ProMariner Charger Problem

[Jim Cate]

G'Day all,

I recently purchased a factory refurbished ProMariner ProTech-4 battery charger, specifically the 1230 model (12 volts, 30 amps, 3 banks), while on a visit to the USA. Carried it back to the boat in Australia and hooked it up. Instantly blew the GFI breaker on the dock box. Bench checked the unit, found that the same happened with the outputs disconnected. Then disconnected the green/yellow earth return lead going into the 240 volt input. Then the unit works fine, with nominal voltage on the outputs and no GFI problem. BUT, now there is around 180 VAC between the charger's chassis and ships ground. Not a healthy situation! The vendor is willing to replace the unit (no stress there), but shipping two ways is very expensive and a nuisance to a moving cruiser.

So, it seems that this is likely a simple issue -- do any of our assembled experts have any suggestions for correcting the problem? I'd be grateful!

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Manly, Qld Oz

[GordMay]

Check to see if one of the 240 Volt AC Input Hot wires is shorted to Ground.

See also the Manual.

Excerpted from the ProMariner ProTech-4 Series Manual at:

➥ www.pmariner.com/download.php?file=New_Protech-4_Owners_Manual.pdf

“... The 30 amp and larger chargers in the ProTech-4 family are equipped with an AC input selector switch to change the Voltage from 120 Volt to 240 Volt...
The switch is located on the AC side of the unit and is a slide switch that indicates the voltage level either 120v or 240v. The charger will operate from 90 to 270 Volt AC, 45 to 440 Hz single phase...”