Victron Energy Centaur Battery Charger (12V/24V, 3-Output)

The Victron Centaur is the workhorse charger for boats and RVs that just need to charge — reliably, anywhere in the world, for years. No app, no Bluetooth, no settings to babysit. You set the battery type once with a DIP switch, wire up to three banks, and the Centaur takes care of the rest with a fully automatic three-stage charge cycle. It is built for the engine room, not the bench: a marine-grade aluminium case, conformally coated boards, and an ignition-protected design that shrugs off heat, humidity, vibration, and salt air.

Charges anywhere on the planet

The Centaur auto-ranges across 90-265 VAC at 50 or 60 Hz and will even run on a 90-400 VDC supply, delivering full rated output across the entire input range. Plug it into US shore power, a European dock, an unstable generator, or a marina with sagging voltage and it simply keeps charging at full current. For cruisers crossing between 120V and 230V grids, that means one charger that never needs to be swapped or re-jumpered.

Three isolated outputs, full current on each

The Centaur has three galvanically isolated charge outputs, and each one delivers the charger's full rated current. Connect your house bank, engine-start battery, and a windlass or bow-thruster bank, and the Centaur charges all three at once without one bank draining into another. The isolation is what makes this safe — a deeply discharged house bank can't pull down your starting battery through the charger.

Adaptive three-stage charging (IUoU)

The Centaur uses a true three-stage bulk → absorption → float characteristic. It pushes maximum current during bulk, holds absorption voltage to top the cells off, then drops to a safe float to keep the bank full without overcharging. A built-in timer caps the absorption phase so the batteries are never held high indefinitely, and an internal temperature sensor compensates the charge voltage at -2 mV/°C per cell so charging stays correct whether the engine room is cold or baking. A front-panel ammeter shows total output current at a glance.

Set it for your batteries — flooded, gel, or AGM

A simple DIP switch selects the charge profile for flooded, gel, or AGM lead-acid batteries (absorption 14.3 V / 28.5 V, float 13.5 V / 27.0 V). The Centaur is a dedicated lead-acid charger: there is no lithium charge profile, no Bluetooth, and no VE.Direct port. If you run a Victron lithium bank, or you want app monitoring and VE.Smart networking, step up to a Blue Smart IP22 or IP65. If you want bulletproof, fit-and-forget lead-acid charging, the Centaur is exactly the right tool.

Built to survive the engine room

The enclosure is epoxy powder-coated aluminium (RAL 5012) with a drip shield over the terminals, and the internal circuit boards are acrylic-coated to resist corrosion from damp, salty air. Cooling is handled by a temperature- and current-controlled fan that only spins as hard as it needs to. The Centaur is ignition protected and rated IP20 for indoor installation, operating from -20 to +60 °C.

Choosing your model

Pick the output current to match your total battery capacity — Victron recommends charging at roughly 10-25% of the bank's amp-hour capacity. The 12V range covers 20 A to 100 A and the 24V range covers 16 A to 60 A; the table on each variant below lists the rated output, recommended battery capacity, terminal stud size, and dimensions for that model.

Why buy from Blue Marine

Blue Marine is an authorized Victron Energy dealer. Every Centaur ships brand-new with the full 5-year Victron warranty, free shipping, and local pickup available. We rig Victron systems on real boats, so if you're not sure which output current or how many banks you need, talk to us before you order.