T&T: 36 volt battery charger

[George & Emilie Rankin]

Try Samlex (www.samlexamerica.com).   I don't see a 36 volt charger but I
have talked to them, they know their stuff, and they might be able to come
up with a 36 volt system for you since they do custom manufacturing.

(I'm surprised that you have a 36 volt boat, I thought that 24 volt was a
PITA enough.   Where have you been able to find electronics for it?)


Note that I have been chasing issues like this myself.  It might not be the
charger.  Two things to look for are stray current leaks and inadequate
wiring.    Nigel Caulder's book (Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical
manual) has great advice on how to do this.    Resolving a stray current
leak in the shower sump helped, I had never seen the batteries at %100 until
I fixed that.

You should also check all connections and verify that the wire gauge is
adequate.  Check the voltage at the charger and compare to what you read at
the batteries.   More than %3 difference shows that you have unwanted
resistance and/or undersized wires.   The calculation is not difficult.

Finally, it could be the batteries -- Caulder's book has some checks that
you can perform.

What exactly is the behavior that you are seeing?  Even at 36 volts, 16 amps
is a bit light for anything other than dockside charging.   However it
should be able to bring the batteries up eventually.   
 
George