thanks again all for the responses.
 
BrentB":1q7brd4y said:
Anyone use NOCO Genius chargers?

https://no.co/products
Click to expand...

Yes and I like them very much. No moving parts, smart 8 step charging, many profiles to choose from including pulse desulphation, mode memory so it starts where you left it, and compact/waterproof packaging in both portable and installed versions.

Greg
 
I have the 20 amp Mastervolt, and feel it is a better charger. I use it for 2 or 3 banks. (2 banks for group 31 house and start AGM when I am running the 3rd group 31 for the Dometic Refer and Refer and Freezers--3 banks when normal cruising without the reefer/freezer). This involves removing the + lead from the freezer battery, when using it with the 30 amp dedicated charger.

The Blue Seas is a fantastic unit--and I might have gotten it if it had been available at the time, I put in the Mastervolt.

The issue with "dry mount" and" wet mount" Is a bit more than just location. The "wet mount" are used mostly on small boats, such as center console, and not powerful enough to run the heavy loads which we have in the our C Dory when full time cruising, with heavy current draw, such as refers and freezers. The "wet mount" often fail after a few seasons. I have had every one of the ones which came as OEM equipment on the C Dory fail.

I find that the freezer/refers use about 60 amps a day. (somewhat dependent on ambient temp, extra insulation, shade, evaporative cooling etc) So that means at least 4 hours maybe more for the 20 amp charger. The reason I use a 30 amp dedicated charger for just that battery.

For your use, the Blue Seas 40 amp charger in the long run might not be a bad investment. The reason is that it does charge each battery independently. AGM batteries will accept the faster charge (meaning less generator run time), The better chargers will take into account the higher use demands of the freezer/refrig battery and proportionally charge them. Be cautious of a ACR without a method to shut off during charging.

The Honda Generator only puts out 8 amps 12 volts, and is not going to be a viable battery charging source. You want a group 31 battery for the fridge/freezer. The reason is that you don't want to discharge it more than 50%. You also want to monitor the voltage and amperage draw off that battery. (Consider at the least one of the cheap gauges, such as below:

http://www.amazon.com/6-5-100V-Display- ... B013PKYILS

There are more expensive meters such as the Victron 702 or the Xantrex Linklite battery meters.
 
Bob beat me to some of it, I got too distracted by Aven's lego part searches.

If your VSR is dual sense or works in both directions, you could connect a charger to the house and when nearing full it will spill over to the start battery or vice versa. I would connect to the house as primary if that is a direction you think about going. Ask more questions if you go this route.

Your freezer should use about 25 amps in a 24 hour period so that is what you can plan on replacing with running time or generator time when anchoring out. Bob mentions 60ah but I think from his other posts, that is for both of his units running at the same time.

Connecting your generator to your shore cable would charge you up faster than the DC feed if the new charger you install is over 8amps for that bank. Your generator could power an AC charger of significant size so I guess if you want to minimize your generator use you have three basic approaches.

-Run the boat often enough to not need much help from the genset and use the built-in DC charging when needed

-Install a smaller shore power charger to charge and maintain your batteries in storage or while plugged in overnight and use a separate portable charger with more juice and your genset to run shorter and charge big like this example http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC-100 ... 30+amp+12v

-Install a larger shore power charger and connect to you shorepower cord with the generator when needed to top things up at anchor

I agree that a power monitor or at least a nice digital voltmeter plus knowledge to use it will help you decide when you need charging.

Greg
 
The freezer at Lake Powell takes more than a Fridge at Red Bluff Cove AK! My figures of 60 amps a day, were based on an average at Hontoon Island trip. I used 120 amps a day for both Fridge and freezer--and this was more when the weather was warm than cold--the freezer was kept at 4 degrees, the Fridge at 35 degrees. Obviously your usage will vary. The ARB's uses slightly less than the similar size domestic.

I use the West Marine, external charger, since I don't like non marine stuff on the boat. Mine is a slightly older model than this one, and allows for temp. compensation of the AGM battery. I am told that this current one does the temp automatically, yet no temp sensor visible?

West external charger

With the Honda 150 and 40 amp charger you are far better off than the 17 amp--about 12 amp available, with the Honda 90!
 
On Journey On, the refrige runs at about a 50% duty cycle. That will vary if we're in a hot or cold place (Great Lakes or Powell River in September.) It takes 6 amps to run it. That figures out to 3X24=72 amp hours/day.

A Group 31 is nominally rated at 100 amp-hrs. So if you run the refrige ONLY you are depleting the battery past the 50% limit. One needs to either get a bigger battery bank or recharge the batteries twice/day. I have a golf cart battery bank to supply the "at anchor" needs. Or you can get a more efficient refrig, though I'd look at any less than 60 amp-hrs with suspicion.

I have a Honda 1000 which I use to recharge the batteries through a 40 amp Xantex charger. It works great, because lead-acid batteries have a steep recharge current (amps) drop off. It'll start at 20 amps and rapidly drop down to 10 amps and then 5. The Honda is about 15 years old now, still runs great; don't get a Chinese copy.

So, in summary, a 20 amp charger with a Honda 1000 will work just fine.

There are also combination chargers-inverters. That way you only have to find space for 1 unit.

Boris
 
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