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PETER
KENNEDY YACHT SERVICES Marine Electrical Systems |
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| Battery Chargers |
There are more Battery Chargers available than any other marine electrical device. All chargers break down into two main types: the old style ferroresonant charger and the more modern multi stage electronic charger. Ferro resonant chargers are large and bulky, quite heavy, and they make a humming noise when they are working. They are very reliable and are quite likely to last a long time. However they can be spectacularly inefficient. They lack the sophisticated control circuitry to give batteries what they need, and instead substitute a very gentle charging cycle that can be described as a straight line graph from full output when the batteries are flat to almost no output when they are full. |
Electronic chargers are smaller and lighter, usually have a fan for cooling, and offer three stage charge that allows them to give their full rated output for a much longer part of the charging cycle. As a result a 20 Amp Electronic charger could be expected to give a quicker charge than a 40 Amp Ferro resonant one. Unfortunately many also suffer from a lower level of reliability than their Ferro resonant counterparts. |
| Inverter chargers combine battery charging with the ability to invert and make ac power available from the batteries. They cleverly utilize some of the same components to do this and often save weight and cost over individual units. Inverter chargers tend to be the highest output of any, often up to 130 Amps at 12 volts DC |
| Principal manufacturers of chargers Victron Energy The Centaur Range can go up to 200 Amps Xantrex ProMariner Newmar Mastervolt Inverter chargers Victron Energy Xantrex Mastervolt Outback |
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Peter Kennedy Yacht Services Located in Annapolis MD
USA we are open
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