ProMariner 20-amp 3-bank charger

[drbatts]

The 2 instances I experienced had both the fuse and the holder melting. Both were watertight fuse holders, with no direct contact with water. With my previous boat it had happened after having the boat for about 5 seasons and always leaving the 12v fridge on with the battery charger plugged in. In my current boat it happened trying to charge a dead battery. Maybe it was corrosion on the fuse terminals or in the wire connections. Both I assume were done in the factory and honestly I never checked the fuses or holders before it happened. In both situations the run from the battery to charger is no more then 1-2ft.

 

[dogdoc]

I believe the rec is to fuse 10 amps greater than the charger leads max output

 

[seasick]

The fridges I am aware of have protection circuitry that shuts it down when the battery voltage goes below a certain voltage. That protects the battery from being totally discharged. The livewell pumps are a different story. To be fair to the manufacturers, the charges are really not intended to run full charge at a 100% duty cycle. With respect to my first point, a dual mode fridge (ac/dc) would be a better fit although a large expense.
Regardless, if the charger is putting out 30A, I would recommend replacing the fuse and holder with an ATX also known as MAXI fuse. These have heavier gauge leads and beefier fuse connections.

I do not know what the combined draw of the pump and fridge is but as long as it causes the charger to be a power supply as opposed to a charger. You would expect the fridge to cycle on and off and maybe be off more that on. So what is going on here? Is it just poor quality or incorrect fuse hardware?
Depending on the livewell size, pump capacity and species of bait stored in it, running the pump 100% of the time may not be optimal for bait life. There are timers that can be fitted that can be set to provide the correct aeration rate as well as reduce potential stress.
Here is a simple, fairly cheap example

Rig Rite, Livewell Timer 500

Rig Rite, Livewell Timer, Automatic. Automatically turns livewell pump on and off.

www.go2marine.com

 

[Hookup1]

The fridges I am aware of have protection circuitry that shuts it down when the battery voltage goes below a certain voltage. That protects the battery from being totally discharged. The livewell pumps are a different story. To be fair to the manufacturers, the charges are really not intended to run full charge at a 100% duty cycle. With respect to my first point, a dual mode fridge (ac/dc) would be a better fit although a large expense.
Regardless, if the charger is putting out 30A, I would recommend replacing the fuse and holder with an ATX also known as MAXI fuse. These have heavier gauge leads and beefier fuse connections.

I do not know what the combined draw of the pump and fridge is but as long as it causes the charger to be a power supply as opposed to a charger. You would expect the fridge to cycle on and off and maybe be off more that on. So what is going on here? Is it just poor quality or incorrect fuse hardware?
Depending on the livewell size, pump capacity and species of bait stored in it, running the pump 100% of the time may not be optimal for bait life. There are timers that can be fitted that can be set to provide the correct aeration rate as well as reduce potential stress.
Here is a simple, fairly cheap example

Rig Rite, Livewell Timer 500

Rig Rite, Livewell Timer, Automatic. Automatically turns livewell pump on and off.

www.go2marine.com

My fridge is 12-volts only. Some units will sense dock power and switch over. I may hack something together some day.

Bigger problem is coming in, plugging in shore power and having the main breaker trip. If you don't check breaker (which I try to do every time) fridge and pump will kill battery. I should put an alarm on it - easy enough to do.

Little bait well is on all night, sometimes days with live shrimp. Big bait pump isn't used at the dock that much anymore. Mainly used to keep google eyes or ballyhoo alive while on the water. Occasionally I'll keep pilchards in it overnight.

I started to use a pen off the beach sunk in 15' of water to keep the goggle eyes for a few days. Canal water will kill them quickly.

I don't have much use for a timer. Flow isn't too bad in small bail well for the shrimp. For the gogs and bally it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I did make a timer for my 29' Luhrs though. If you backed up hard the prop wash would air lock the bait pump. You wouldn't know it happened until the gogs started to go belly up. Expensive problem and cheap fix.

 

[SkunkBoat]

that doesn't sound like Cape May bait...what gives??

 

[seasick]

Popping the main breaker is a problem. A few questions: What breaker exactly is tripping, the one on shore or one on the boat?
Is the shore power plugged into a non GFI 30A twist lock receptacle or is it plugged into a standard 15 or 20 a duplex outlet?
If the fridge is turned on and not running because shore power wasn't connected or on and then the shore power was plugged in, I could see a GFI potentially popping or perhaps a non GFI tripping but there would have to be a fairly large inrush current.

Regarding your fridge; Does it not have the feature that will turn it off is supply voltage drops below 11 volts? That saves the battery but not necessarily the food

 

[Hookup1]

that doesn't sound like Cape May bait...what gives??

SkunkBoat. - I do 5 or 6 weeks in Islamorada around February. Been doing this every year sine 2005 and with my Islander since 2008. I tow it down and back. I have other boats I fish on in NJ for the MA, WMO and offshore. My boat goes in late (August) and stays in until November. For 2019 it never went in - installed bow thruster and other work. For 2020 COVID messed everything up. I had boat work (inspecting tanks, repairing deck hatch, just starting to replace all throttle/shift cables). Boat hasn't gone in the water yet. Its really a FL boat!

So to answer your question no it's not CM bait. I love live bait fishing and really wish I could get it in CM. But it is not allowed in tournaments, large area to cover and he fish can't be pinpointed like they can be in FL.

