Battery Charger Help Please

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JK_Boston_Catalina310

JK_Boston_Catalina310

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Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
So I came down to the boat and ran through my start up check list and the batteries only has around 12.5 on each. So I started checking around and it appears my charger is not working. It's a Flyback 20-3 charger (not a smart charger).

From what I can tell it looks like the internal fuse is blown. The problem is that I have to pretty much uninstall the charger to change the fuse.

So my question is should I change the fuse or replace the charger and keep this one as a backup?

Any advice would be great. Also, any recommendations on chargers would be a huge help.

Thanks,

Jesse
 
Witzend

Witzend

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Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
The real question is, why did the fuse bow in the first place?
Is there more than one fuse? If so did it blow the fuse on the AC side or DC side?
If it was in the AC side, could have been a voltage surge, thus a one time event, the fuse did it's job, replace and go on your merry way. If it was on the DC side, I would be looking at the connections for corrosion first. Are there any isolation diodes between the charger and the Bat, bank. According to the manual the outputs are already isolated, so there should not be any other diodes, this would cause another .5-.75 volt drop confusing the charger in thinking the batteries are low when they are not. The output from the charger should however be fused at the bat. to protect against a fire if the cabling were to short. Also check the dip switch for proper battery type. The charging and float voltages are different depending on the kind of batteries you have. I have attached the manual if you don't already have it.
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
22,783
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Our experience is that those Flyback chargers were a boat explosion waiting to happen. They were truly bad. Regardless of whether you can fix the fuse and get it working again or not, I urge you to buy a new one, for many other reasons, too, like keeping your investment in your batteries up by charging them properly. A good quality charger will save you at least one round of new batteries --- do the math. :)
 
N

NC-C320

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Mar 28, 2010
91
Catalina C320 Washington, NC
There have been lots of posts on the Catalina320.org site regarding problems with the Promariner Flyback charger. The solution generally has been to go to another brand...you might want to review that site. I have the Promariner on my boat and thusfar it has worked fine, but I only occasionally use it.
 
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