Perhaps it was on his Compass Marine project page: [url]http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/boat_projects[/url]

Installed a Pronautic 1240P and it works well. With a 430ah house, I would not go any smaller.

Also installed a Pronautic. Went with the 1250P for a few more $$

I also went with the 1250 seem to work well

I have about 430ah and am using a Mastervolt Powercharger 12/20-3. Some people would say it's underpowered, but I'm happy with it. Didn't cost so much, has a great warranty (I got the extended) and fully charges the bank to "float" in about 24 hours if it's down 50%.

Oh. Important tip: Just be sure to get one which is capable of charging the battery while powering your 12v electricals AT THE SAME TIME.

The smaller ProMariners and such at West Marine will not do that, but you have to open the box and read the manual to find out that important little tidbit. That's what makes the good ones so much more expensive, apparently.

Don't ask me how I found this out. :)

Iota DLS50 with the IQ4 module. Can't beat it for the money. MaineSail approved, as I recall.

[QUOTE=bstreet;19582]Iota DLS50 with the IQ4 module. Can't beat it for the money. MaineSail approved, as I recall.[/QUOTE]

These are a good "bare bones" price point charger and in many respects as good or better than many of the cheapo "marine" chargers. They do lack a marine UL certification and the ability to program them for specific voltages. They are however robust and in-expensive.. I've installed number of them in the past when an owner needed to meet a price point and was willing to sign off that they accept the charger not having a Marine UL certification/ABYC etc. etc....

Today I will no longer install them based on my insurance and my lawyers advice.. Seems me having an owner "sign off" does not preclude me from being sued should a non Marine UL device hurt someone in the marine environment... Arghhh lawyers.....:mad: Ridiculous but the sad reality....

Iota DLS45 with the IQ4 smart charging module.

Ben, I don't understand the point about charging the battery while simultaneously servicing the 12V loads. The way I view it, if a battery needs to be charged at 14.2 V at a particular point in its charge cycle, the charger will try to maintain that voltage. If you have other loads (fans, lights, etc.) that will consume some of the current that the charger is supplying and force the charger to produce more current overall to keep the battery charging. If the other loads start to get too high, the charger will not be able to maintain the 14.2 V, for example, and the charging will 'suffer.'

So, it seems to me that you just need a charger with enough amp capacity to adequately charge your battery and handle any simultaneous loads. Is there something special that I am missing?

Any time you switch on a DC load while the battery is charging, the device will see a higher than normal voltage (often that is a good thing). Some nominally 12V devices are somewhat voltage sensitive. I think LED lights have to have special circuitry to prevent problems when run outside some narrow voltage range.

Yeah, Duane, I was thinking the same thing. I have a 15 or 20 amp Promariner (dont' recall the model anymore). When I pull into the slip with the batteries down, it'll register it's full amp output on my monitor, let's say 15 amps. When the fridge kicks in, about 7 amps is 'stolen' from charging the batteries to run the fridge; charger is still putting out 15 amps, but some is going to the fridge. Same with running lights, TV, etc. All this really does IMHO, is make it take a bit longer to charge the batteries. If I'm leaving for the week, that makes no difference, as they're fully charged when I return. On the other hand, if I was depending on the charger to fully recharge my batteries overnight staying at a marina on a trip, that might be a different story. So it depends on your requirements.

May have been the way I had it wired? It's like the batteries would never fully charge - never go to float. Also, it would NOT power the fridge on its own, which my old ferrous-resonance charger would do ironically.

Also the manual said not to do it. Said it's not designed to be a 120vac-to-12vdc "converter". I think it even said that it would void the warranty, so I returned it and went back on my old ferrous-resonance charger from the 80's which had been working fine for 4 years for my two little batteries...

...but since I was putting in 4 golfcart batteries and didn't want to take the chance on ruining them I bought a new state-of-the-art charger, based in the Nigel Calder book recommendation for such.

The manual for the Mastervolt clearly states that it IS designed to be a 120vac-to-12vdc converter, i.e. you can take the batteries out of the loop altogether...though I've never tried this.

I also freely admit I'm not a battery or charger expert. That's just what I read in the manuals.