Battery Charger Recommendations, Please

[alan_fincher]

I know this has come up before, but the advice given varied widely.

 

Believe it or not, with 2 boats I have never so far purchased any proper battery charger, (well one isn't near shore power anyway).

 

I'd now like to buy a three stage charger of around 20 amps. I don't need 20 amps right now, but if I'm spending the money would like to be "future proof".

 

Now previous advice has turned up very different prices, depending on what you buy...

 

Mr Sterling, for example, seems to want about £240 for his Pro Charge

 

On the other hand this has received a recommendation at about £100 less.

 

And equally a case has been made for much cheaper like this at under £50, (although for current listings I can't immediately find a 20 amp, only a smaller 12 amp).

 

There is loads of choice, of course.

 

So how much better is a £130 20 amp three stage charger than a £50 one, and indeed how much better again is a £230 one.

 

Will the cheaper ones....

 

1) Not charge the batteries as well, (either "proper" charging, or keeping topped up).

2) Not last as long before failure

3) Actually present any significantly greater chance of fire, electrocution or blowing up of a battery or battery bank.

 

I'm happy to pay the higher prices if received wisdom is that it makes sense, (though note that Sterling stuff often seems to fail!).

 

What does the panel think?

 

Any definite recommendations, or ones to definitely avoid, please?

[Ex- Member]

Well all I can say (not being an expert in electronics) is we bought a sterling 12v 20amp charger 8 years ago following recommendation from other boaters, it's been running constantly for that 8 years without failure. Can't remember the original cost but certainly not the cheapest at the time.

 

A cheaper model might have done exactly the same job though and lasted the same, who knows!

 

A unit at £50 though compared to £230 if it does the same/similar job has to be worth a punt IMO if it fails the day after the 1 year warranty then it's only cost a quid a week

[Chris Pink]

I bought for someone one of the Caravan and Leisure 40A chargers, seems a nice piece of kit. I notice they have a new 'premium' range which has as well as a better meter (if you don't have a meter this is probably a big plus) an equalising charge function. Whether as a leisure user you need anything so fancy is moot though for a liveaboard it's a nice piece of kit, I particularly like their 60A one.

 

In your shoes I would probably buy the ebay cheapie as a fairly disposable item.

 

You don't say why you want a battery charger or what you intend to run it from.

[alan_fincher]

You don't say why you want a battery charger or what you intend to run it from.

At the moment mostly so I can do ad-hoc charging of batteries.

 

I'm not that keen to leave the boat that does have mains power available "plugged in", so would probably not leave it connected and on a float charge.

 

However I might want to move up to that, but would want to invest in an isolation transformer too, I think.

 

But it would be good to be able to go on-board, on the mooring, and run lights, pumps, etc, knowing that the charger could largely handle it, and the batteries weren't getting run down.

 

At the moment I'm sure a cheapie would do, but I'd quite like to be a bit future proofed.

 

We are not big power users, and would be even less so if I could actually get around to swapping out halogen based lighting for LEDs.

[Ex- Member]

We are not big power users, and would be even less so if I could actually get around to swapping out halogen based lighting for LEDs.

 

We've never run out of 12v, or knowingly gone below 90% SOC whilst on mains

 

12v TV

All lights led used liberally.

Shower pump

Water pump

1 lap top, other is still on mains.

12v desk fan

2 small fans.

12v dab radio.

 

Led's will save a lot of energy use for sure.

[smileypete]

But it would be good to be able to go on-board, on the mooring, and run lights, pumps, etc, knowing that the charger could largely handle it, and the batteries weren't getting run down.

If that's all you want, how about switching most of the DC loads over to a £20ish power supply when on shore power? You can then switch off the mains with no worries about stuff left on flattening the battery.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

[MtB]

I know this has come up before, but the advice given varied widely.

 

Believe it or not, with 2 boats I have never so far purchased any proper battery charger, (well one isn't near shore power anyway).

 

I'd now like to buy a three stage charger of around 20 amps. I don't need 20 amps right now, but if I'm spending the money would like to be "future proof".

 

Now previous advice has turned up very different prices, depending on what you buy...

 

Mr Sterling, for example, seems to want about £240 for his Pro Charge

 

On the other hand this has received a recommendation at about £100 less.

 

And equally a case has been made for much cheaper like this at under £50, (although for current listings I can't immediately find a 20 amp, only a smaller 12 amp).

 

There is loads of choice, of course.

 

So how much better is a £130 20 amp three stage charger than a £50 one, and indeed how much better again is a £230 one.

 

Will the cheaper ones....

 

1) Not charge the batteries as well, (either "proper" charging, or keeping topped up).

2) Not last as long before failure

3) Actually present any significantly greater chance of fire, electrocution or blowing up of a battery or battery bank.

 

I'm happy to pay the higher prices if received wisdom is that it makes sense, (though note that Sterling stuff often seems to fail!).

 

What does the panel think?

 

Any definite recommendations, or ones to definitely avoid, please?

