Marcum VS 500 charger question...

[Rip_Some_Lip]

I bought a Marcum VS 500 at the end of last ice season. I want to know if the charger that came with it is an automatic charger. Does it stop charging when the battery is fully charged? It has a green light on the plug-in and plugs into the front of the unit. I don't want to over charge my battery and ruin it. Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Giant_Jackpot]

Rip,

I’m not familiar with that charger but if you have a voltmeter you can easily tell what it is doing. Leave the charger plugged in for 24 hours and then check the voltage with the charger still attached and plugged in. If the voltage is 14 to 15 volts, then it is NOT an automatic charger. An auto charger should “float” the battery at about 13.2 volts after it completes the charge cycle.

[metrojoe]

I copied this from the owners manual at Marcum's web site. Just go to thier site and download the owners manual.

Link to Marcum

BATTERY CHARGING

Recharging the battery after every use is recommended. As a general rule of thumb,

charge the battery for twice the amount of time as it was used.The VS 500

underwater viewing system has a DC charging port located just above the battery

door on the right side of the monitor face. The charger that was supplied with the VS

500 system is a 500 mA DC charger with a male jack.To charge your system, simply

plug the male jack of the charger into the plug in port in the face of the monitor and

then plug the charger into a 110 volt AC wall outlet.The 7 amp, 12 volt battery that

was supplied with the VS 500 system should take about 15 hours to charge from a

completely discharged state. The charger incorporates a Charge Alert feature to alert

the user to when the battery reaches full capacity. This is accomplished when the

green LED light shuts off on the face of the charger. The charger does not shut off

automatically but will output a trickle charge indefinitely. It is recommended, however,

that the charger be disconnected from the monitor when the Charge Alert green LED

is no longer on. It’s recommended that you remove the battery door while charging to

allow for increased air ventilation through out the battery compartment.

[bigb56303]

hey i dont believe that your charger is a auto one, but if you want to know the state without a meter, you can buy a led set up like to one for a vex that will work, it doesnt matter the brand, i have one for my vex, that will work for any dc application, as far as electronics, leave them on the battery when your chargin the unit and they have different leds to tell ya the condition of the battery, hope this helps

bigb56303

[Dave]

bigb,

Good suggestion.

Also, there's LCD meters that one can use to know the battery's charge status, too. I've been using the Marcum BCI-100 and it's been working great.

BCI-100 Battery Monitor

[Rip_Some_Lip]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was wondering if the light turned off or turned red when it was fully charged. I do have an automatic charger for my vexilar and I use that most of the time but sometimes I have to charge them at the same time. I used to go through alot more batteries from over charging until I bought the auto charger.