Christie Battery Charger

Yes, there are a few in our club, they have an excellent reputation. We were at club property for few days, others had been there a week.. They had not been driving anywhere, just bushwalkin from the hut outwards.

Come time on the sunday to go home, they jumped in the car, and it just started up fine.. So they work well from what I saw..

They arent the cheapest things on earth though, but there is one in the trader section of this board I think...

Christies charger is a similar price ( they are a good idea, but overpriced) to a 0.7 Honda at $999 and a lot quieter and more useful, I know which one I would choose.
Hunt around the generator places for a generator exactly the same as a honda 1.0 only yellow called a Sinus, or similar name like that, and they are exactly the same as a Honda only about half the price, about $650. They are made by Honda, let me know if you cant find one and I will get the exact detail as our local has one on the floor for that price.

Jack,
I have been using a single 80Wt Solar panel without problems for many years now, where I use the Solar Panel when I am camped for many weeks/months in the one place.
I can't understand what problems you could have with a Solar Panel as they are a totally stand alone product that require no maintainence, except maybe a good surface clean weekly.
I think it may be in the way the Panel is wired to the battery system, the regulator or maybe it is the battery system?

Can you please elaberate on the "difficulties" they were having with their systems?
There may be a very simple answer to the percieved dificulties that can be clarified for you!

Just had a look at these chargers look like a good thing but could not find a price anyone know how much.

Christie charger

Baz.

All very interesting - I have low demand on energy compared to some (3 way fridge) so I will be going with the 80 W panel as mentioned by OzyGuy when staying put in the bush - prefer that idea to gennies seeing that they create a noise issue for other campers in certain places. If the "sun don't shine" as they say in the classics, and I'm getting lineball on energy supply, I will just start up the Jack's TD and run it for a hour (a back-up generator in effect - but can't see me doing much of that). Seems I can get an 80W BP panel in Adelaide with regulator for close to $690. I see this plan as being workable, but I will have to keep an eye on power levels AND the main car battery is always reserved for starting only!

Jack
What sort of battery do you have? I was looking at one of these recently but Christie's themselves told me that it wouldn't really be suitable for my deep cycle battery. The chargers suit a normal starting type battery, or some of those fancy $400 jobs that can charge quickly (can't think of name at moment). As far as noise they said it makes a fair racket but if you're not around anyone else I guess you can put up with noise for an hour of so.

i have had one 18 months works atreat .at a base camp run it for an hour every 1 or 2 days depending how hot it is cant beat it. smaller & cheaper than solar a lot more rugged for out back tracks & works in any weather conditions .genies are good but you need 6 or more hrs of continious running to do the same job.

I bought a 100w Suntech panel from Landline in Albury 02 60235703 for $729 delivered
I have a Chescold fridge and use the solar panel to charge the battery for lights tv and laptop

Jack , CHARGER or GENERATOR ???????????????????????????

I am in the same boat as you and I can't decide to go with a battery charger such as Christies make , or a generator like the many Japanese ones around .

Is it better to run your fridge straight off a generator for two hours a day ( I have a eutectic ) or run it off the battery and recharge the battery when neccessary .

I am buggered if I know which way to go !

Willie .

Jack I have both the Christie Set and Solar Panels. I find that the Solar(2 x 80w) will keep the batteries fully charged(2 x 105DC) for most of the time.All I run is a 60l Evakool F/F and lights at night. Christie were right that their charger is not really designed for Deep Cycle Batteries as they prefer to take a low charge over a long period of time, but the Christie has got me out of trouble more than once.Personally if I did it all again I would not buy one and invest in good solar panels with a good regulator and probably one of these cheap Bunnings Generators as a back up. Best advice I can give is to make sure that your Batteries are fully charged before heading off as most things will top up power at same level but will not increase charge.Only my thoughts.

Hi Jack called into my local supplier this morning and he has a 1kva Sinemaster unit
( guess I got the name slightly wrong LOL) which is exactly the same as a 1kva honda, his current retail price is $799, last time I asked it was $600 something, but is still $600 cheaper than a honda. Someone told me that honda can only import so many and as a result they bring in the same thing only called something different and in a different coloured case. I wouldnt buy an el cheapo gen purely for the noise factor, these hondas are very quiet, but wouldnt hesitate to grab one of these, have thought about it even though I dont need one. The christie unit does a different job and is OK but quite noisy I beleive.

Hi Jack,
I do read forums from time to time!
To start with it all depends on what your doinng with your battery and how long your going to camp in the one spot.
If you only go away for a weekend at a time, then get a cheap wet cell deep cycle, and dont worry about a charger, as you will be driving 6-8 hours per day to charge it.
Now if your going to do a big trip, like we do!, and possibly like to stay in one spot for a few days or a week, catching massive fish!, then you start getting into trouble.
A wet cell deep cycle needs a constant trickle charge for about 6-8 hours EVERY day, the only way to do this is either buy an EU10i and run it from 7:00am to 7:00pm to keep up with the fridge, as they will only put out 6amps max (yes we tested them), and your fridge is running on 5amps duty cycle, so you dont get much charge back in the battery.
Then let the battery drain overnight with the fridge running, as you want to sleep!
OR get at least 2 80watt panels and park them out in the sun to get a good trickle charge all day.
Now when the sun says goodbye, i guess youll have to run the truck, or pack up and go!
We have been there done that!!
Sick of it!!
No one else made a product that would do the job, so we designed our own.
With a fast charger like ours its best to use a fast recharging battery, of course to make it efficient!, as your wet cell deep cycle will still take 6 hours to recharge, and our charger will charge them, but is designed in a way so no battery can be killed by it, through voltage regulating.
An AGM, or ordinary cranking battery is the most efficient way to go.
All you need is to run our charger for around an hour, more if you have a higher load, but for a fridge only, your looking at an hour per day.
Heres our website,
http://usrwww.mpx.com.au/~christie_eng/index.html
They retail for $990 inc GST, which isnt dear!
A new honda engine and new bosch alternator is quite expensive to start with, not including all our digital readout and cast bellhousing.
If you call us, we can explain anything you need to know.
02 9620 1208.
Thanks, Mick & Les Christie