T&T: 24 volt charger replacement...

[Jeffrey Siegel]

Thanks to everyone who provided suggestions to me about replacing my  
24 volt charger that just stopped working.  I got some excellent  
suggestions online and offline.

Newmar, the manufacturer of the original charger, has a $300 fixed  
cost repair option. Unfortunately, they stopped making my 36 amp  
charger a couple of years ago and would no longer fix my unit.  That  
made the decision to fix or replace pretty easy.

After searching around, I decided on using 2 separate IOTA 12 volt, 45  
amp chargers and wire them in parallel to the 12 volt batteries making  
up the 24 volt bank.  It was also suggested to have a way to swap the  
chargers every few full cycles in case there were slight differences  
in their characteristics.  Excellent ideas - currently being  
implemented.

The full price of getting 2 new chargers with all new cabling was  
about $400.  The IOTA's come with a 2 year warranty vs the 90 day  
warranty of a repaired Newmar.  Again, it was a pretty easy decision.

Now all chargers are 12 volts and there is no special 24 volt one.  I  
like that scheme better because it gives more backup potential.

Thanks again for all the help!


====================================
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53RPH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

www.activecaptain.com
The Interactive Cruising Guidebook








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