[C320-list] Battery Charger Xantrex Truecharge 20 Installation

[Guy Henry]

I also installed the Xantrex TrueCharge 20 and it's working great.
To solve the wire size problem, I installed inline fuses on the charge side 
of the Xantrex and that stepped the wire size down.

Guy
MoonShadow #115

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From: "Robert E. Sloat" <resloat at comcast.net>
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 11:12 PM
To: <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Charger Xantrex Truecharge 20 Installation

> 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
>>
>
>
>
>