[C320-list] Battery Charger Xantrex Truecharge 20 Installation

[Robert E. Sloat]

I replaced the second Pro Mariner on my 2002 hull with a Xantrex Truecharge 
20 about 3 years ago.
Chris is right about the battery connections on the Xantrex Truecharge 20 
not accomodating
the large industrial terminal connections used on the Pro Mariner.  They are 
large copper terminals that fit over studs and are secured by nuts and 
washers.  The current batch of Xantrex chargers may have the same terminals.

For the Xantrex 20 I used a larger mounting board mounted in the same 
general
location where the Pro Mariner was which is the forward bulkhead in the port 
cockpit locker.  For the Xantrex you insert each terminal for the battery 
into small female terminals on the Xantrex and secure them with a set screw 
on the Xantrex terminals.  Also, the Xantrex Truecharger 20 and the old Pro 
Mariner have the battery connections near the bottom of each so you can use 
the original battery cables which are very thick without cutting them.

I did not use any adapters to connect the old battery terminal connections 
to the Xantrex.  What I did was to use a good tin snip to cut the sides of 
copper terminals for each of the battery connection that originally 
connected to the Pro Mariner so they would fit into the Xantrex female 
terminals.  I had to hang out in the port locker for a while to do this. 
The trick was to cut off small pieces of the terminal on each side until I 
got a width that would fit in the Xantrex female terminals.  A good file 
also helped in shaping each cut terminal to fit.  Other tools used were a 
good long nose pliers, a hammer and a small piece of metal to pound the 
terminl on occasion when shaping them to fit into the Xantrex female 
terminals on the bottom of the charger.  I did this a few years ago and 
believe I also cut off some of the end of the male terminal.  Once all the 
terminals were cut to fit correctly in the Xantrex female terminals I 
installed them and then permantely mounted the Xantrex so all the wires 
lined up neatly on the charger and where they exited the locker on their way 
to the batteries.  I also put some large shrink wrap over any metal parts of 
the terminals that were exposed after they were connected to the charger.  I 
also installed a shield made of plexiglass over the lower part of the 
Xantrex to protect the exposed female terminals on the charger in case 
anything in the port locker moved around that could potentially could short 
out any of the battery connections on the Xantrex.  One nice thing about the 
old Pro Mariner is that it had a protective plate over these connection to 
keep anything from touching them.

I am at a slip with 24/7 power with the refrigerator on from June to October 
and choose the Xantrex 20 which keep the batteries in good shape and brings 
them up to float rather quickly.  If you go to a larger amperage charger you 
have to replace the fuses in the battery connections near the batteries. 
This is described in the user manual.  I have 2 Catalina OEM 4d batteries 
with capacity that matches the 20 amp Truecharg capacity.

The Xantrex Truecharge 20 has settings for flooded and other batteries, and 
for the temperatures where the batteries are stored along with a 
equalization setting which is supposed to maintain battery life.

Bob Sloat
Savannah #894
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Burti" <clburti at gmail.com>
To: <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 11:43 AM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Charger


> The Xantrex 20 or 40 units are common replacement for our group for the
> Promariner which is pretty universally disliked. thier biggest weakness is
> that the boat wiring  guage is too big to fit the lugs on the Xantrex
> units,
> so an adapter has to be made.
>
> There are othe rgood brands, but I will leave those recommendations to
> others as I went with the X-20
>
> The group 27's are your PO's cheap replcements for the factory 4D's. If
> they
> are not fried, they may well be fine if fairly new. If they don't hold a
> charge they are fried.
>
> Replace them when you need to with 4D's or with golf cart batteries, as
> they
> produce more amp hours (can be anlogized to a bigger fuel tank).
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 12:32 PM, Jamie Pett <JPett at jp2architects.com>
> wrote:
>
>> It's always something.....so my battery charger went this weekend while
>> plugged in visiting a marina.  House bank tanked, then the reefer
>> wouldn't start, etc.
>>
>>
>>
>> The boat had a 30 amp ProMariner I think was original ?
>>
>>
>>
>> My battery set-up is a house bank of (4) group 27's in parallel on #1
>> setting, and a group 24 starting battery on #2.  All wet cells.
>>
>>
>>
>>  I am clueless about electrical, and still working on the temperature
>> gage thing posted earlier.....
>>
>>
>>
>> The yard manager (at Haven Harbor) recommended a Xantrex True Charge 40,
>> but they didn't have one, so I haven't done anything yet.
>>
>>
>>
>> Any input is appreciated on the following:
>>
>>
>>
>> How do you size a charger, based on batteries  ? (30 amp, 40 amp, etc.)
>>
>>
>>
>> Anyone recommend for or against Xantrex or other brands ?
>>
>>
>>
>> Will my house bank recover ? (I had like 11.6 amps when I realized the
>> problem in the morning)
>>
>>
>>
>> Jamie Pett
>>
>> Bella Luna
>>
>> #614
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Chris Burti Farmville, NC
>