 

 

I bought one of the £45 ebay cheapies late last year. It certainly seems to charge the batteries but I then realised I have no idea, or any way of finding out, if it really IS a three stage charger as advertised. It came with no instructions or paperwork of any kind, not does it have any markings on it to indicate whether or not it is a three stage charger, or any other type. Googling the model number revealed no information either.

 

 

MtB

 

P.S. surely what you really need is a small solar panel?

[keble]

I have been using a Numax 20a charger for a couple of years, following a recommendation from this forum.

It's cheap and excellent, but a tad noisy (fan).

[mrsmelly]

Hi

 

On my last boat I had a mastervolt battery charger, they are not cheap....it was brilliant. On my present boat I have the very one that Alan has linked to on his post it was less than fifty quid. It is 3 stage it has different charge rates which I can monitor on my victron bmv 600 it floats when fully charged at 13. whatever. It has been running now for about six months plugged in, it is also brilliant.

 

Tim

[boots]

Mr Sterling sells off reconditioned / old stock on eBay - might be worth a look???

[Richard10002]

Mr Sterling sells off reconditioned / old stock on eBay - might be worth a look???

 

I bought a reconditioned Sterling 2500W inverter charger for £700. It failed after just over 6 months when the capacitors blew and leaked. Sterling wanted to charge me over £500 for the electronic module to fix it. I wrote a long letter quoting Sale of Goods and stuff, and they called me pretty quickly to reduce the price to £160. I couldn't be bothered arguing further, so paid up. I think I would have won if it had got to court, but life is too short in some cases.

 

I'm less enamoured of Sterling now, having previously been a big fan. If buying again, I'd probably pay extra for a Victron, or buy a lower capacity model.

 

The inverter charger has worked fine since I fitted the new module.

 

Having said that... I like the look of the latest Sterling chargers.

[jonathanA]

I bought the very same Sterling procharge unit about 3 years ago. The boat we had just purchased didn't have a charger, although had an inverter and shore power hookup.

 

Looking around I felt that 20A would be fine as I didn't need a high charge rate (shore power available)and 20A would cover the use whilst on board and moored.

 

What it does have that the cheper units tend not have is multiple outputs (3) so I can keep both the domestic and starter battery banks charged, plus switches to select battery type and overall bank capacity. Its a proper multistage charger which eventually goes into float charge.

 

I bought it at Crick when midland swindlers where doing a show discount so saved some money but it was still expensive.

 

as far as i'm concerned its been fit and forget. initially I didn't have a GI so would only conenct the shoreline when we on board, but since fitting a GI it been on full time apart from when we are cruising.

 

in my opinion its a well engineered unit with good instructions and does the job. I'm not 100% convinced I'd buy one now and might be tempted to buy a cheaper unit off ebay, but I probably wouldn't leave a cheaper unit on full time unless I was convinced it was a proper multistage unit. (You can see the Sterling is by monitoring the voltmeter)

 

my only other comment is that many people tried to tell me I needed a much bigger unit for my bank of 3x 110Ah + 1 Starter saying i needed a charger of at least 10% of capacity so really needed 40a+ Needless to say I didn't take any notice of that as the science doesn't support such a 'rule of thumb'

[Naughty Cal]

We have a Newmar 30A which has been on the boat since new. It has run continuously for that 10 years to the best of our knowledge trouble free and looks after the batteries as it should. Again not the cheapest piece of kit but we would certainly buy another one.

[Canarrowboat TBD]

Hi,

 

I too had bought a boat with Shoreline, an Inverter, but no charger. 3 Leisure Batteries and a Starter, same configuration as yours.

 

After lots of excellent advice on here, I opted for this mid-range, yet multi-stage and multi-output, designed for Marine use @ £135

 

The only question was the Ampage, I eventually chose the larger 45A one, but the same company do a 30A @ £89.50

 

Both have dual output for individual Starter and Leisure Charging. Lots of technical output on the rotating display, if you care for it. But honestly, I plugged it in in October, and it's been running ever since (except when out and about, of course).

 

Seems to be one of the best mid-price options, and if it did fail, I will be less concerned as it's not multiple hundreds of pounds !

 

Hope that helps ?

 

Kind Regards

Mark

[LEO]

Hi,

 

CTEK 2500, I've got one, Jim's got 2!.

 

Leo.

[alan_fincher]

Hi,

 

I too had bought a boat with Shoreline, an Inverter, but no charger. 3 Leisure Batteries and a Starter, same configuration as yours.

 

After lots of excellent advice on here, I opted for this mid-range, yet multi-stage and multi-output, designed for Marine use @ £135

 

The only question was the Ampage, I eventually chose the larger 45A one, but the same company do a 30A @ £89.50

 

Both have dual output for individual Starter and Leisure Charging. Lots of technical output on the rotating display, if you care for it. But honestly, I plugged it in in October, and it's been running ever since (except when out and about, of course).

 

Seems to be one of the best mid-price options, and if it did fail, I will be less concerned as it's not multiple hundreds of pounds !

 

Hope that helps ?

