Charger size/redundancy?

[SailAwy]

Question on battery charger. We're not planning on being in a slip or plugged in often, so largely dependent on solar, wind, and engine at anchor, full time. 400ah house bank. Are there any other functions outside of being connected to shore power that a battery charger serves? I have a smallish 40amp NOCO charger for the rare times connected to shore power, so I'm wondering if practical to have another in a combo inverter/charger or just go standalone inverter and forget another charger. Input please.

Thanks!

[SV Melody]

What's your average daily lowest SOC? Just curious..


I'd go with an inverter/charger if you can. Never hurts to have options.

[Adelie]

Assuming you plug into shore power overnight, 40a should be plenty. Even starting at 50% you should be fully recharged in 8hr. This assume the charger is a 3 step model.

[Adelie]

I would go with a stand alone. Cheaper up front. If one part of a combo goes down the whole thing probably is kaput.

[SailAwy]

That’s the thing though, in about 10 months from now we will rarely be plugged in, which is why I’m thinking of saving the few bucks to get a stand-alone inverter instead of a combo and leaving just the 40amp charger that I’ve got for the rare days we do pull into a slip. I just didn’t know if a battery charger serves any other function other than when shore power is available.