Battery Charger

Cableguy Greg

I am beginning to think that my battery charger has seen better days. Went to the boat today to divert my leak and take down the frame for the winter cover and ran my portable genny to charge the batteries. I open the hatch so I could remove one of the house batteries to bring home to do a full slow charge and the on board charger was reading "Full Charge". When I went to the cabin and shut off the charger breaker, all of the lights went out. That was telling me that the charger was giving a false reading. I have the original Progressive Dynamics dual battery charger on board. If I replace the charger, should I go with the new version of the PD charger or go another route? Thoughts???

Dream_Inn

I'd go with the promariner pronautic.  I really get a lot of use out of mine with no issues.

Cableguy Greg

@Dream_Inn the reviews on Amazon are glowing. They also have the best price there.

I wonder if it will charge 2 different style batteries. I have AGM for the house and Lead Acid for the starting battery.

TonyG13

Cableguy Greg said:

@Dream_Inn the reviews on Amazon are glowing. They also have the best price there.

I wonder if it will charge 2 different style batteries. I have AGM for the house and Lead Acid for the starting battery.

When I was researching this a bit last year trying to decide whether or not to stay with lead acid or move up to AGM I found out that current chargers can't split a profile. So you basically need to stick with all one type of battery. Since my starting batteries were fine, and only I needed was a new house battery, I just stayed with LA 'cuz I didn't want the expense of swapping them all at once.

PickleRick

Are your lead acid batteries sealed?  If so, double check with manufacturer, but they may be able to be run at the same setting as the agm batteries.

Dream_Inn

Greg,
I'm not sure that it does.  I know that has similar setup to you and just charges them all at the lower levels (Lead battery).  I would not recommend doing that because I don't think he gets as good charge.  (This is Pau Hana - Glen - & when we compare while anchoring, I don't think his last as long.  He has identical batteries to mine, & of course same boat).

I'd recommend getting a new starter AGM battery if possible.  The promariner nautic charger is, to me, the best out there.  Well worth using.

JoeStang

I've got this one, and its been flawless for 2 seasons. It does need to be all the same battery type, but it can charge all types. Its nice that its a "smart charger", and send more apms to the battery that needs it most. $125 is a great price for it too, I got it for $140 and that was a good price.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/promariner--prosport-20-plus-heavy-duty-marine-battery-charger--14152177?recordNum=1

PickleRick

I installed this over the weekend, i hard wired it as i didnt want to buy the quick disconnect plug.  It has standard color code shield power wiring inside black insulation.

I realize this voids warranty for some reason but with the positive reviews and simplicity of wiring i wasn't worried about botching the install.

Ian

Cableguy Greg said:

I am beginning to think that my battery charger has seen better days. Went to the boat today to divert my leak and take down the frame for the winter cover and ran my portable genny to charge the batteries. I open the hatch so I could remove one of the house batteries to bring home to do a full slow charge and the on board charger was reading "Full Charge". When I went to the cabin and shut off the charger breaker, all of the lights went out. That was telling me that the charger was giving a false reading. I have the original Progressive Dynamics dual battery charger on board. If I replace the charger, should I go with the new version of the PD charger or go another route? Thoughts???

You sure it's not the battery? I had same issue end of 18, no house unless on shore or engine running. Found house battery 0v, must have had an open circuit cell. Recheck the battery and the battery with shore and engine off.

Cableguy Greg

icoultha said:

Cableguy Greg said:

I am beginning to think that my battery charger has seen better days. Went to the boat today to divert my leak and take down the frame for the winter cover and ran my portable genny to charge the batteries. I open the hatch so I could remove one of the house batteries to bring home to do a full slow charge and the on board charger was reading "Full Charge". When I went to the cabin and shut off the charger breaker, all of the lights went out. That was telling me that the charger was giving a false reading. I have the original Progressive Dynamics dual battery charger on board. If I replace the charger, should I go with the new version of the PD charger or go another route? Thoughts???

You sure it's not the battery? I had same issue end of 18, no house unless on shore or engine running. Found house battery 0v, must have had an open circuit cell. Recheck the battery and the battery with shore and engine off.

The batteries were new last summer (2019). Currently I am pulling them out of the boat to refresh and recharge them. It was a little concerning that the on board charger was reading batteries full when they clearly were not. 

PickleRick

Batteries are not what they used to be.  Its. A good idea to test every season.  Any more than a year is gravy on many new batteries

Ian

After $700 or something on batteries last year I'd hope to get more than a year...

PickleRick

I agree, batteries are a pain when they fail.  Where are you buying batteries? 

I recommend smaller independent battery shops, ask them what brand/type they'd use in their boats. They know batteries and can answer all charging/tech questions.

