240v battery charger which is best

[32KEV]

Hi all,

I have a Victron energy Centaur 40amp 3 stage battery charger installed by Kedron in my caravan in 2008 to charge 3x 120ah AGM battery's, I am not 100% happy with this charger and would like to replace it with a more advanced one with a higher output as I now have 4x 130ah AGM battery's installed.

I am looking at a charger of 50amp charge rate or larger, I have been told to look for one that has a stage that will recondition or equalise the battery's!!!, to increase battery life so I am told, I never let my battery's come down under 75% capacity, but my battery's have all failed around 2 Years of age, even after I replaced the 3 battery bank with four, I keep checking the Max and Min battery voltage over the 24hr period, and at one time the max voltage was 15.9 volts, this makes me think the charger could be killing the battery's.

I have had a look on the net, and some of the name brands have 7 stage chargers, but they on go to 40amp charge rate.

Has anyone out there replaced their charger, if so with what brand, what were the benefits, and are you pleased with the new charger?

Any help would be appreciated.

32 KEV

[GeoffM]

Hi Kev

We have an Xantrex TrueCharge 2 charger in our van that I've been very happy with, although ours is the 40 Amp model.

It also comes in a 60 amp model and has the features you were looking for, ie. 3 stage charging and battery equalization and works on a wide range of input voltages as well as being able to be programed for different battery types.

Have a look here http://www.xantrex.com/power-products/battery-chargers/truecharge-2-2.aspx

Hope this helps,

Geoff

[RussnSue]

G'day Kev

When I got my Lithium batteries I had to do away with my perfectly good Victron charger. It couldn't be programmed to supply the correct charge regimes for Lithium. After much research I settled on this Sterling Pro-Charge Ultra in the 60 Amp version. The main reason I chose it was it can do everything. It is able to charge any kind of battery that you could fit into an RV. It also has a custom setting so that you can set your own charge parameters.

One other handy feature is the ability to preset the maximum charge that the charger will output. For example, at a caravan park I can let it charge at the full 60 Amps, but when I run it with my 1KVA Honda generator, it is a simple matter of changing the output to 75% (45 Amps) to prevent the generator from tripping on overload. The charger has been in for two years now and has not given any grief at all. I can commend it to anyone.

Cheers

Russ

[32KEV]

Thank you for your reply's, have taken note of your charges and will follow them up with others I have been told about, and hope I make the right decision in the end.

Again thank you for the information you have given, it always helps to have somewhere to start.

32 Kev

[32KEV]

Hi Russ,

I decided to go with the same as you the Sterling Pro-Ultra 60amp, the reason I went this way was I had to change my 4 battery's again, they have only been lasting just over 2 years ( but that's another story ) and I was going to replace with Lithium battery's but was unsure about the process and added expense, so next time I have to replace the batteries' I will go with Lithium and I will have the charger to charge them.

By the way I got prices from many dealers in Australia and the lowest price was $835, so I tried over seas and the USA was the best price of $520 + $82 freight and exchange rate of $134, still $100 below the best price here.

Cheers

Kev

[RussnSue]

Hi Russ,

I decided to go with the same as you the Sterling Pro-Ultra 60amp, the reason I went this way was I had to change my 4 battery's again, they have only been lasting just over 2 years ( but that's another story ) and I was going to replace with Lithium battery's but was unsure about the process and added expense, so next time I have to replace the batteries' I will go with Lithium and I will have the charger to charge them.

By the way I got prices from many dealers in Australia and the lowest price was $835, so I tried over seas and the USA was the best price of $520 + $82 freight and exchange rate of $134, still $100 below the best price here.

Cheers

Kev

Good price there Kev. I wouldn't think that you'll have to worry about warranty issues. These things rarely break. Additionally, in the old days you had to worry about the input voltage and frequency (the US is 110V, 60Hz and we are 240V 50Hz), but with this unit it doesn't matter. At worst you may have to put an Australian 240V plug on the unit when it arrives. Keep your eye out on the forum. In the next day or two I will be publishing the two-year report on the Lithium batteries that I fitted (as I promised I would.)

Don't forget that the 240V charger is only half of the story when it comes to charging Lithium batteries. Your solar charger has to be able to do it as well. Our van has the Plasmatronics 60A regulator, which can be programmed to suit Lithium batteries. It is my understanding that Kedron no longer fit these units. I have no idea what they changed to, or whether the new brand is programmable.

Cheers

Russ

[32KEV]

Hi Russ,

Yes I look forward to your report on the lithium batteries, as there is not much info floating around about their use in caravan's that I am aware of.

Cheers

Kev