 

Kind Regards

Mark

Yes, this looks interesting, particularly as I'd certainly have no need for anything bigger than the equivalent 30 amp model which you mention.

 

Still thinking about it, along with some messages received about second-hand stuff.

[blackrose]

If you have open wet lead/acid batteries apart from the output in amps, the other spec you'll want to know is the max voltage output. You want 14.8v rather than 14.4v which a lot of the small single output chargers put out. I think most of the multi-output chargers (for charging multiple banks) put out 14.8v max and will have a selector switch for the battery type, but if they don't state the max voltage output you should check to be sure.

 

If you have sealed batteries then you want 14.4v and that voltage will do no harm to an open wet/lead acid battery over the short term, but it won't charge it properly.

 

Also, if you end up with a charger which has 3 output terminals and you're only charging 2 banks, remember to connect 2 terminals together and connect that terminal to the largest bank (usually domestics), and connect the remaining terminal to the other bank (usually start).

Edited March 15, 2013 by blackrose

[DHutch]

Slightly skimmed some of the thread add I'm at work on the phone, we have a 20amp (24v) sterling unit, bought new in 1991 and it's been reliable and trouble free even it's slightly less than ideal location two inches of the engine room bilge under the coal bunker.

 

That said, while I have no direct experience, if I had to get my wallet out I would be very tempted to go the whole hog and get a large inverter charger, maybe a victron.

 

Daniel

[Bill]

Yes, this looks interesting, particularly as I'd certainly have no need for anything bigger than the equivalent 30 amp model which you mention.

 

Still thinking about it, along with some messages received about second-hand stuff.

 

I have the 30A model mentioned above, does what its supposed to and is very solidly built. More than happy with mine.

[Psycloud]

I also bought the above (after posting on here) and it's been connected for 3 months and charging our bank happily.

 

FYI all our lighting and pumps run off the bank and we have had the charger on a separate shoreline to the 240v system so I know for a fact we've spent approx £1 on lighting and pumps in 3 months. For that reason I can't justify a solar system just yet lol

[smileypete]

If you have open wet lead/acid batteries apart from the output in amps, the other spec you'll want to know is the max voltage output. You want 14.8v rather than 14.4v which a lot of the small single output chargers put out. I think most of the multi-output chargers (for charging multiple banks) put out 14.8v max and will have a selector switch for the battery type, but if they don't state the max voltage output you should check to be sure.

 

If you have sealed batteries then you want 14.4v and that voltage will do no harm to an open wet/lead acid battery over the short term, but it won't charge it properly.

For unsealed leisure batts I think 14.4V is much safer for unattended charging, particularly in summer and if the charger doesn't have temp. compensation.

 

Also appears that sealed maintenance free 'calcuim' batts sometimes don't charge fully enough for deep cycle use at 14.4V despite assurances from suppliers, in some cases 14.8V is recommended. There's a PDF sheet from Lucas automotive batts somewhere around the web that mentions this, and other sources elsewhere.

 

Semi traction batts are another matter entirely, best charged according to manufacturers directions though they may relax these if say more equalisation charges are done.

 

cheers, Pete

~smpt~

[blackrose]

For unsealed leisure batts I think 14.4V is much safer for unattended charging, particularly in summer and if the charger doesn't have temp. compensation.

 

 

Perhaps, but is a multistage charger likely to go into bulk charging after it's gone through its charge cycle? Mine jut stays on float (13.6v) while I'm away even though it's capable of 14.8v.

 

I wouldn't just switch it on and leave it unattended - I'd make sure it had gone onto float first.

[smileypete]

Perhaps, but is a multistage charger likely to go into bulk charging after it's gone through its charge cycle? Mine jut stays on float (13.6v) while I'm away even though it's capable of 14.8v.

 

I wouldn't just switch it on and leave it unattended - I'd make sure it had gone onto float first.

It's just general advice, and applies more to high power chargers. What's the max current output of your charger?

 

I think it's more a problem if a batt cell fails unexpectedly and you have a high power charger trying to charge it. In this case the lower the charge voltage and current, the less it'll overheat.

 

To add to that, I reckon charging open lead acid batts from a high power charger in the height of summer at high charge voltages, with no temp compensation is more likely to cause batt cells fail to short, possibly some time later when the boat is unattended.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited March 17, 2013 by smileypete

[eightpot]

Just another vote for the 20A ebay cheapie. Just checked my feedback to find when I bought mine and it's been plugged in constantly (except when I'm out cruising...) since Decemeber 2009. Still going strong.

[blackrose]

It's just general advice, and applies more to high power chargers. What's the max current output of your charger?

 

I think it's more a problem if a batt cell fails unexpectedly and you have a high power charger trying to charge it. In this case the lower the charge voltage and current, the less it'll overheat.

 

To add to that, I reckon charging open lead acid batts from a high power charger in the height of summer at high charge voltages, with no temp compensation is more likely to cause batt cells fail to short, possibly some time later when the boat is unattended.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

 

14.8v with temperature compensation. If it gets really hot on the boat in summer and I can hear the fan running constantly I switch it off.