AGM battery change for 330

[teljoj]

I have a 2011 330DA. It came with 2x 2 100AH 'regular' batteries connected parallel (Exide premium). If I understand correctly starboard side battery cranks stud engine and operates helm electronics, chart plotters, VHF etc. Portside cranks port engine and looks after most of house electronics, the three fridges, TV, lights etc. Can anyone verify this ?
I need to spend a couple of nights off shore power quite often and would like to add some battery capacity to the 'house' battery pack to add capacity. I bought 2x 150Ah AGM batteries (Varta Prof deep cycle) since I figured faster charging and better discahge would give me a bit more than the added 33% of capacity. Those batteries are pretty expensive so I would not like to change all 4 if I do not have to.
But now I am confused can I simply replace the port pack with my new AGMs ? How would the charger work ? I have Promariner Protech 1230 and I believe it has been set up to charge regular batteries and if I switch to AGM charge program then the stbd pack would not be charged correctly or ??
Does it mean that actually need to add another charger for the AGM pack ? Would that be a tricky thing to change in internal wiring since charger has its own switch in cockpit etc. ?

All experience, comments and suggestions are appreciated. Luckily sea is very frozen here for another 1-2 months so I have time to work this out

juha

 

[annie]

Hi Juha,

Not sure if AGMs are gel cell? If they are and your charger will only do one or the other (lead acid/ gel cel) for all channels? I would get the proper charger for your new batteries. They look expensive so you'll want them to last.
You could wire the new charger into the same shore power outlet and then both banks will be charged from the same switch on your consul.

Cheers Mike.

 

[Tonka Boater]

Contact Sea Ray customer support via the website and ask them. That's what I did when I switched to AGM's and they got back to me the next day.

 

[Loneranger]

AGM (absorbed glass mat) are very different from gel batteries. The AGM's will charge with the same profile as typical flooded lead cell batteries. The Gel's need a different charging profile. You should not require a different charger; however, you may need to have all batteries on the charger of the same type to get the best life from the batteries. I think better than contacting sea ray would be to contact Promariner. Promariner is known for great customer support. At least in my case they have always been very helpful.

One of your questions is answered as number 6 in the below FAQ. Be careful though because question 7 is talking about gel and flooded lead (not AGM and flooded lead).

http://www.pmariner.com/faq_bat_charger.php