Battery Charger

[Kim Beatley]

After a hard run to a fishing spot, I generally shut down the engines. I want to leave the engine room exhaust fans on, (which draw a lot of power), to cool down the engine room, but do not want to run down the batteries. The generator stays on so I can power a charger. Need a recommendation for a smart 12 V battery charger that will charge two independent deep cell battery banks while powering 2 exhaust fans per bank drawing at least 20 amps per bank.

Just had to buy two new $350 batteries because the charger that I "had" cooked them.

 

[Angela]

In 12-volt, your options are plentiful. What charger did you have that cooked them, and how old was the charger?

 

[Kim Beatley]

Do not know the brand, the label has fallen off. There is an analogue gage, but it is broken. My guess is that it is over 20 years old. The boat was re-powered in '96 so I am guessing it could have been changed out then. Who knows.

I have added a significant amount of electrical load since I bought the boat 5 years ago.

As I stated before, I want to be able to run the engine room cooling fans with the engines shut down, however with the generator running; all with out draining the main batteries. I have had a dead battery while at sea before, never again......(before the fans were installed). Since then, I have had electrical cross over switches and wiring installed so I can pull power from any battery.

Just as an FYI, the fans are made by DeltaT... They really do their job.... but they seem to be very power hungry. I have the power on the boat, I just need to know that I am getting the power to the fans with out risk of discharging the batteries.