Battery Charger

seahawk

I've purchased a 2008 Rinker 280 Express cruiser with a Merc 377 MAG engine. Purchase was done late in the fall based on a quick sea trial and a marine survey. The boat is currently several hundred miles from home and shrink-wrapped for winter, so I cant access it. Could anyone tell me if there is an onboard battery charger on the boat as standard equipment for this year and model.??  I've been researching new batteries for the boat and just discovered that I cant find any reference to a battery charger and dont see one in the survey pictures. I guess I just assumed there would be one.    Thanx for any help and info.

Cableguy Greg

I also have a 2008 280 EC. Yes there is an on board charger. It is located on the firewall between the engine room and the cabin. It is made by Progressive Dynamics and should be the PD2020 model. I had some issues with mine the last few years, so I replaced it with a ProMariner ProNautic 1220P charger. It is a 20A charger and is able to charge 3 banks of batteries along with different style batteries. I have the Duracell Group 31 batteries from Sams Club on my boat and it does a great job charging them. If you have any questions or issues, feel free to reach out to me.

davidbrooks

Also recomend the Duracell Group 31 batteries. I think i keep the Sams membership just for the batteries.

mattie

Hey Seahawk,
Great forum here for these types of questions.

Just a heads up, be careful of program settings with onboard chargers - they need to be set for specific battery types. Lead-acid, AGM, etc. they all charge & maintain at slightly different rates. Dealer told me about the numerous times that AGM batts are toast after one season because the owner never changed the settings after upgrading batt types.

I've gone down that road a couple times swapping out battery types. Now I'm back to traditional lead-acid. They work very well - if you treat them well. Cost less/replace more often.

my2cents

Spyderweb

I just happen to have the 2008 Rinker cruiser catalog and the 280 came standard with a 20 amp charger.

seahawk

Thanks for the help. I did some more research and I think I found reference to the charger too. Much appreciated.

Dream_Inn

I'd highly recommend the pronautic. It's a great charger and will accept any different battery configurations and types.

seahawk

All of your comments very much appreciated. I did do some research and it seemed to confirm that the OEM charger is the PD2020. I assume thats whats on the boat...not being able to confirm that til the spring but it seems reasonable to assume. I want to replace the batteries because I dont know how old they are or how well treated they might have been and I was seriously considering upgrading to lithium, but for a number of reasons I think I'll stick with a new pair of AGM's for the delivery home, and then once I get to know the boat better over next summer I'll re-evaluate my entire charging system. Thax again for all the input.

seahawk

David...thanx for the reference to the Sams 31's. I'll check them out. Just have to make sure I have room physically to put them in the existing battery trays. I want to get the boat 'home' before I start taking on too many projects that have to be completed at a strange marina with 'un-known' resources. :-)

seahawk

Thanx Mattie. I'm just re-learning alot of things about battery technology. I've been away from boating for about 3 years and things have changed,.....especially with respect to batteries and associated charging and isolator systems if you run different types of chemistry. You just cant go out and swap-in a new whiz-bang battery type.    Just watched a couple of vids from recent boatshow seminars regarding batts, and I'm re-thinking the whole plan of approach that I thought was gonna work. I'm just researching Firefly AGM's that seem like they'd be compatible with the type of charger that I THINK I have.....:-)

aero3113

Just don’t buy Fujik batteries, LoL!!

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CGxahB1p5P0/?igshid=1rzonvvmws8bg

Handymans342

In the RV solar world we use Battle Born lithium batteries 

seahawk

Thanx Handy....I've researched Lithium batts and decided against them because it appears that they arent simply "drop-in-replacements". To replace Flooded cells or AGM's would would have to seriously consider swapping out your charger, and isolator, and quite likely have to look at another alternator that wouldnt be fried, by trying to provide current to the lithiums. They are apparently very hungry and accept all the amps you can throw at them and keep asking for more until the alternator just rolls over and gives up trying. And with all this come some new upgraded wiring too. So for these reasons we're going to go with Firefly AGM's ( I think ).......I'm still learning.