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What Battery Charger


Mr Pugs

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On an earlier thread I got good advice about fitting a larger alternator, the advice was to look at fitting a larger and better battery charger.

One suggestion was to get a sterling charger, does any one have experience with these chargers ?

I will be looking at a 40 or 60 amp unit

 

Kind Regards

Donal

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Having had both Sterling and Victron products, I feel more 'comfortable' with Victron.

 

The build quality feels better, the feedback is better and (generally) the Sterling equipment is viewed as the 'Ford', whilst Victron is the 'Mercedes' in the world of 'electrics'.

 

Currently have a Victron 50a charger which has 3 outputs so can charge up to 3 battery banks (ie, Starter battery, Domestic batteries, Bow Thruster battery) If not needed all 3 out puts they can be linked to maximise the output.

 

 

The 'blue-box' in this picture.

 

post-11859-0-41595900-1482091471_thumb.jpg

 

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I think the Sterling unit is a good compromise between cost and quality. A Victron is probably better, but more expensive.

 

One generic issue with smart chargers is a tendency to go into float mode prematurely, which is very annoying if you are running a genny with the expectation of fully charging your batteries. With the Sterling units, one can set the float voltage to be the same as the absorption voltage thus effectively eliminating float mode. I think you can do this with a Victron too, but you need a PC and the right interface cable (more cost!).

 

I've never had one, just going on the "perceived wisdom" on here. Never had a Victron either - I'm a Mastervolt guy!

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I have fitted many sterling chargers at work and find them very reliable and that they do exactly what there supposed to do, plus the backup from the company is very good if you have any problems. I also work on a lot of Victron kit and do find that some of there switchgear can be a bit fragile, both internally and externally (mainly combi's though), plus there back up in this country isn't brilliant.

Hope this helps.

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To the OP, how are you intending to charge your batteries?

 

You have three choices:

 

1. 240v shoreline running through a battery charger. For this option, a 40 or 60 amp charger is overkill since the charger will likely be on 24/7. A 10 amp charger will be more than enough.

 

2. Running the engine. You say you have a big alternator now, which is good for this. You won't need a battery charger at all, since the charge goes straight from the alternator to the batteries.

 

3. Running a generator. In this case, Nick's advice of a Sterling with the float mode eliminated would be perfect. Remember that the bigger the battery charger, the bigger the generator will need to be.

 

As I understand it, a battery charger larger than around 10a is only useful if you have a generator. Unless a cleverer person can explain any flaw in this reasoning.

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My twopenneth. I have had Sterling items both good and bad. I have had a cheap jobby from ebay which was fine in the couple of years I owned it. ( Electroquest?)

I have never owned victron but have used them on hire fleets and bro in law has one and they are good. The best by a country mile that I have personal ownership of on 3 of my boats is Mastervolt. Its the most expensive but in this case for me it has proved why it is so.

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To the OP, how are you intending to charge your batteries?



You have three choices:



1. 240v shoreline running through a battery charger. For this option, a 40 or 60 amp charger is overkill since the charger will likely be on 24/7. A 10 amp charger will be more than enough.



2. Running the engine. You say you have a big alternator now, which is good for this. You won't need a battery charger at all, since the charge goes straight from the alternator to the batteries.



3. Running a generator. In this case, Nick's advice of a Sterling with the float mode eliminated would be perfect. Remember that the bigger the battery charger, the bigger the generator will need to be.



As I understand it, a battery charger larger than around 10a is only useful if you have a generator. Unless a cleverer person can explain any flaw in this reasoning.



I will be charging the batteries from a generator through a charger


Generator is 8kva, so looking at a largish charger


I did not change the alternator as some good advice from here said look at upgrading your charger

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To the OP, how are you intending to charge your batteries?

 

You have three choices:

 

1. 240v shoreline running through a battery charger. For this option, a 40 or 60 amp charger is overkill since the charger will likely be on 24/7. A 10 amp charger will be more than enough.

 

2. Running the engine. You say you have a big alternator now, which is good for this. You won't need a battery charger at all, since the charge goes straight from the alternator to the batteries.

 

3. Running a generator. In this case, Nick's advice of a Sterling with the float mode eliminated would be perfect. Remember that the bigger the battery charger, the bigger the generator will need to be.

 

As I understand it, a battery charger larger than around 10a is only useful if you have a generator. Unless a cleverer person can explain any flaw in this reasoning.

The OP mentioned on another thread that he had a big generator. Your reasoning is sound but just to explain to the OP, if you are on shore power 24/7 then there is no need for a big charger - the batteries will supplement the current in times of high demand and recharge in times of low charge. For most people 10A would be adequate, perhaps 20A more comfortable. However if you are off grid and charging via generator, a much bigger charger is desirable since you don't want to run the genny for longer than necessary.

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One advantage of the Sterling unit mentioned above is that you can eliminate float mode by setting the float voltage to the same voltage as the bulk/absorption charge voltage. These types of chargers can suffer from prematurely switching to float before the battery is properly charged which is annoying because you are then trying to complete the charge, running the genny endlessly with not much happening. In the case of the Waeco a quick perusal of the manual shows it goes to float when the current drops to 10% of the rated current, or after a preset time (up to 8 hours) - whichever comes first. That may or may not be an issue depending on the size of your battery bank, but personally when charging from a genny I would rather be in control of things rather than some intelligent (aka dumb) charging algorithm that has no knowledge of the battery capacity.

 

Also a Sterling unit can have the voltage set high for the purposes of an equalise charge. So the Waeco is OK, the Sterling is better for genny charging.

Edited by nicknorman
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As I understand it, a battery charger larger than around 10a is only useful if you have a generator. Unless a cleverer person can explain any flaw in this reasoning.

Well, if you're drawing more than 10amps then you'll be drawing the excess from the batteries even when the charger is on. A larger charger (say 20 or 30amps) more or less guarantees that all your 12v demands effectively come from the mains while you're on shore power with the charger switched on.

 

Also, most of the 10amp chargers only offer a single 12v output meaning you can't charge more than one battery bank simultaneously. In addition a lot of the smaller budget chargers only put out 14.4v max which is fine for sealed batteries but not ideal for open wet-lead/acids which will be better suited to a charger with battery type selection - more common on larger chargers.

 

So I'm sure I'm not a cleverer person, but all things considered most people will be better off with a slightly larger charger even on shore power.

Edited by blackrose
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Can you do this on older sterling chargers? I have a sterling pro-digital 30amp that's now 12 years old.

No, I don't think so if it's the type that you set the battery type with DIP switches. The Pro Charge Ultra has a display that allows you to modify the voltages of the "custom" setting.

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I got this. It's been fine. Listed as ex demo as mine was. When it arrived it was in a sealed box.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waeco-Perfectcharge-12-Volt-50-Amp-Battery-Charger-MCA1250-Narrowboat-Caravan-/282274699661?hash=item41b8e2198d:g:FN4AAOSw8d9U0Ks0

 

I feel driven to ask what "been fine" means to you, exactly.

 

Do you mean it charges your batteries 24/7/365 from a landline perfectly well? I would expect it to.

 

Or do you on the other hand use a genny for battery charging? In which case I'm wondering if you actually mean after some random length of time charging the batteries 'seem' charged and this is good enough for you. If so, I'm concerned that you aren't fully charging and your batteries will be degrading quite quickly.

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