Another Guest Charger Gone Bad

[Jimmy Easterling]

When I had the Z6 the charger went out within the first year and now the Z7 charger is gone(no lights and 0 output). The tech at Guest says the 8A charger was probably too small to handle the two group 27 batteries. Of course, it is under warranty and shouldn't cost me any more than shipping one way but, I would think Tracker would know the capabilities of the chargers and not send out something that is going to give their customers a problem this soon. Do you think the charger is too small? 8A model 2607A-B-02. By the way, date on the charger is 8/08 and took delivery of "new" boat 10/09, and I have had to replace both of the batteries at my expense, Interstate would not warranty the batteries because they had a 2 year old date on them. On the up side, these are the only problems I have had and I still love my boat, just aggravating side issues.

 

[Sue DeLelys]

Jimmy,



Yes, the charger is too small for your batteries. Ask the tech if you can upgrade to a 3 bank so your start battery is charged as well. Go with 10 amps to each battery if you do a lot of tournaments or 5 amps each if you just fish for fun.



Sue

 

[Jimmy Easterling]

I have a 10A 2 bank that I have moved over to the trolling batteries for now and plan to put the 8, if that is what I get back, on the cranking battery. As long as I am at home it is not a problem to charge both at the same time, on overnight tx's I just charge the trolling batteries. Cranking battery is an Optima, most of the time when I plug in the charger it goes directly to red light and stays there. Thanks, Sue.

 

[david Wickenheiser]

Hi

The 8 should be able to charge your batteries just fine It will take a longer time to charge the to the max capacity but it should do fine. If you have been around 10 years ago or longer every manufacturer of deep cycle batteries wanted you to use 2 amp slow chargers. Tecnology has come a long way and we now know that 10 amp is the way to go they charge at a good rate not heating the batteries to a boil. The unit is solid state I am sure which means that it should run forever. Now it could overheat due to a bad conection somewhere. or the wires could have been able to move around and came lose inside the unit. If it hooks to 2 batteries there are two seperate curcuits.I would say it is in the transformer ( converts ac to dc current). I do agree with Sue Get a three bank 10 amp each but I would also get another battery to hook the third lead to. I would use this to run all the acessaries but the optimax starting system (the motor will do this fine with no draw on it). If it is smart craft capable but not used you might have to run a ground wire between the cranking battery and the acessary battery to get the fuel gauge to work. If you fish tournaments you will never have a dead starting battery with this system.



Sue not trying to step on your toes

 

[mike daniels]

I'll tell you the big three things that kill battery chargers,

1) Heat buildup while charging (epecially if the boat is in the sun)

2) vibration while the boat is on the water

3) humidity/saltwater spray that can cause corrosion



The vibration will shake and connectors loose causing high resistance connectiors or broken wires. The corrosion will make these loose connections even worse or may corrode and make connection between two parts of the circuit that shouldn't make connection.



That last is heat buildup from the charger bein trapped in a small compartment with no airflow. If the boat is in the sun, that compartent can be like an oven.



You cnat control vibration or humidity. You can do someting about heat. Make sure the battery compartments are open and if ay all possible provide some air flow across the charger when its doing its thing. It shoud get no hotter than warm to the touch. If it gets uncomforably hot, you need better cooling.



If you not afraid to open your charger to ruggedize it I can help you with that.

 

[Jimmy Easterling]

I live in the deep south so we have plenty of heat and humidity. When not on the water my boat stays inside out of the sun and always have the compartment open when charging. I have never touched the charger when in use, just never thought about checking it. The boat sat on a BPS lot in Louisiana for a year before my dealer transfered it to SC for me. It was there long enough that both trolling motor batteries and cranking battery has been replace since I took delivery Oct 09, I am sure the rear compartment was closed while there and hot, could have a lot to do with it. I bought the 10A that is in there now from an independant dealer and have had it in use for well over a year now, it seems to be doing fine. As far as opening the charger, it is under warranty and I ain't touching it. The guy at Guest said it would take about 2 weeks to get a replacement here. That is one very positive thing I can say about Guest, they stand behind their product and there wasn't a problem getting them on the phone.

 

[Sue DeLelys]

FYI, depending on the model, you can't open the charger as it is a solid brick of thermal epoxy. As a result, they are both waterproof and resistent to vibration caused failures.