Battery charger recommendations

[Ron M.]

Have a Xantrax Truecharge 20 that appears to have crapped out. It performed without issues for 10 years.
No indicator lights on, all contributing components seem to be functioning.
Quick research shows many dissatisfied customers with this unit.
I have 2 banks and 115amp alt. Basic electrical needs.
Interested in suggestions for replacement. Thanks

[swhfire21]

I put a ProTech1220i by ProMariner in this spring. Its 1 - 3 bank capable, easy to set up and seems to be working well (after I threw out a faulty multi-meter that had me concerned for a while).

I bought mine re-manufacturerd through West Marine.

[Ken Cave]

Xantrex makes a really good inverter/charger which I installed a few years ago. It is truly heavy duty
and does take up space, but very quiet when running. Mine is a 1000 watt inverter and a 60 amp charger
which takes on my five batteries (four six volt and one 12 volt) with ease.

Defender sells them, but, if you look around, you should get one at half their price.

Hope this helps

Ken
CD 28#227

[Jim Evans]

My Xantrex Truecharge 20 is at least 10 years old, and it's still working well, though it needs some occasional "first aid" to keep it going. Some time ago, my charger became very erratic, and then would not charge. At that time, I read an excellent tip (I believe on this forum) on these chargers to keep them going - and that is to simply tighten the screws that are inside the case opposite the posts where you connect the battery cables. You just remove the four screws holding the yellow case to the charger (one in each corner), and lift up the yellow case on the post end to give you access to those screws next to the posts. When my charger starts acting squirrely, this is what I do - and I'm back in business for another year or more. I have a new Xantrex charger waiting to install if I ever need it, but this procedure is much simpler, and my battery monitoring panel is configured for the Xantrex 20.

I hope all this makes sense; I regret I don't have photos to show you.

[Ron M.]

Thanks Jim, I'll give that a try before replacing it.

[Paul D.]

I just replaced a 20 year old pro mariner 20 amp "Automatic" with a Charles 2000 SP 20 amp I got in the Defender spring sale. The monitor shows over twice the retiring speed. It was a nice little project.