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Sentry vs Newmar vs Xantrex

  • Thread starter Thread starter eze2bme
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eze2bme

eze2bme

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Apr 12, 2005
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Hatteras Model
43' DOUBLE CABIN (1970 - 1984)
I am going to replace my 10 year old Xantrex Truecharge 40+ charger. I have one Lifeline 8D AGM battery in each bank (ea. 1975 cold crank amps, 255 amp hr cap). 12 volt system on 1979 43DC.
Any thoughts on which charger is better - Sentry, Newmar or Xantex?
Thxs.
 
Xantrex is mostly crap. I'd drop it from consideration right off the bat.

Sentry makes solid chargers but I'm not sure they came back into the multi stage chargers that are best for the agm batteries.

I'd look at the victron phoenix 12/50. It has 2 full and one 4 amp output for a genny or spare battery. Remote control ability and a huge input window for ac power. It an charge batteries at full power getting only 90 volts ac?
 
NewMar or Charles; buy American. Great customer service by both as well. I loved my Sentry once it got fixed, but I also am not sure if they have a unit for AGMs at this point. Then again, a lot of chargers use the same settings for AGMs as flooded with good results.

If initial cost is an issue, ProMariner is worth a look. Had a good experience with a small one used to charge my generator start battery, which was AGM.
 
I think Sentry may have some new HFO smart chargers, but I would rather have a Charles Marine or a Victron. I have had a few Xantrex products and their customer service is rotten. They also frequently update their products and orphan their older stuff.

I'd get a Charles Marine, one of their high-end products. They aren't cheap, but you get what you pay for and they are reputed to be very well made. Here.
 
We had the original Newmar. Our 8 D's would last about 2 years. We do keep the boat plugged in to dock power
any time we are in the slip. We leave the boat in Miami all summer and want to make sure that we have bilge pumps available. 5 years ago I installed a Xantrax unit. This did double our 8D' life. When the warranty had expired by one week, the unit failed. we needed a replacement quickly so we had to buy another Xantrax. That was 2 years ago and it still works. I don't have much faith in the Xantrax chargers and the company won't offer any warranty relief even though their charger failed about 5 days after the warranty expired.
 
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I just installed a Blue Seas charger. You can set it up for any type of battery as well as set the voltage for the float stage etc., and read the charger output for each of the battery banks. It also has a feature that stops charging a battery if it achieves full charge before the lower ones do. It seems like a good unit and factory help in setting it up was great. Immediate response to email and phone call. So far so good.

I also have a Victron inverter charger which died after eight years and the board could not be replaced. This was upsetting in view of their reputation, but they offered me a new one for about half price, so I went back with a newer version. Fingers crossed.

Bobk
 
Boatsb said:
I'd look at the victron phoenix 12/50. It has 2 full and one 4 amp output for a genny or spare battery. Remote control ability and a huge input window for ac power. It an charge batteries at full power getting only 90 volts ac?
Click to expand...

I'll be putting in one of these soon. It has some features that no other has, like adaptive charging and voltage sense.
 
And they're pretty sturdy too. I've sold a bunch and not replaced one yet. The key is having the diagnostic and programming interface for the laptop. I had only one issue and it turned out to be programming not malfunction.
 
I think Sterling Power ProCharge, Promariner ProNautic, and Blue Seas all use the same unit, made in China. The first two actually look identical, the Blue Seas just has a fancy cover/display, but I think they're all the same.
 
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fissioneng said:
I think Sterling Power ProCharge, Promariner ProNautic, and Blue Seas all use the same unit, made in China. The first two actually look identical, the Blue Seas just has a fancy cover/display, but I think they're all the same.
Click to expand...

I sell a bunch of the pro mariners/ pro nautic. Some every 2 or 3 years.

Just to be fair though most people buying cheap chargers under size them and they fail early.
 
Thanks for all the replies and combined knowledge.
Looks like I'm leaning towards the Blue Sea 7522 P-12 unit with the 7520 remote panel. One nice thing about Blue Sea is that they include a temperature sensor with the charger - something I wanted anyway. This unit is very similar to the Charles but has a few more advance features, and virtually the same price. And - made in the USA with a 5 year warranty.
 
I'd put a strong endorsement in for the Magnum Inverters/Chargers. Made in the US just a hair north of Seattle and great support via email or phone. I replaced a Xantrex 3 years ago and haven't looked back. Plus, you can parallel the Magnums if you desire. http://magnumenergy.com

Cheers,
Ryan
 
Yup, +1 for Magnum with a remote panel.
 
bobk said:
Blue Seas and Charles are made in the USA.
Click to expand...

I think Blue Seas is carefully wording their "Made in the USA" claim: "the P12 is assembled and tested in Bellingham, Washington, USA. Critical components, including all electronic circuitry, are of U.S. manufacture." On their sell sheet they say "Designed, assembled and tested in the USA."

I think they use the same Chinese guts as Sterling Power and Promariner ProNautic covered up with a more sophisticated US made case/display/user interface. If you compare the functionality of all 3 units, you'll see its the same.

I don't really care or know this for sure, but for those of you who really want to buy US, this might be important.

Blue Seas has a great reputation and are backing things up with a 5 year warranty which is great. I had a Chinese Xantrex XC catastrophically fail 2 months out of warranty with no concession from them. It appears they have taken these units off the market.
 
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fissioneng said:
I think Blue Seas is carefully wording their "Made in the USA" claim: "the P12 is assembled and tested in Bellingham, Washington, USA. Critical components, including all electronic circuitry, are of U.S. manufacture." On their sell sheet they say "Designed, assembled and tested in the USA."
.
Click to expand...

I noted the same possibly ambiguous wording.

Bobk
 
Looked at Magnum but apparently they make only inverter/chargers - did I miss something?
 
I have a NewMar charger and inverter on my 46C and I like it. I added the smart switch and it charges and maintains 2 banks of 8D batteries with 2 Batteries per bank. And with the inverter I can run everything on the boat minus the climate control with out having to fire up the generator.
 
I got the Blue Seas and really liked it but ended up returning it because I decided I wanted more than 40 amp charging. It has a nice digital display, great manual and connections and customer service was really good. If they had a bigger one I would have gotten it.

I ended up with the Mastervolt 70 amp. They are owned by Marinco.
 
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