If you're in a marina/boat club see if you can generate a group buy for possible discount.  Most of you guys need new lawn mower batteries this time of year as well.

My local indy guy delivers to me free of charge and gets my cores.  Will also buy my old junk cores.  

LaRea

I run mixed battery chemistries on my charger.  The house bank is TPPL and the starters are lead acid.  I set the charger for TTPL.  Yes, it's not "optimal" for the starter batteries, but they charge just fine.  I suppose they might lose a few percent of service life, but so what.   

Dream_Inn

LaRea said:

I run mixed battery chemistries on my charger.  The house bank is TPPL and the starters are lead acid.  I set the charger for TTPL.  Yes, it's not "optimal" for the starter batteries, but they charge just fine.  I suppose they might lose a few percent of service life, but so what.   

I agree & with Greg having newly purchased starter batteries, that'd be the route to go!  I have TPPL house and AGM starter.  Gotta love those TPPL batteries!!

Ian

I have all AGM's and verified the charger was good for them before purchase.

Cableguy Greg

I just looked and the AGM DC batteries are rated at 1000MCA. I just might go that route and all of the batteries will be the same chemistry. For me to get a dedicated AGM starting only battery, it is $275. I can buy multiple starting batteries if I charge them at the lower rate. I am looking at chargers first since my starting battery is only 2 seasons old. 

mattie

Hey Cableguy, FYI...we have a PD2130 charger fact installed.

On our 2014, the orig batts were Interstate lead acid. In 2017 previous owner switched them all over to AGM's. We bought the boat in late summer 2018.

Long story short, previous owner didn't revise the charger settings, AGM's were toast.
Last spring, I went back to all lead acid. Dealer recommendation. 

All comes down to care for the equipment. Absolutely nothing wrong with LA batts if you take care of them. And no, I wouldn't mix batt types - might get away with it for a while.....but.

LaRea

For me, it boiled down to this tradeoff:  spend $700 to replace two perfectly good starter batteries with TPPL, or keep the mixed chemistries and accept the risk that the starters might not last quite as long.  Easy choice.  

rinker270nb

It's always fun getting a 1 yr battery load tested and it fails. 

Cableguy Greg

So I went to my boat last evening to run another check. I fired up the boat on a generator and turned the charger on. The charger was still reading "full charge". I pulled the second house battery to bring it home to recondition it and it was at a whopping 5VDC. The charger should have detected the low voltage and started charging. I replaced the battery with a Lead Acid DC battery that I didn't return to Sam's last year, which I was able to recharge and have it hold a charge of 12.5VDC for a week at home. Towards the end of last season, I noticed that I wasn't even making it 6 hours on the water and the batteries were low. Having 2 house batteries, they should last longer than 6 hours. I am thinking the charger has been under charging or not charging for a while. I am going to bite the bullet and replace my charger. 

mattie

Sounds like a plan. Batts & ship systems can be super frustrating.

Curious to know what you figure out. Keep us posted. Sleuth something out - makes for good COVID reading.

I love messing with stuff, big on preventative maintenance as most forum members are. Sometimes I torpedo myself by over doing the preventative - makes the situation worse - before it gets better. lol.

Cableguy Greg

I ordered a new charger. Got the ProMariner ProNautic 1220P. I might also order the isolator that LaRae has as well. If I do, I will wait until she is in the water. 

Ian

But also if a battery is bad it will pull down the charger and other battery as it is a high load. Perhaps the charger tried but switched out due to the load. I’d have the batteries load tested too.

Cableguy Greg

I will get them load tested. Fortunately they have an 18 month warranty, so I might take them back and start over with new ones.

Cableguy Greg

Amazon is crazy right now. I ordered the charger last week and it was due in on the 24th. I was cleaning my garage and getting my boating stuff together and I saw my shore power cord which reminded me that I wanted to order a new one. Went to Amazon and got an EEL cord. Got home from work today and Amazon delivered the cord and charger. Guess I have an after work project this week. 

reneechris14

Was probably a UPS guy 

Cableguy Greg

I was putting the interior of my boat back together this past Saturday and I took my portable generator with me to charge my batteries now that I have the new charger installed. The charger ran great. When I first fired the boat up, the charger was putting out 18 amps to the batteries. After 2 1/2 hours, the charger stepped down to maintain mode and was at 4 amps. Sounds like it is working as designed. Now that PA says that we can boat, I will have to see how it works out on the water. 

mattie

So assume the old PD charger was toast?

Cableguy Greg

mattie said:

So assume the old PD charger was toast?

I believe so. It would show full charge on batteries that were not fully charged.

mattie

I’ll keep an eye on mine, it was the same PD. Don’t use it that much though.