[C320-list] Battery Charging w/Onboard Charger

[Bruce Heyman]

It is also the reason why you should never leave a two stage charger running
all the time, it will cook your batteries and shorten their life
considerably.  The new smart chargers even go beyond the traditional three
stages and can go a long way to getting the most out of your battery bank.
Bruce
Somerset #671 SoCal

-----Original Message-----
From: c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com
[mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf Of
Orlando.Duran at AveryDennison.com
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 6:57 AM
To: C320-List
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Charging w/Onboard Charger

Folks,

Remember, when you're using a generator (or alternator for that matter),
you'll never get a 'full' charge unless you leave the generating source on
for a very long time (a long 5 hour motor home after being overnight at
anchor comes to mind) because at the last stage of charging it's almost a
trickle charge into a battery...If you read Nigel Calder's book on boat
electrical stuff (yes, it's in the book!), he figures your best bet is for
about 95-97% of full...
----------------------------------
Regards,
OD

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld


----- Original Message -----
From: "Irving Grunes" [igrunes at gmail.com]
Sent: 07/28/2008 06:26 AM
To: C320-List at catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Charging w/Onboard Charger

Thats how the Pro Mariner works.
It starts with a high charge and drops to a lower voltage after an hour or
so.  That lower charge rate is supposed to bring the battery voltage ofp to
full charge and then act as a trickle charge.
Its that feature, and I still have a Promariner, that sometimes boils a
battery if the lowcharge rate is too high for the battery.
irv Grunes

On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 8:30 AM, <bruceheyman at cox.net> wrote:

> Brian,
> While the currents are related the generator is at 120 volts and the
> charger is around 12.  It might be quite possible for you to see more
> current on the 12 volt side of the regulator than you have on the output
of
> the generator.
> Are there any Radio Shacks or similar in the area?  They should carry the
> fuses.
> Bruce
> Somerset 671 SoCal
> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Amirault Family - S&B" <amiraults at sympatico.ca>
>
> Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:59:06
> To: <c320-list at lists.catalina320.com>
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Charging w/Onboard Charger
>
>
> Finally did get the generator to the boat earlier this day. T-storms
> expected so the plan was to do some cockpit gel coat repair while the
> generator charged the batteries. No such luck!
>
>
>
> Generator started, AC was created and AC powered cabin fans operated,
> ProMariner 30-3 showed red charging light on but no amps being produced;
> which was confirmed by the battery meter. As the main concern was the gel
> coat, that was dealt with and when completed I went back to the charger
> problem.
>
>
>
> The MANUAL contains a trouble shooting decision diagram which directed me
> to
> the examination of the charger's internal fuse. Access to this only
> required
> the emptying of the cockpit locker and appropriate contortions to remove
> the
> six screws on the bottom of the charger. One then does find a 40 amp fuse
> that was blown. The largest available at Canadian Tire was 30 amp and I
> replaced it with this as the generator produces less than 15. With the new
> fuse in place things actually worked!
>
>
>
> The charger charges both banks regardless of the position of the battery
> switch. Initially the charger was producing something around 12 amps with
> the charge lamp red which was no surprise as the generator produces around
> 13 amps. This quickly dropped to three amps (I assume that this represents
> the power production of the charger switching to a different stage). The
> battery meter was still showing healthy charging on both batteries at this
> lower output. The documentation states that there will come a time when
the
> charger will show a green light as the batteries come to full charge, but
I
> never saw this as with the sky darkening I put the toys away.
>
>
>
> The generator has proven to be all that the list claimed of it.
>
>
>
> Now, with Canadian Tire not a source for 40 amp fuses, where should I be
> looking to find these so that I can bring the charger back to
> specification?
>
>
>
>
> Brian Amirault
>
> 797 Waltzing Bear, too
>
>

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