All About Marine Battery ChargerABOUT THE MARINE BATTERY CHARGER Electrical power is the basic back bone for keeping your yacht safe. Battery power and electrical charging are essential parts of getting your engine started. Reliable marine battery power is also essential to powering your marine electronics equipment, including the GPS, chart plotter, autopilot and a lot more. It is essential for keeping the lights on, the inverter powering your entertainment and other systems, as well keeping pumps and refrigeration operating. Battery charging is probably the most discussed and controversial area within boat electrical systems. Manufacturers specify nominal capacities of batteries, and the total capacity of the bank must be taken into consideration. Older batteries have reduced capacities due to normal in-service aging, and plate sulfation, which increases internal resistance and also inhibits the charging process. The electrolyte is temperature dependant, and the temperature is a factor in setting maximum charging voltages. The state of charge at charging commencement can be checked using the open circuit voltage test and electrolyte density. The level of charge will affect the charging rate. HOW DOES A MARINE BATTERY CHARGER WORK? Many small boats have a permanently installed battery charger. This can be charged straight off a portable electric generator or hooked up when the boat is on the trailer at home. Many boat batteries have had the batteries ruined by poor quality chargers due to a marginal overcharge voltage level. The AC mains voltage, either 230 or 110 volts AC is applied to a transformer. The transformer steps down the voltage to a low level, typically around 15/30 volts depending on the output level. A full wave bridge rectifier similar to that in an alternator rectifies the low level AC voltage. The rectifier outputs a voltage of around 13.8/27.6 volts, which is a typical float voltage level. Many basic chargers do not have any output regulation. Chargers that do have regulation are normally those that use control systems to control output voltage levels. These sensing circuits automatically limit charge voltages to nominal levels and reduce to float values when the predetermined full charge condition is reached. WHAT IS THE CORRECT BATTERY CHARGE VOLTAGE Charging voltage is defined as the battery voltage plus the cell voltage drops. Cell volt drops are due to internal resistance, plate sulfation, electrolyte impurities and gas bubble formation that occurs on the plates during charging. These resistances oppose the charging and must be exceeded to effectively recharge the battery. Resistance to charging increases as a fully charged state is reached and decreases with discharge. A battery is self-regulating in terms of the current it can accept when being charged. Over-current charging at excessive voltages simply generates heat and damages the plates. 12V = Average Fast Charge at 14.5V and Average Float Charge at 13.6V For more on BATTERY CHARGERS look at these details. ALTERNATIVE ENERGY BATTERY CHARGING Alternative energy systems such as SOLAR CHARGING WIND GENERATORS continue to also improve. ALTERNATOR BATTERY CHARGING Most yachts when at sea charge using the HIGH OUTPUT ALTERNATOR to improve your battery charging and also almost essential to install a FAST CHARGE ALTERNATOR REGULATOR to improve your battery charging All about marine battery charger and more
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