charging all three batteries together

[Guest]

Hi Gang,

My qustion is will a standard mains battery charger charge all three batteries if I connect it to any one of the + an - connecting terminals ?

[mbird]

It should be fine, yes, but I think that largely depends on the size of charger you have. I have a bank of two batteries, and the charger is connected to one of them, so yes it will work fine, as that is how most boats do it. If you only have a very low capacity charger, though, I think it may struggle a bit. From memory I think mine is a 30 amp dual bank charger, which feeds 1x 85Ah battery on the port bank and 2x85Ah on the starboard bank.

My old boat had 3x110Ah batteries on the domestic side which were charged as one bank from a charger with higher capacity, but I can't remember what it was!

[Antares_9]

Will it charge them, yes, will it charge them equally and to capacity, no, unless all three are the same capacity and general condition. Part of my battery maintenance system is a split charger which has a separate sensed output to each battery which is perhaps a bit of overkill as the batteries are all the same age and type but if I replace them at differing times or with different types I will be glad i have it.

And another thing, get those batteries clamped down with something, if you get caught out in a F8 on Wroxham broad they'll be jumping about all over the place.

[jimbo]

Yes, they should have terminal covers on too Biggles.

[Antares_9]

Yeah, and wash behind your ears.

[diesel falcon]

AND.....don,t forget to open your sea cock!

[quo vadis]

I see your point about strapping them down

[Palmtree]

It might also be worth looking at the battery terminal connectors in light of the Boat Safety scheme note to section 3.4.1/R.

Ian

[Hockham Admiral]

We've got two 12V batteries in series for 24V systems, a 12V Domestic and a 12V Starting battery. As David said, it's not a good idea to try to simultaneously charge different batteries, which in our case would not be possible.

The starting and domestic batteries are totally different in characteristics and the 24V needs just that!

So we bit the silver and bought 3 marine battery chargers whose leads are bolted (not with the crocodile clips!) directly to the batteries.

The "Rolls Royce's" of battery chargers are Ctek, if you can afford them! However I would certainly buy a sealed unit type (similar to the Ctek in design) for permanent installation and screw/bolt it to a bulkhead.

[diesel falcon]

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/public ... u5ZhxKfxi8

these are 96 quids and can be found here http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalo ... EoQ8wIwAg#

conect it up turn on and forget!