Bad battery charger


GandDFreehold

GandDFreehold

Member
Not a good summer, so far. We've had more problems this year than I thought possible. The latest...my battery charger decided to quit, Saturday. Here's my issue. Charger should be under Formula Guard Warranty. That being said, local dealer can't look at it until next week, then Warranty company has to come out and verify that the charger is bad, which I did Saturday. (35 years in the electrical field). After warranty company verifies charger failure then we can order a charger, oh, did I mention that the Charles chargers aren't made any more, this from our local dealer. So Formula needs to let the marina know what charger to buy. Then it can be installed. Realistically, once the parts are in hand, this is a 1 hour job, 4 DC wires, and 3 AC wires.
Sorry had to vent there for a minute. So, with no charger my batteries will eventually run down, mercathod is a constant draw, plus bilge pumps, ( I do get some water when it rains) Obviously if we spend the weekend running anything on DC, head pump, radio etc will drain the house batteries. My question is, other than running the engines every other day for an hour, can I use an automotive battery charger to throw a charge on these batteries, I know they're not lead acid, either Gel cell or AGM? I'll check later when I go run the engines.
Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks
 
Use any auto charger for AGM or Gel just don't leave it on for more then enough to charge them up. If you don't have Lead my guess is you would have AGM, not many use Gel, not worth the cost and no advantage I've found over AGM

Your Mercathode would use your start bats, not the house
 
My 41 PC has 6 batteries and only one of them is a house. Im in-process of adding two 6v batteries to the house. Please let me know what battery charger will be replacing the Charles.
 
Thanks for the info, much appreciated. And yes AGM batteries, Port Engine, Starboard Engine, 2 House, and 1 Generator.
Next question. As the Charles Charger is no longer made, what's everyone's opinion of the Blue Sea System Chargers? I'm considering the Gen II P 12 Series, 40 amp.
The old charger is 60 amp, however I've never seen the analog gauge above 20-25 amps. 50% extra capacity should be fine. I would think that if I really needed the 60 amp, the only down side would be a slower charge. Is the Gen II suitable for use in the engine compartment? I would hope so. Based on what I've read, this charger looks pretty good for the price.
 
GandDFreehold said:
Thanks for the info, much appreciated. And yes AGM batteries, Port Engine, Starboard Engine, 2 House, and 1 Generator.
Next question. As the Charles Charger is no longer made, what's everyone's opinion of the Blue Sea System Chargers? I'm considering the Gen II P 12 Series, 40 amp.
The old charger is 60 amp, however I've never seen the analog gauge above 20-25 amps. 50% extra capacity should be fine. I would think that if I really needed the 60 amp, the only down side would be a slower charge. Is the Gen II suitable for use in the engine compartment? I would hope so. Based on what I've read, this charger looks pretty good for the price.
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If the Charles is discontinued I wonder what Formula is using now.
 
Easy Living said:
If the Charles is discontinued I wonder what Formula is using now.
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GandDFreehold said:
I'm not sure. I put a call in to TAG, for info, so far no response.
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They currently use Mastervolt. My charger went bad earlier this year and I looked at several brands. I ended up going with a 50amp Promariner unit and I'm really happy with it. Here's a thread with some information on chargers.

http://formulaboatsforum.com/VBFORUM/showthread.php?8807-Battery-Chargers
 
My 1995 27PC came with a ProMar SS50 that's no longer available. They recommended the ProNautic line of chargers as a replacement.
 
It's not a fuse, I checked all of them, AC fuse is good, DC fuses are good. One of the components on the circuit board burned up.
 
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