Another Battery Charger Question

[garylinger]

Seeing the other question about battery chargers brought this up in my mind...On my S2 is installed a West Marine 25 amp (I believe) dual output/2 battery charger. It has a slide switch for Flooded/Gel/? batteries and also has LED indicators for the amps it is pushing with an LED showing charging and another showing charged or finished. I can't find any other info (model #, etc.) on it. I have checked at the local West Marine store and also their website but can't get any info. I don't know how old it is or when the PO installed it. If anyone thinks they know something about this charger I would appreciate their input/knowledge. Is this a 3 stage charger? Is it a piece of junk?

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Gary
If you don't get any better info, put a voltmeter on the battery and monitor what happens over time. If it is a true multi-stage charger, you will see the charge voltage eventually drop to around 13V after a few hours (depending on charge state of the battery when you began). This isn't a precise way to determine it but lacking any better info, it might help.

 

[Chuckbear]

Gary, You might have to do some dis-assembly but you might find what you need. If you remove it from where it is mounted there may be a plate on the back of it with the actual manufacturer or model number. Also try if there is a plate to remove to access the wiring connections on the unit, remove it and see if any info is there. You might try and post a picture which would be more helpful.

 

[sailingdog]

If you're checking it with a voltmeter, at flood, it should read 14.1-14.4 VDC depending on how it is setup, as the batteries charge, the voltage will drop, until it reaches float stage, which is usually 13.4-13.6 VDC. If it isn't doing this... then it probably isn't a three-stage charger.

 

[garylinger]

I was able to visit the boat this morning and took a picture of the charger. I was a little off with the original description but not by much. Can anyone give me any specific info about this charger?

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

looks like the WM re-branded Xantrex 20 but can't be sure without seeing the wiring

 

[Bill Roosa]

Xantrax 20

Looks exactly like my Truecharge 20/40 except the case is black WM and not yellow. It has a battery type switch, an ambient temperature switch, a hidden pinhole button to synchronize (can't remember what they call it when you really over charge the battery to bring all the cells up to charge) all the cells. It also has a 20 day timer that does that too as long as you don't turn the unit off so watch your water levels. It is a true 3 stage charger

Try
http://www.xantrex.com/support/web/id/998/support1.asp
should be one of them you can ID from the front panel. WM does not move the components around just has them painted a different color.

 

[Tom Metzger]

Gary - It is a Xantrex Truecharge 20, an excellent three stage charger, previously built by Statpower. They were painted black before the newer Truecharge + series was introduced. You can download the Truecharge 20/40 + owners manual and other info from:

http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/69/p/docs/pt/7/product.asp

The only differences between yours and the + series [IIRC] are that yours is for two banks, not three, and you don't have the constant 13.5 volt setting. Oh yes, and yours is not yellow.

 

[garylinger]

Thanks to all of you for identifying this for me. The .pdf manual should help me also.