Battery Charger

[Richard T]

We are booked to go into Liverpool later in the year and with a free hook up being there we thought we would get a battery charger to keep the 12v domestic bank charged so that we don't have to run the engine. We have 3x110ah FLA batteries with a solar panel which will help charging. I'm reluctant to pay the £190 ish pounds for the Victron Blue Smart 30amp for just a few days use. Has any one any thoughts on a cheaper one?

[Adam]

Have this on my grp boat with 240ah domestic and 90ah starter. It doesn't show in the pics but does come with bolt on terminal's and a quick connector to remove it.

 

If you turn the 240v ac and leave it connected to the batteries it member's the settings and kicks straight in.

 

Anything bigger than 10A seems silly money. At 8a + your solar just make sure it's going to keep on top of your usage

 

 Ring 8A Charger

[Tony Brooks]

16 minutes ago, Richard T said:

We are booked to go into Liverpool later in the year and with a free hook up being there we thought we would get a battery charger to keep the 12v domestic bank charged so that we don't have to run the engine. We have 3x110ah FLA batteries with a solar panel which will help charging. I'm reluctant to pay the £190 ish pounds for the Victron Blue Smart 30amp for just a few days use. Has any one any thoughts on a cheaper one?

 

I just used my Halfords car charger when in Liverpool. We were in 5 days and no electricity problems. The charger will provide your 12V needs up to it's rated output.

[nicknorman]

You will probably use less that 100Ah a day in summer or maybe less as you don’t need to have an inverter on if you are on shore power. Over 24hrs that is less than 5A. So a 5A charger is likely to meet your needs.

 

More powerful chargers are useful when you are eg running a generator to charge the batteries, in order to minimise running time. But for 24hr use, 5 or 10A is adequate.

[MtB]

There is a certain pleasure in using a dumb battery charger if you feel able to keep an eye on the state of charge. One of these for £30 will do you very nicely for the visit I'd suggest, unless you feel you absolutely HAVE to have a multi-stage, fit-and-forget type of charger.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362845574858?

 

[TheBiscuits]

Just remember it's brackish water, so your anodes are going to be fizzing away all the time you're in there.

 

If you don't have a fixed battery charger I'm going to guess you don't have either a Galvanic Isolator or an Isolating Transformer either.

 

I'm a regular visitor to Salthouse Dock, but I don't remain connected to the shoreline 24/7 while I'm in there.  I'll connect to run the washing machine or the immersion heater then unplug again.