Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2021 18:27:25 GMT
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Post by brummieboy on May 20, 2021 18:47:13 GMT
I know people knock the cheap Chinese stuff, but most of the branded stuff available in the U.K. is expensive Chinese stuff. When I replaced mine, I bought off eBay for £20 and waited 3 weeks for it but it is a fully automatic solid state fan cooled 20 amp job with a digi display that gives charging rate and bank capacity. When not plugged in, it still gives battery capacity. I would never trust any battery charger to be left plugged in for more than an hour or so if I wasn't there but as a leisure boater its only used on the moorings when I'm there so I don't need to run the engine. Were I permanent liveaboard in a Marina, then my boat would be different and I would have the all singing/dancing electrickery. I bought a 600w continuous inverter for occasional use for £30 some ten years ago with the same thinking and it still works now, only requiring new fuses after I connected it with reverse polarity (oops!!), but it was easy to work out what needed fixing. A 40 amp blade fuse took a little finding, so I bought 5. Guess how many I still have.
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Post by Telemachus on May 20, 2021 18:49:57 GMT
I know people knock the cheap Chinese stuff, but most of the branded stuff available in the U.K. is expensive Chinese stuff. When I replaced mine, I bought off eBay for £20 and waited 3 weeks for it but it is a fully automatic solid state fan cooled 20 amp job with a digi display that gives charging rate and bank capacity. When not plugged in, it still gives battery capacity. I would never trust any battery charger to be left plugged in for more than an hour or so if I wasn't there but as a leisure boater its only used on the moorings when I'm there so I don't need to run the engine. Were I permanent liveaboard in a Marina, then my boat would be different and I would have the all singing/dancing electrickery. I bought a 600w continuous inverter for occasional use for £30 some ten years ago with the same thinking and it still works now, only requiring new fuses after I connected it with reverse polarity (oops!!), but it was easy to work out what needed fixing. A 40 amp blade fuse took a little finding, so I bought 5. Guess how many I still have. 6?
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Post by Telemachus on May 20, 2021 18:54:27 GMT
Modern cars have a shunt in the negative to keep track of battery state of charge. Therefore in a modern car one should connect charger + to battery + and charger, - to chassis or at least the car side of the shunt (ie not directly onto battery -). On a boat without a shunt, none of that is relevant, best to connect the charger to battery + and -, but on the other hand if it’s connected to boat - then it doesn’t really matter.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2021 18:55:05 GMT
Great news, electrician has wired my CTEK charger, I am verboten to change anything. I see it is connected to +ve on a battery, but on a negative on boat wiring. I am getting lessons on electrics, activation seems critical, who would have thought it, anyway, the charger is pretty hot, and voltage pretty high, the lights on the CTEK are progressive. The 5a charger is hot because it is having the arse kicked out of it. A rough rule of thumb for good battery charging is a minimum of 10% of the bank size. Larger chargers will only give short bursts of bulk at Max amps but May shorten battery life if excessively sized compared to the batteries they are charging - anything more than 25% bank size for FLA batteries would be counterproductive
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2021 5:39:54 GMT
Batteries held charge overnight. Job done.
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Post by phil70 on May 21, 2021 7:11:41 GMT
Gazza is correct. In fact after a number of years and having replaced the cooling fan once, I bought a 2nd one and mothballed the first... just in case. Performed faultlessly, best money I've ever spent Phil
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Post by Andyberg on May 21, 2021 7:16:45 GMT
Gazza is correct. In fact after a number of years and having replaced the cooling fan once, I bought a 2nd one and mothballed the first... just in case. Performed faultlessly, best money I've ever spent Phil Yup, Ive fitted 6 of these (but branded as Durite from my supplier) over the last couple of years to various boats, no issues or complaints to date! Highly recommended. 👍
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Post by thebfg on May 22, 2021 0:56:28 GMT
Modern cars have a shunt in the negative to keep track of battery state of charge. Therefore in a modern car one should connect charger + to battery + and charger, - to chassis or at least the car side of the shunt (ie not directly onto battery -). On a boat without a shunt, none of that is relevant, best to connect the charger to battery + and -, but on the other hand if it’s connected to boat - then it doesn’t really matter. I'll go with that. My car has a dedicated post for - infact I wouldn't even be able to get to the battery negative with some dismantling.
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