Charger to small?

[kevinvanpatten]

Hi everyone, I have a 32v system on my Chris Craft. It has two banks of 4 8v batteries. My 50 year old charger just died on me and I needed to replace it. They are 165 AH batteries and if I am not mistaken since they are in series to make 32v then I need a charger built to charge based on the formula of 10% of 165.

The only 32v charger I can find on the market is the Sterling Power ProCharge Ultra 32 Volt Marine Battery Charger and that has a maximum output of 20.

Since this would be well under the formula I read about for the 10% is that an issue or is it just going to charge slower?

The batteries and charger are expensive so I don't want to ruin either. Not sure if I need a second charger or that would just be nice to have.

The manufacturer said they way they are built they can be chained together to double the output.

Thanks for any input! Eventually I will add the second one but would rather not part with another $625 right now after buying the two new banks.

[Bellinghamster]

Nothing wrong with using a smaller capacity charger, other than it'll take longer to recharge. Probably not an issue while on shore power as long as it can keep up with your average house loads. Less ideal if you're using it to recharge the bank using the generator to power the charger.