[C320-list] ProMariner Problem

[Charles Greenwell]

I replaced the ProMariner after it went bad and fried my second set of batteries.  The symptoms were similar to what you described.

I installed a Freedom Marine 20.  It was a little over kill but I was thinking about future growth. I shopped around and found it on sale at Hamilton Marine.  I took their sale ad into Boat US/West Marine and they matched the price.  This saved me $50 in shipping cost.

The only issue I had was that the ProMariner was a 2 bank charger and the Freedom Marine is a single bank charger.  The positive wires for charging run directly to the batteries, bypassing the battery switch.  While at first this seemed to be OK, what I discovered is that you could no longer isolate battery one from two since both charging lines were connected to the same terminal on the Freedom Marine.

So, I had to decide if I wanted to add a starting battery and forget about the need to isolate my batteries or move the charging wires from the batteries to the battery switch.  The Freedom Marine 20 has a 15A echo charger for the dedicated starting battery.

I decided to move the cables to the switch since I did not see a need for the dedicated starting battery as others have.  However, this was not a simple task since one of the wires was too short.

Anyway it is done and I am happy with it.  It is nice to have a little AC when out to run my PC and other small devices, like fans.

Randy
Le Bijou - #719


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