Portable charger options

marchem

marchem

.
Nov 16, 2012
1,038
Catalina 310, 2000, #31 31 Santa Cruz
I’ve read the articles about using automotive chargers on a sailboat, and understand why they are not a good choice. But I’m trying to figure out a solution for the boat I race on, which has no AC wiring. Are there any portable chargers that would be good for this application? Fairly simple DC needs; it’s got 2 12V dual purpose batteries installed (not my choice). Obviously we wouldn’t leave it running all the time at the dock.

Thanks.
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

.
Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
There's really only one "king of the hill" in portable chargers these days and those are the Victron BlueSmart IP65's (but these can be permanently installed too).

They start at the 7A model and also offer a 10A Model and 15A Model. These are the ONLY fully custom programmable portable chargers you can buy.

They can literally charge any type of battery including LiFePO4 and they run insanely cool. We charged a 600Ah LifePO4 battery from 0 to 100% SoC and the 7A charger was in bulk for over two straight days. It never once over heated or protected itself by throttling output current. It provided the full 7A for two+ days straight a feat that would have fried most of its competitors..

These are not a one size fits all portable charger like a Guest, NOCO, Battery Tender, Marinco, MinnKota, Schumacher, ProMariner etc. etc. etc.. These are a legit marine charger with a very, very competitive price. Victron is going to do to the portable charger industry just what they did to the solar controller market and that is, own it...

The BlueSmart IP65's can even be used as a power supply (don't even need a battery connected) and feature built in Bluetooth for programming, history, dashboard etc. etc.. A full custom program can even be created and saved for future use, all in less than a minute.

No other company is even coming close to these chargers. When the dust settles the competitors won't even know what hit them. Victron has already done this with solar controllers and literally owns the market in just a matter of a few years.. Why is Victron soooo far ahead of the pack on these chargers? Because they actually listen to their dealers and installers and go back design/offer the necessary features to properly charge batteries rather than forcing an over-priced one-size-fits-all approach to charging.....

A fair comparison to the rest of the portable charger pack would be; the Victron BlueSmart IP65 is Tiger Woods and the rest of the portable charger pack is Mr. Magoo... (grin)
 
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marchem

marchem

.
Nov 16, 2012
1,038
Catalina 310, 2000, #31 31 Santa Cruz
Maine Sail said:
There's really only one "king of the hill" in portable chargers these days and those are the Victron BlueSmart IP65's (but these can be permanently installed too).

They start at the 7A model and also offer a 10A Model and 15A Model. These are the ONLY fully custom programmable portable chargers you can buy.

They can literally charge any type of battery including LiFePO4 and they run insanely cool. We charged a 600Ah LifePO4 battery from 0 to 100% SoC and the 7A charger was in bulk for over two straight days. It never once over heated or protected itself by throttling output current. It provided the full 7A for two+ days straight a feat that would have fried most of its competitors..

These are not a one size fits all portable charger like a Guest, NOCO, Battery Tender, Marinco, MinnKota, Schumacher, ProMariner etc. etc. etc.. These are a legit marine charger with a very, very competitive price. Victron is going to do to the portable charger industry just what they did to the solar controller market and that is, own it...

The BlueSmart IP65's can even be used as a power supply (don't even need a battery connected) and feature built in Bluetooth for programming, history, dashboard etc. etc.. A full custom program can even be created and saved for future use, all in less than a minute.

No other company is even coming close to these chargers. When the dust settles the competitors won't even know what hit them. Victron has already done this with solar controllers and literally owns the market in just a matter of a few years.. Why is Victron soooo far ahead of the pack on these chargers? Because they actually listen to their dealers and installers and go back design/offer the necessary features to properly charge batteries rather than forcing an over-priced one-size-fits-all approach to charging.....

A fair comparison to the rest of the portable charger pack would be; the Victron BlueSmart IP65 is Tiger Woods and the rest of the portable charger pack is Mr. Magoo... (grin)
Click to expand
I knew there had to be something out there. I saw them on your site, but didn't realize what they were. Those sound like a perfect solution!! Thanks.
 
