Battery Charger

T

timjet

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
RO Number
32060
Messages
73
My original Charles 30 amp 3 bank battery charger is totally inadequate for charging my house batteries when on the hook. I have 4 AGM house batteries with a total of 440 AH. My original Norcold refrig uses about 120 amps every 12 hours and would take my 30 amp charger more than 4 hours to recharge the batteries when on the hook.
So I want to get a 100 amp charger. It can be a single bank charger since I will use my existing charger for the gen and engine start banks.

Can anyone recommend a 100 to 120 amp marine charger?
 
I have a friend who uses a Charles Marine IMC-120. All I know about it is it is quite large but I've never heard him say anything bad about it. His boat is 45' and he carries LOTS of house battery capacity.

One question; What size are your alternators?

Bob
 
Is the 30A rating individual for each bank or total of three?
 
I would look at the Magnum brand inverter/charger. I recently looked at the Charles 100 or 120 amp units and the Magnum inverter/charger was less money (and it had an inverter!) I added one of these to act as a charger only on my last boat simply because it was cheaper than a standalone charger. It also had the advantage of being a backup inverter if I ever had a problem with the primary.

I'd also look at your fridge draw. I'm not sure what the one on my new boat uses yet, but my Novakool on the last boat used less than 1/2 that amount.
 
Thanks guys. My alternators I believe are 100 amp each, but not sure. I have considered running the main engines to charge the batteries, but would prefer not to. I would have to run them about an hour twice a day to recharge them, not something I want to do.

The Charles battery charges are very good and expensive. Because of their smaller size vs an inverter charger I was hoping to fine a 100 amp charger I could put easily in the engine room, I just don't have the space for a inverter/charger there.

It's my understanding that a 30 amp 3 bank charger will put out about 30 amp total powering the bank that needs it the most with the most available amps that it can produce, ie 30 amps in my case.

The magnum inverter charger seems to give the most bang for the buck. A 120 amp 3000 watt unit is a third of the price of a charles 100 amp stand alone charger.

My fridge is a '98 model and sucks the power. It still works good so I don't want to replace it. Even with a new low pwr unit I would still have to upgrade my charging capabilities or run the engines an hour a day or so.
 
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