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Posted by Ernest A. Testa (152.163.201.187) on May 29, 2000 at 18:35:17:

I own a 1998 model Catalina 42, two cabins. My Professional Mariner Promatic 30-3 charger started to malfunction late last season (I'm in New Jersey.)
This Spring it did not work at all. It has already been back to the Pro Mariner factory in Ventura CA. It still does not work. Have tried everything and I'm interested in replacing it. Any suggestions would be appreciated....Thanks......Ernie

Posted by Captain Norm (208.236.251.83) on May 30, 2000 at 17:29:25:

No suggestions, but am quite surprised. Did they see a problem with it (will help isolate to see if problem with boat wiring)? When I got my boat from the factory, 12 volt outputs for bank 2 & 3 were jumpered together, and it must be that way if you are only using 2 banks. I have since then added a 3rd & 4th bank so have removed the jumper and added a 2-bank Perko switch. I did have a very loud fan on the charger. PM sent me a new fan which I installed. They were willing to do it, but I didn't want to be without a charger.

Keep in mind there is still a big advantage of the Pro Mariner--it is a 3-bank (all independant!) charger. The Heart unit is a single bank charger, meaning you need to keep batteries in parallel for it to charge any other batteries. I don't want to start a "parallel" thread here, but I expect everybody knows the benefits of no parallel banks.

When I took delivery of Aphrodisiac (#600), I had a Statpower 1500 inverter installed, as I figured there was already a decent charger, and I didn't need to pay for another unit. I just wish they had a 2kw unit as 1500 watts just bearly heats water (I did install a fan cooling the inverter).

Another comment was made about the Pro Mariner facing the wrong way (2-cabin). There's plenty of space there to rotate it 90 degrees, facing where you can read the guage. I feel it also cools a bit better, not attached to a wall, air can get behind it. As you can tell, I've rotated mine.