Replacing the battery charger

[Bluejacket]

2012 Ranger 27. Replacing the original battery charger. The demise of the original charger has been confirmed by an ABYC certified professional. It has also been recommended that the replacement charger be upgraded to 50 amps rather than the 20 amp charger originally installed. This seems like overkill to me, but being the new owner, I have an open mind. Add on the fact that a 50 amp charger will not fit the current location and that is another vote against. Anyone have experience with this?
Thanks to all -

 

[Osprey]

On my R27 I moved the 20 A charger to the back of cave and added a 30A charger to the original location of the 20A (starboard locker). I can use either one or both. I power the 20A model by plugging it into the AC outlet which has been factory installed in the cave (and, of course, turning on the port AC outlets) Both gives a total of up to 50 A. I only use both when the AC source is a Honda portable generator.
If I were in your situation where the original charger has failed I would replace the 20A model with a 40A one. My understanding is the 20A and the 40A have the same dimensions.
Going with the 40A model you should also consider increasing the output wires to safely carry the increased current.

 

[Bluejacket]

Thanks Osprey - good food for thought.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Much depends on how you use the boat. By batter charger do you mean just battery charger or charger/inverter? If charger/inverter and you use 110V appliances powered by the inverter then 20 amps doesn't get you much. Then again there's no point in going 50A unless you have the battery capacity to support it. On the other hand if you use shore power when at the dock for your 110V needs and/or a generator afloat then the charger is just maintaining the batteries. Which isn't much load. The latter is our situation. We use shore power at the dock. No 110V afloat. We replaced the original 20A three bank(which never worked properly) with a simple, sealed 6A portable charger. Plugs in to the original 110 outlet in the battery compartment and is mounted there. Provides enough power to maintain the batteries while using 12V lights, the Webasto heater, and the fridge.

 

[rpmerrill]

Before I installed a charger in the cave, I'd want to check to be sure it never messed with the gps compass. (Even though the probability of navigating and charging at the same time is unlikely.)
Good luck, John.

😉

 

[PanaSeaAh]

The charger on our R25 had been replaced with a very nice, but totally unsuitable, three bank 20 amp charger. Worked great until it didn't. Didn't because it was not sealed and had no business being under the deck. Dripping water did it in. Installed a ProMariner 3-bank 20 amp which is working nicely and just fit in the space between the batteries and the generator. With a Gen and shore power, it provides all we need. Waterproof and fairly easy to read LED display.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081V ... UTF8&psc=1

 

[ohioan55]

I replaced the 20a charger a couple of year ago with a 40a charger/inverter. Makes quick work of our 4 batteries plus gives us the inverter option, which we didn't have prior. The charger found a new home on our friends 33 Albin.