[C320-list] Battery Charger Xantrex Truecharge 20 Installation

[Robert E. Sloat]

Jamie-Have fun.  The original Pro Mariner on my 2002 C320 went out on the AC 
side after 4 years and they gave me another one under warranty for a steep 
discount.  It broke down 2 years later.  After that I bought the Xantrex 
Truecharge 20, so yours was a wise choice.  I do think Pro Mariner now has 
units like the Xantrex ones, but they lost their goodwill for me after my 
experience.

Check out the fuses in the battery connection lines near the batteries.  One 
of my had blown out when the second Pro Mariner went down. It took a while 
to find these fuses on the internet.  None of the automotive stores or Radio 
Shack had the ones needed for this service.  And you will need larger fuses 
with the higher 40 amperage charger.

If you follow what I did be patient with cutting the terminals down.  I 
spent a lot of time thinking and planning  how to make these large terminals 
fit into the much smaller Xantres female terminalsand.  I planned to put the 
installation on the the C320 site, but after it got done, I lost the energy 
to take every thing apart and do digital photos for posting.  During my 
adventure I temporarily installed the Xantrex and after all the wiring was 
done I moved the charger around a little to make all the connection wires 
line up and looking like a factory install.  The only down side is on my 
unit you have to reach into the locker and punch a small button with a 
pencil to go into the equalization mode.  I think Xantrex now has a remote 
control remote panel that allows this from the cabin.  I don't think my 
slightly older unit will link up to a remote control panel.  I do have a 
remote panel, but its only function is to indicate charging state and 
battery voltage which is good enough for me.

If you have any hang ups contact me directly.


Bob Sloat
Savannah #894
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jamie Pett" <JPett at JP2ARCHITECTS.COM>
To: <C320-List at Catalina320.com>; <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 9:18 PM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Charger Xantrex Truecharge 20 Installation


Thanks for the input all.  I bought a Xantrex 40, so I'll be trying the 
install this weekend - appreciate the heads up on the connections.  Opted 
for the remote panel also, so we'll see how that goes.  Promariner offered 
to sell me a new unit at 50% off since I was already a 'customer', but 
everyone has been so negative about them, I decided to spend the extra $ and 
switch.

I still have not determined if I killed my battery bank. I've been charging 
them individually - they came back up to about 13.2 v. , but when I applied 
a load tester, they drop to 11.6 or so but I really don't what to expect 
with normal boat loads - I'd like to eek through this season with them if 
possible.

Speaking of loads, does anyone have a listing of electrical loads for a 320 
?  - Like what does the refridge draw, or the anchor light ?

Jamie Pett
Bella Luna
#614


-----Original Message-----
From: c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com on behalf of Robert E. Sloat
Sent: Fri 8/6/2010 10:04 PM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Charger Xantrex Truecharge 20 Installation

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
>