leisure Battery charger

[Phil1884]

Hi, as I'm fitting out the boat, I'm aware of the need not to allow my 2 domestic leisure batteries not to fully discharge. Does anyone have any recommendations for a automatic leisure battery charger that i can just plug into the shorline and then to my batteries?

 

Thanks

[Phil Ambrose]

Plenty of threads about chargers but check out Numax and Electroquest, good value, good chargers. 30 amp output with 2 outputs, fit and forget

Phil

[bottle]

As above but basically you are looking for '3 stage' battery charger.

 

ie. Bulk, absorption and float.

 

Do not get a basic battery charger, the like of which are used to charge car batteries.

 

I am sure this link will be out there but you may wish to look at it before deciding on 'size' (amps)

Edited May 20, 2014 by bottle

[Robbo]

As above but basically you are looking for '3 stage' battery charger.

 

 

AKA, multi-stage, or 4 stage even.

I am sure this link will be out there but you may wish to look at it before deciding on 'size' (amps)

 

To cut that short. More charging amps isn't better. If your on shoreline you have the time so treat your batteries gently and around 10% of total battery bank ah's is a good figure. If your charging from a generator, then that's different as you can reduce charging time for battery lifetime by increasing the charging amps.

[bottle]

Hi, as I'm fitting out the boat, I'm aware of the need not to allow my 2 domestic leisure batteries not to fully discharge. Does anyone have any recommendations for a automatic leisure battery charger that i can just plug into the shorline and then to my batteries?

 

Thanks

 

 

On re-reading this and it may just be the way you wrote it.

 

The answer to that is, that is not a good idea but if you wire the boat to accept the shoreline then the charger can be fitted inside the boat and correctly connected to the 240v ac on the boat and the batteries, in a permanent way..

[Phil1884]

 

 

On re-reading this and it may just be the way you wrote it.

 

The answer to that is, that is not a good idea but if you wire the boat to accept the shoreline then the charger can be fitted inside the boat and correctly connected to the 240v ac on the boat and the batteries, in a permanent way..

[Clifford]

Basically, anyone with a shoreline or generator will have the setup you describe, but most will have it wired in properly. If you only feed the charger from the shoreline, then it can be smaller (30A for a 300 Ah battery bank) than if you have a generator. This is because you always have all night to charge the batteries from the shoreline, rather than having to turn the genny off at 8pm.

 

Some reasons a *cheap* car charger may not a good idea is because it either won't be able to supply enough amps, or because it charges at a fixed voltage (which will be too high to leave on all the time you are not on the boat). Or because it will turn itself off after a fixed time. Also, it will only charge one battery bank (not a problem for people who charge the starter battery just from the alternator.)

Edited May 20, 2014 by Clifford

[Phil1884]

I've gone for the fairstone automatic 30amp, seemed appropriate for the spec of my battery set up. My plan was to plug it into my mains socket as I don't feel I have the expertise to wire it in myself although this would look better from a cosmetic point of view.

 

the dc cables look way too short to reach my batteries from inside the cabin though!

Edited May 21, 2014 by Phil1884