First Impressions on our new Analytic Systems charger....ugh!

[egaito]

Well, it worked great the first day! But unfortunately, after about a day of service, it has failed. Angela noticed the DC lights dimming and checked the voltage at the helm to find it low. She then checked the charger to find it dark, and extremely hot to the touch. Tried letting it cool down and restarting it, but it's still dark (all indicator lights off).

I checked it yesterday, after it ran overnight, and it was happily maintaining both banks.

Analytic Systems is happy to take a look at it if we ship it back at our expense ($130 for 3 day). They will try to do so faster than their normal 10-day turn around since it's so new.

Looks like we're without a charger for at least 10 days. I guess the port engine will get a a daily workout for awhile to keep the house bank topped off.

So much for getting out of the slip this weekend.

[Canuck Dennis]

I assume you checked the output initially as it does have an adjust for voltage output.

[egaito]

I assume you checked the output initially as it does have an adjust for voltage output.

Well, we all know what "assume" means, right?

The documentation states that it is set for normal lead acid batteries, and adjustable for other types. As mentioned in the post, I did check it the next morning. One bank was showing 36.0, the other 36.3.

Regardless, I'm not sure how that fine adjustment could/would/should trash the charger, which presumably has protective circuitry in it.

[davidwigler]

Darn. I have a 10 amp 32 volt charger I could overnight to you for a backup if you like. It's a two stage. It installed yet.

[Jaxfishgyd]

That totally sucks...
Does kinda make me feel a "little better" as I've had that kind of luck on newly installed equipment...
(not the inverter though...yet)

[Boatsb]

Gameboy back where you got it and have then give you another. New and burned up is not acceptable.acceptable

[egaito]

A quick update for those that are following:

The charger will ship today, $130 for 3-day shipping to Canada.

They do not have any 32v chargers in stock, in either 115v or 220v.

Apparently they are in the middle of a large production run to fill an order, so cannot even build one for some time, so the best option is to repair ours. If it's not repairable, I guess we're S.O.L. until they get their orders filled.

So far, they have been communicative, have demonstrated concern over the product failure and a desire to make it right.

On the down side, it does not appear that they have the internal polcies/proceedures to support customers that rely on their products. IMHO, if you sell something as critical as a charger for a boat, you should have a few on the shelf to help customers left stranded.

It would also have been a nice courtesy to ship it in for repair on their shipping account instead of our wallet.

To be told that new orders come before existing customers isn't what you want to hear when you're having a problem....even if it is the ugly truth.

It does not appear that the unit can be fixed and returned before I leave town which may leave us having to hire an installer.

I'm not sure which manufacturers actually keep 32v product on the shelf, but were I to do this over, I would consider this a factor in product selection. Battery chargers are relatively simple and generally trouble-free devices, but when they go bad, and you need one, you really need one!

I'll report back on how quickly it is fixed and returned.

[Canuck Dennis]

When I went to the plant to pick mine up after repair, the technician stated that there were way too many "sub standard" parts in the unit and they had to do a major rebuild, now, I wonder where those bad parts came from ? your guess is as good as mine. I would think they have learned from that experience but maybe the bean counters are running the show.

[SKYCHENEY]

This is why I have both the Analytic charger and the Outback. I use the Analytic 95% of the time and only run the Outback charger when on the hook and running the genset. The Outback will output 75amps at 32v so my charge time is much faster.

But, the point is, I have a backup. If I had to send in the Analytic at least I would have a charger to use until it came back.

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Ed. Hopefully it will serve you well once you finally get it back.

[Angela]

Sky, I like your well thought out plan. Maybe we should reconsider the plan to have a 24v inverter bank and go for the Outback 32v system instead so that we have that critical redundancy too. To find a 2-stage/3-stage 32v charger....our choices were quite slim. As I recall, it came down to either Analytic or Newmar. The Sentry, Charles, and others we researched would keep a trickle charge running and we didn't want that on the starting bank that doesn't have the same needs as the house side. It's my starting bank that gets cooked with the trickle-kind of chargers. I'm not going to engage in the argument of right or wrong of trickle charging, but Sky's set up has gotten my attention now that I've have the experience we've just had.