 

[Hookup1]

Popping the main breaker is a problem. A few questions: What breaker exactly is tripping, the one on shore or one on the boat?
Is the shore power plugged into a non GFI 30A twist lock receptacle or is it plugged into a standard 15 or 20 a duplex outlet?
If the fridge is turned on and not running because shore power wasn't connected or on and then the shore power was plugged in, I could see a GFI potentially popping or perhaps a non GFI tripping but there would have to be a fairly large inrush current.

Regarding your fridge; Does it not have the feature that will turn it off is supply voltage drops below 11 volts? That saves the battery but not necessarily the food

These are all non-GFI connections to 30-amp marine power cord. Some direct to 30-amp twist lock and others to a standard outlet with adapter on the cord..The main breaker inside the cabin trips when the 30-amp power cord is plugged back into boat. It doesn't happen all the time and it happens at different docks. Probably wouldn't happen if I turned the breaker off but I don't always have a breaker.

I did try using a GFI on the dock in FL but it was always a problem so we ran a cord to the house.Same problem when I'm home with the boat and cord has to be unplugged and plugged back in when the lawn is cut. Its not a big deal. I just have to remember to check the breaker inside the boat every time I come in. A simple alarm across the breaker would be handy to let me know the boat is plugged in but the breaker is tripped.

The fridge is 12-volt only with no smarts. It will kill the battery. What's in it is usually not important.

 

[HMBJack]

Some Summary Root Cause comments:

DrBatts hit the nail on the head with respect to the melted fuse holders on the ProMariner Chargers:
"In my current boat it happened trying to charge a dead battery" - I too had this happen (see photo of red melted fuse holder).

Now, exactly WHY was my battety Dead? It was dead because the Main AC Breaker on my boat Tripped. This happened overnight sometime while I was running two bait tanks and my refrigerator (110/12v combo).

I still do not know why my Main AC Breaker tripped.
Only observation: when resetting it, I felt a slight shock from the galvanic isolator/breaker swith combo. My shore power cord BTW is plugged into a standard, 30 amp twist socket. No GFCI at my harbor's power poles.

Like Hookup1 above, I want that shore power to stay ON ON ON...

 

[Hookup1]

I'm going to install an alarm buzzer - if boat is plugged in and there is no power (breaker tripped) it will sound off.

uxcell a14030300ux0160 Panel Mount ACDC 110V Red LED Buzzer Alarm Signal Indicator Light 2Pcs: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

uxcell a14030300ux0160 Panel Mount ACDC 110V Red LED Buzzer Alarm Signal Indicator Light 2Pcs: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

Also the continuing saga of the ProMariner inline fuses. They are complete crap! This weekend I installed new batteries for the engines. Charger hooked up. I accidentally left the engine keys in the ON position. Got on the boat the next day and the port battery was dead. I jiggled the fuse holder (on one on this battery) and it started charging. Took apart and looked at it and it was fine. Battery charging. This morning I checked it again. Battery was dead (yes the keys were turned off!). Fiddled with the fuse holder and it starts working. This weekend the remaining three fuses holders are being replaced. Worked for me before, I knew better and should have just done them while I was in there.

Side note - somehow my am/fm radio is on this port engine battery! It was convenient because it would come on when I fiddled with the fuses! Have to figure that one out when I get in there.

 

[seasick]

If your stereo actually is powered when battery switches are off, that can , as you are aware, drain the battery . It may be wired like that for one of two reasons: It was just wired incorrectly as far a power feed goes or someone didn't want the radio to lose preset stations and hard wired the power feed directly to the battery instead of using the memory feed wire. The drain for the memory feed (often yellow) is pretty low and takes a good amount of time to drain a battery

 

[Hookup1]

I'm going to install an alarm buzzer - if boat is plugged in and there is no power (breaker tripped) it will sound off.

uxcell a14030300ux0160 Panel Mount ACDC 110V Red LED Buzzer Alarm Signal Indicator Light 2Pcs: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

uxcell a14030300ux0160 Panel Mount ACDC 110V Red LED Buzzer Alarm Signal Indicator Light 2Pcs: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

Also the continuing saga of the ProMariner inline fuses. They are complete crap! This weekend I installed new batteries for the engines. Charger hooked up. I accidentally left the engine keys in the ON position. Got on the boat the next day and the port battery was dead. I jiggled the fuse holder (on one on this battery) and it started charging. Took apart and looked at it and it was fine. Battery charging. This morning I checked it again. Battery was dead (yes the keys were turned off!). Fiddled with the fuse holder and it starts working. This weekend the remaining three fuses holders are being replaced. Worked for me before, I knew better and should have just done them while I was in there.

Side note - somehow my am/fm radio is on this port engine battery! It was convenient because it would come on when I fiddled with the fuses! Have to figure that one out when I get in there.

Today I checked again and it wasn't charging. Took fuse holder apart. Fuse base separated and stuck in holder. Have had this problem before with these inline fuse holders. Maybe overheated. The holder are tight and you can't pull them apart without twisting. Probably how fuses get damaged. Temporary wired a new fuse holder in and it started charging. All the fuses holders are being replaced with ATC style.

Done right done once. Oh well I knew better and should have just done them all while I was in there!

 

[Hookup1]

Just got in the water yesterday. Battery charger failed - completely dark - not even power. Bought a new ProMariner ProSport HD 20 amp 3 bank.

Looks like they finally realized they had a problem with the fuse holders. New holders are screw together with a o-ring seal. Also went with ceramic fuses. We will see!