I

IStream

.
Nov 14, 2013
200
Catalina 50 Seattle
marchem said:
I’ve read the articles about using automotive chargers on a sailboat, and understand why they are not a good choice. But I’m trying to figure out a solution for the boat I race on, which has no AC wiring. Are there any portable chargers that would be good for this application? Fairly simple DC needs; it’s got 2 12V dual purpose batteries installed (not my choice). Obviously we wouldn’t leave it running all the time at the dock.

Thanks.
Click to expand
Why not put a little 50W solar panel in and tie it into a cheap PWM charge controller? Small, totally reliable, no grid connection needed, you'll never forget to hook it up, and if you can keep the panel in place while racing it'll make your batteries last longer too.

I've done this on two boats and a truck that had intermittent usage patterns (i.e. several days or weeks between use) and it totally covers the use case.
 
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marchem

marchem

.
Nov 16, 2012
1,038
Catalina 310, 2000, #31 31 Santa Cruz
IStream said:
Why not put a little 50W solar panel in and tie it into a cheap PWM charge controller? Small, totally reliable, no grid connection needed, you'll never forget to hook it up, and if you can keep the panel in place while racing it'll make your batteries last longer too.

I've done this on two boats and a truck that had intermittent usage patterns (i.e. several days or weeks between use) and it totally covers the use case.
Click to expand
The issue here isn’t intermittent use, the boat goes out at least weekly for the Wednesday Night races. But the time spent motoring isn’t getting the batteries back to 100%. There aren’t any good places to put it on the boat, unfortunately. But I’ll think more and see if that might be an option.
 
Charles Erwin

Charles Erwin

.
Jan 30, 2012
1,123
Nor'Sea 27 "Kiwanda" Portland/ Anacortes
Maine Sail said:
There's really only one "king of the hill" in portable chargers these days and those are the Victron BlueSmart IP65's (but these can be permanently installed too).

They start at the 7A model and also offer a 10A Model and 15A Model. These are the ONLY fully custom programmable portable chargers you can buy.

They can literally charge any type of battery including LiFePO4 and they run insanely cool. We charged a 600Ah LifePO4 battery from 0 to 100% SoC and the 7A charger was in bulk for over two straight days. It never once over heated or protected itself by throttling output current. It provided the full 7A for two+ days straight a feat that would have fried most of its competitors..

These are not a one size fits all portable charger like a Guest, NOCO, Battery Tender, Marinco, MinnKota, Schumacher, ProMariner etc. etc. etc.. These are a legit marine charger with a very, very competitive price. Victron is going to do to the portable charger industry just what they did to the solar controller market and that is, own it...

The BlueSmart IP65's can even be used as a power supply (don't even need a battery connected) and feature built in Bluetooth for programming, history, dashboard etc. etc.. A full custom program can even be created and saved for future use, all in less than a minute.

No other company is even coming close to these chargers. When the dust settles the competitors won't even know what hit them. Victron has already done this with solar controllers and literally owns the market in just a matter of a few years.. Why is Victron soooo far ahead of the pack on these chargers? Because they actually listen to their dealers and installers and go back design/offer the necessary features to properly charge batteries rather than forcing an over-priced one-size-fits-all approach to charging.....

A fair comparison to the rest of the portable charger pack would be; the Victron BlueSmart IP65 is Tiger Woods and the rest of the portable charger pack is Mr. Magoo... (grin)
Click to expand
Would you consider doing one of your very good discussions on setting this up as an at the dock permanent - in your spare time? Maybe here or on Marine-how-to.

Charles
 
R

Rodd

.
Jan 22, 2008
148
Pearson 424 East Hampton,NY
hey Rodd-
Do you carry the Victron IP65s model? Seems it superceded the IP65. Is there any major difference?
Thanks.
Rodd
 
marchem

marchem

.
Nov 16, 2012
1,038
Catalina 310, 2000, #31 31 Santa Cruz
On a related subject, any advice for a good 6V charger to use for conditioning/balancing my GC2 6V batteries? They are all from the same lot, but I’m thinking it would be good o check them for similar SOC.
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

.
Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Rodd said:
hey Rodd-
Do you carry the Victron IP65s model? Seems it superceded the IP65. Is there any major difference?
Thanks.
Rodd
Click to expand
The IP65s is not a Victron USA product. Victron USA does not even know what it is. Keep in mind that some retailers will add part numbers/letters to mislead folks into thinking getting something they are not. Others just import the entire Victron catalog which may include products made for other countries which are not even applicable to the US.
 
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