battery charger

[torcano]

I have a Protech 4 1240 battery charger on my boat. It is made by Promarine. The LED lights do not work and I heard this model was discontinued. Is there a way to test if the LEDs are just not working or if the charger is shot. I run my boat almost every day so that the batteries are probably always charged from the alternator. Any suggestions on a replacement unit?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: battery charger

It's very simple to check if the unit is working. Check the output with a voltmeter.

 

[torcano]

Re: battery charger

Thanks. I am a little electrically challanged, so please bear with me. The charger has alternating current feeding it from dockside power and I assume direct current going out to the batteries. Please confirm that I would set my voltmeter to DC and place the probes on the corresponding postive and negative terminals on the charger output side.
RK

 

[UnregisteredUser]

Re: battery charger

That would be right, red to red, black to black.

Just in the event you don't have it, here is a link to the owners manual

http://www.pmariner.com/download.php?file=New_Protech-4_Owners_Manual.pdf

 

[torcano]

Re: battery charger

That was very helpful. I did not have the manual. It appears that this charger does not have visibile LEDS on the front panel, so it might be working afterall. I'll check it out as soon as possibile which may be in the spring if my power cord doesn't reach the nearest outlet where my boat is on blocks for the winter. Have you heard of any problems with this unit?

 

[okboating]

Re: battery charger

You might want to pull that battery for the winter and keep a automatic trickle charger on it for the off season. Not keeping it topped off for the whole winter will kill the battery much quicker.
Dave

 

[torcano]

Re: battery charger

Thanks Dave. The batteries are 5 years old and I plan to replace them this spring. I assume that other than going dead they can't hurt anything anything on the boat. If keeping them on board is potentially problematic, I'll pull them out. I have access to the boat via a door in the shrinkwrap.

 

[UnregisteredUser]

Re: battery charger

If your are going to replace them anyways, I would not be worried about keeping them charged for the winter. I'm not real sure if there would be any problems due to leaving them in there and hooked up, but as the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention..." I would at least unhook the cables.