Bow Thruster Charger- ProTech-4 - Failed

[vanburen]

Having a new issue with the charger. When I got to the boat the circuit had popped. When I throw the breaker I get a nasty wave of the volts/amps meters, a grinding noise from the unit itsef (Fans perhaps?). Obviously, not working. Any ideas?

Many thanks.

 

[bluebelly]

Have you installed AGM or GEL batteries? Saw this last year on a Sea Ray. The owner of this boat took out the old flooded style batteries installed new AGM OR GEL batteries. Then that causesd his charger to overheat trying to get to a voltage it was not designed for. Sea Ray advised him of a different charger that would work. It was a real easy swap out.

 

[vanburen]

Ah....yes, brand new AGMs in there - about half a season (very light use). However I had Pro-Tech bless the install of the batteries....

 

[bluebelly]

There's no telling what the cause was. Sounds like you will be charger shopping online tonight!

 

[vanburen]

Let's role the dice with my extended warrantee. So far it hasn't covered anything that has broken - let's see if luck is with me today! Thanks.

 

[mistercomputerman]

This fellow is a part of the Promariner staff and is a member here:

His handle is Promariner

Jim

603-766-7603
or email
jmitchell@pmariner.com

I have seen him be very helpful to others. Additionally, a call to their tech support folks generally finds others just as helpful.

 

[Four Suns]

Have you installed AGM or GEL batteries? Saw this last year on a Sea Ray. The owner of this boat took out the old flooded style batteries installed new AGM OR GEL batteries. Then that causesd his charger to overheat trying to get to a voltage it was not designed for. Sea Ray advised him of a different charger that would work. It was a real easy swap out.

Can you explain?

 

[Our Serenity]

I second Mistercomputerman's recommendation for you to call Jim at ProMariner or any of his staff.

Our ProTech 4 charger just died. ProMariner was extremely helpful in helping us diagnose the problem and, when we decided just to replace the 9 year old charger, they help us select the replacement. ProMariner gave us a super deal. They really went above and beyond.

 

[bluebelly]

Can you explain?

The boat owner would be better able to explain. I think that it was because his charger would never turn itself off because it could never reach the pre-programmed level of voltage required for the new type of batteries? or something like that.

 

[Our Serenity]

The boat owner would be better able to explain. I think that it was because his charger would never turn itself off because it could never reach the pre-programmed level of voltage required for the new type of batteries? or something like that.

Perhaps he did not change the settings on the charger from the 1 hour setting for the lead acid to the 3 or 4 hour settings for the gel or AGM?

 

[Four Suns]

Perhaps he did not change the settings on the charger from the 1 hour setting for the lead acid to the 3 or 4 hour settings for the gel or AGM?

And THAT is poop advice....

gel and AGM are NOT the same and some of the dumb ass chargers put them in the same bucket. AGM and wet cells (they are both lead acid) basically have the same charging profile. AGM and gell are not the same technology and should not have the same setting on a charger.

Read the battery specs... and the charger specs... the advice in some brands of chargers is flat out wrong. It seems like every few months someone gets on here and tries to tell people that AGM and Gel have the same charging profile... they DO NOT! AGM (which are lead acid batteries) and wet cell (which are also lead acid batteries) have almost identical charging profiles.

 

[Our Serenity]

Thanks for clarifying. I could not remember which setting was for which type of battery. My point was that different types of batteries required different settings on the charger. I obviously did not express that clearly enough. Newbie mistake! I'll go back to reading posts :smt001

 

[mistercomputerman]

Newbie mistake! I'll go back to reading posts :smt001

In my opinion, I don't think that is necessary.

One just needs to remember that there are 10,000+ members and some of they are relying on the advice that people give here.

The simple answer is that advice MUST be correct.:thumbsup:

If you want to offer an opinion, it may be prudent to state that it is your opinion so that others do not assume it is a fact.