GnrlPatton
Well-Known Member
- Jul 12, 2010
- 724
- Boat Info
- Current: 1998 370 Express Cruiser
Sold:1988 230 Weekender
- Engines
- Twin Cat 3116T
Have been noticing lately that when I run my generator to charge up the batteries, it's taking forever and not really getting topped up. I have what I assume is the original charger - Pro Mar 40 - which is a 40 amp 3 bank charger. I've got 2 24v banks, one for each engine, and then a house bank of 4 6v golf cart batteries in series/parallel.
Yesterday while on the hook, my inverter alarm went off that my house voltage was low (11.7v), so I fired up the generator and ran it for 6 hours, expecting it to get me back to full charge. After running it that long, it looked like it only got to 12.4. That doesn't sound right to me, so I'm wondering if my charger is heading south. I'm going to check the battery fluid level, as I know that will impact charge capacity.
Think it's time to replace the charger? Or time to reset my expectations on generator charge times? I don't think I have the problem on shore power, but I always leave it for a week or more, so it would have plenty of time to slowly charge.
Thanks,
Kevin
Yesterday while on the hook, my inverter alarm went off that my house voltage was low (11.7v), so I fired up the generator and ran it for 6 hours, expecting it to get me back to full charge. After running it that long, it looked like it only got to 12.4. That doesn't sound right to me, so I'm wondering if my charger is heading south. I'm going to check the battery fluid level, as I know that will impact charge capacity.
Think it's time to replace the charger? Or time to reset my expectations on generator charge times? I don't think I have the problem on shore power, but I always leave it for a week or more, so it would have plenty of time to slowly charge.
Thanks,
Kevin