I guess you have answered your own question. A minor irritation
can be left as is. Spending several hundred dollars on a solution
is not money well spent it would seem. A 27 year old charger is
old technology that does not handle varying line voltage well.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it as they say. This kind of reminds me of
short story I read back in high school where a cup of tea was
sweetened with salt by mistake and the rest of they story dealt
with all the attempts to make the tea right. In the end they
tossed out the tea and brewed a new cup. Wish I could remember
the name of the story. Don't take Heart and Trace as the only
examples. StatPower (now Xantrex as well) and Ample Power
make great chargers.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Panama" wrote in message
...
Let me explain why I won't install a new charger to solve this
irritation - it's not really a problem - a minor irritation.

I have 2 of these chargers - provides 80 amps of capacity and
redundancy (but never needed). They've been in use for 27 years -
since the boat was built - have never failed - never even hiccupped.
Not even the knob or meter has broken. I've had Heart and Trace
inverters (both bought by Xantrex) - fail - repairs cost more than
they were worth to repair. Not really junk - just not really good
stuff.

I've had my present Trojan 6V's for almost 7 years. Still fine. I had
Surette 8D's for 8 years before that. I treat stuff I own to
intellingent maintenance.

I don't need a "set and forget" boat - or items that break every 18
months. And lots of modern "marine" gear is really "marina" gear.



On Sat, 06 Dec 2003 11:42:33 -0800, Peter Bennett
wrote:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2003 22:07:27 -0800, Panama
wrote:


You could use a variable autotransformer (one trade name is "Variac")
- cost US$200 - 300

However, despite your statement that you won't replace the charger, I
would strongly suggest installing a modern charger, such as the
Xantrex TrueCharge 40+ - they're around US$400, and have the advantage
that they are "install and forget" - they'll work from 90 to 135 volts
with no attention on your part, and will be much kinder to your
batteries than your old charger, even if you do remember to adjust the
Variac correctly.