Charger recommendation

[tpothen]

I am doing a complete rewire, AC and DC of a 1982 Cal 2-25 and I am at the point of batteries and a charger. I will be using 2 group 31 wet cell batteries in parallel, so about 200 amp hours. I am looking for charger recommendations, preferably a single bank charger. The boat is mainly used for overnight weekends and 1 or 2 week long trips a year, and will be plugged into shore power when not in use.

[Maine Sail]

I've been installing the Sterling Pro Charge Ultra's. Very nice chargers..

See this thread:

Marine Battery Chargers - Installation Tips & Considerations

[tpothen]

Thank you for the recommendation and great write up. It looks like the PCU1240(40a 1 bank) would work for me. I'll have 2 Trojan SCS200 or 2 SCS225, not sure if they'll fit yet. For power I have shore power and a Honda eu2000i that I bring along on week long trips. I also have a wind generator that I plan on installing.

Have you had to service any of the chargers you've installed? I ask only as I am not finding much for US retailers for these chargers besides direct or from Ebay

[Mattmm]

1 thing youll wanna keep in mind if using the honda eu 2000 is that the charger may or may not like the power comming in. i tried using one of these to reacharge while on the hook but when my charger loads up theres a delay with the genny and this is enough for my charger to reject the power source and restart. i also have a 100 amp charger which just about maxes out these generators... a 40amp charger shouldnt have this problem. on the other hand a 20 amp charger can take forever to reacharge a battery bank.

[chuck711]

Charles Chargers are repairable and depending on which model you buy have a 5 year warranty. Most other Chargers are throwaway.........

Power and Sail Boat Repair -- New Bern, North Carolina

[wm1999]

We went with a Master Volt a couple of weeks ago after the last charger died and brought two 4 month old agm's down to 5.8v. Installed new Master Volt and it brought them both back. Their chargers are nice and compact and well built using the latest technology.

[btrayfors]

For a first class and medium priced charger I'd second the recommentation for the Sterling ProUltra series. They have a 5-year manufacturer's warranty.

The ProMariner Pronautic series are virtually identical chargers, produced by the same manufacturer and with the same features and look. I have one...the 40A version...and so far (2 weeks 24/7) it's been fine. But, ProMariner only provides a 1-year warranty.

Both are sold on eBay from U.S. dealers.

For an economical charger, look at the Iota series (a good dealer is Northern Arizona Wind and Sun). The DLS-75/IQ4 is the largest charger which will run on the EU2000i, and it provides a real 75A charge for as long as your batteries will take it. The Sterling/ProMariner chargers come in sizes up to 60 amps, and they are power-factor compensated and will work just fine with the EU2000i. They have several features the Iota's lack, but they cost more than twice as much.

I have an Iota DLS-55/IQ4 and an Iota DLS-45/IQ4 which have each been used to maintain a pair of T-105s for over five years, 24/7. I've installed a bunch of others on client's boats. They are very good chargers but, alas, have no real equalization capability (despite what Iota calls "equalization"). You can, however, set the absorption and float voltages a bit higher to keep the batteries a bit healthier (I use 13.8VDC float and 14.8VDC absorption on the T-105s @ 65F).

These no-nonsense chargers are perfect for several applications where you really don't need equalization (AGMs, gels) or where you're using them for a fast absorption charge like when cruising, say to get from 50% to 85% or so state-of-charge. They're great in fixed 24/7 applications as well, though it would be good to have another option for periodic equalization -- say, every 6 months or so. I use a second portable charger for this purpose (the West Marine 30A red one which occasionally comes on sale for $79....a real bargain!).

Bill

[tpothen]

Thank you for the additional info. I decided to go with an Iota DLS-55 with the IQ4. The Sterling ProUltra series are nice looking chargers but this is only a 25’ boat and will most likely be sold in about 5 years when we move up in size so I don’t want to get to carried away spending money on it.