2016 R-21 EC Battery Charger Swap Out

[wilsonballew]

Hello Andrew:

I have a 2016 R-21 EC with air conditioning and bow thruster. The installed battery charge is the Pronautics 1220P and I would like to upgrade to the 1250P. As far as I can tell, all of the main DC supply wiring on the boat is 2 AWG size or larger in some cases, such as the bow thruster line. Does the swap out of the battery charger from the 20 amp unit to the 50 amp require any modifications to the existing boat wiring as far as wire gauge size or fuses?

If needed, my HULL ID is FMLT2105F516.

Thanks - Tom

 

[TylerFromEverett]

I replaced the battery charger on my 2014 21ec after the last one died. It's the same charger a 1220. I replaced it like for like. Just curious why you want to upgrade. What is the benefit? Thanks!

 

[lproulx]

I replaced my 20 amp charger with a similar pro mariner 40 amp unit, which is the same physical size as the 20 amp unit. It comes closer to coping with the AC load ((although I later greatly modified the AC power arrangement - other topic.)

Pro Mariner makes 50 and 60 amp chargers in the same line that are longer and would be much harder to physically install.

Electrically, All you need to worry about is the wiring from the charger to the batteries involved. You need to use appropriately sized wire and provide overload protection. The original wiring has in-line fuse holders, but other approaches are better as you get up into the 40 amp territory.

Larry

 

[wilsonballew]

Hey Tyler and Larry:

My reasoning for the upgrade is the issue that Larry mentioned to provide higher amp capacity when running the AC on shore power. The 20amp won't keep up with the battery drain. The AC unit pulls 29-30 amps, so even with the current 20amp charger in "power supply" mode when hooked to shore power, it is not sufficient.

Larry: I realized after I made the purchase (I can return) that the 50amp unit is 2 inches taller whereas I believe the 40amp has the same footprint as the 20amp. My reasoning for going with a 50amp is that's the minimum recommended by Dometic. My charger is located next to the AC battery bank in the transom storage area under the rear bench seating; I assume that is where your unit is located as well?



Tom

 

[lproulx]

Will send you PM about this. Details may not be of interest to greater community.

 

[wilsonballew]

Hi All - Just wanted to update that the swap out of the 1220P to the 1250P was completed today; small amount of running heavier wire to accomodate the higher amp charger and change out of some fuses, but went really well and the new charger fit in the same place as the 1220P, so no modifications were necessary. The charger now powers the Air Conditione when connected to shore power without draining the batteries. Since the 1250P [and the 1220P as well] have a power supply mode, the system works well when connected to shore power without the need to have an inverter/dedicated AC line installed.

I intentionally elected to stick with the 12v DC power route for the boat and did not want to run a dedicated AC shore power line/inverter setup. That's not to say in the future I won't make provisions for a 12v to AC power inverter to have one AC outlet, but I just don't have much need for AC power currently.

The Dometic Air Conditioner is still underpowered at 3,500 btu and if I do make a change down the road it will be to a 5,000 btu 12v unit. Great strides continue to be made in the 12v AC world with btu approaching 7k without drawing more than 30 to 35 amps [the Dometic draws 30 amps]. All things considered, I'm happy with the current setup and for not many dollars solved an annoying problem. Fortunately, our marina has wholesale pricing we can use at West Marine, so the 1250P that retails around $700 was only $375.

Tom

 

[wilsonballew]

Hi All - Wanted to provide an update on the final upgrade to the electrical system on the boat. As previously posted, I swapped out the 20 amp charger for the 50 amp to take care of the battery drain issue when running the air conditioning while connected to shore power. For the next phase of the project, we converted the standard extension cord type shore power connection for the battery charger to a 30 amp twist connection, added an AC circuit breaker panel that includes a 20 amp breaker for the new AC receptacle in the pilot house; 15 amp breaker for the battery charger and one spare breaker for expansion. We also added a galvanic isolator to finish off the upgrade. Click on my photo album icon to see the install.

The great thing about the layout is it all fit nicely inside the lazarette, with no modification other than adding a mounting platform for the galvanic isolator and AC panel and we did not take up much space, so a successful end to the project.

Last item on the Winter list is installation of Radar next week followed by install of the custom "fast back" style cockpit cover that our local canvas shop is making - if you go to the tugnut post "may be one Ranger-21-in-France project" you can see a picture of the cover.

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Tom

 

[ohioan55]

We swapped ours out for a Xantrex 1800w charger/inverter. It gives us a 40 amp charge, which is good as we have 4 batteries, and we have AC and a thruster as well. I have some pics in my album.