Electricity

[SereneWarrior]

I recently attended a seminar on boat electrical systems/operations hosted by a local cruising group (sorry, not a Hatteras group). The instructor stated that when underway (i.e. alternators were providing charge to batteries and supplying power to loads) that installed battery chargers should be turned off or else they will dual each other and endanger control circuits. he stated that the story may be different for inverter/chargers, depending on the model. It was the first time I'd heard that. I have a couple of older Heart Interface (Xantrex) Freedom 20 inverter/chargers installed in SERENITY (1970 53MY) that I've always left on when underway since I saw no particular reason to secure them. What do the experts on the forum think?

 

[Pascal]

Get a refund

Your charger will adjust charging depending on voltage so with the alternators running battery voltage will be higher and the charger will see that a sign the batteries are charged

I have never turned off chargers with engines running...

 

[SeaWhisper]

Agree with Pascal. I have a Charles 9000 running all the time. Your charging system should have diodes to prevent alternator voltage causing a problem. I believe the Sentry chargers have a cut off circuit that will turn your charger off once you start you motors. This was the way our system had worked.

 

[Will]

We have a Xantrex Freedom 30 Charger/Inverter and have problems with "humm" in radio transmissions and voltage short-cycling unless the charger is turned off when the mains are running. Naturally, this only occurs while the generator is running enabling the charger to charge batteries. There are no such problems when it is running in inverter only mode.
Will