On board chargers?? Promblems??

[heelyeah]

I purchased a boat that is a 2005 model. It has 3 batteries and a 2 bank on board charger made by ProMariner. I have a 70# thrust trolling motor on a 24Volt system. My 2 batteries for my trolling motor are connected to my charger. Promblem is, after only a couple hrs. of charging, 1 battery is sizzling, bubbling hot. I bought new batteries, and still the same thing happened. Does this sound like a charger promblem, or wiring/ground promblem or what? I bought the boat and everything was already hooked up so I'm guessing charger now. If it is the charger, What recommendations on brands would you have? Thanks

 

[heelyeah]

Re: On board chargers?? Promblems??

Not to confuse, but my cranking battery is not connected to the charger. Just my trolling motor batteries. It is a promariner 2 bank, 8 amp charger. Seems like a small amperage to make my battery sizzle so soon. Thanks

 

[jevery]

Re: On board chargers?? Promblems??

I'm no electrician, but I'd get out my multimeter and check voltage at each battery while charging. If one battery is receiving significantly more voltage than the other I'd unplug the charger, unhook the charger connections to the battery and compare voltages of the two sides of the charger. If equal I'd guess wiring problem to batteries, if unequal I'd guess charger problem. Like I said I'm no electrician, but I manage to fix most of my electricial problems without the professionals. The rest of the time I'm wishing I'd have called the professionals before I took it apart.

Charger recommendations - My new Ranger came with a ProPak 2 bank. It's a lot larger than the 2 bank ProMariner on my last boat, kinda industrial looking, but it charges way faster. Look at propakcharger.com

 

[arks]

Re: On board chargers?? Promblems??

One of my dockmates had a similar problem last summer. He's a retired electrician and discovered that his charger would not go into "maintainance mode" (trickle), so it boiled out his batteries. He replaced the charger and fixed the problem.
We both now use Guest ProCharge systems and so far they've worked well.

 

[heelyeah]

Re: On board chargers?? Promblems??

Thanks a lot. I was hoping it was the charger. I've been playing with it & now just recently discovered that it's making a ticking sound(the Charger) and the 2 LED lights are not coming on at all. I'm gonna assume that it's fried.

 

[flabum]

Re: On board chargers?? Promblems??

If you replace the charger, get a charger that has floating grounds. With this type of charger, each battery will recieve only the charge needed and in 24 volt systems, each battery will be charged seperatly as needed. If you were to use a 24 volt charger on two 12 volt batteries in series, the charger will charge both batteries at the same time regardless of state of charge in each individual battery and will overcharge one battery. With a floating ground charger, this will not happen.

This would be a good choice: http://www.pmariner.com/productFeature.php?ProductNum=41220&page=0

 

[204 Escape]

Re: On board chargers?? Promblems??

Until Dec 31st, 2007 Minn Kota has a rebate on their on board chargers. I got a dual bank, and got $25 back.

Just an idea.