Just got my new LX5 i ordered last week from Reeds. This is my second lx5 as i bought one last fall as well. I was disappointed that it didnt come with the digital battery charger anymore? Same price less accessories….hmm… Also they didnt disconnect the terminals before shipping so the battery is shot. A call to marcum should fix my battery problem but the charger disappointed me.
The digital charger was junk! On all 3 of the lx5’s dad and I run they’ve all burnt out and 2 of them almost started a fire. Be glad yours doesn’t have it. They should knock a couple bucks off the price though for less features though.
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The digital charger was junk! On all 3 of the lx5’s dad and I run they’ve all burnt out and 2 of them almost started a fire. Be glad yours doesn’t have it. They should knock a couple bucks off the price though for less features though.
Holy cow good to know! Havent had an issue with my digital yet… ill keep an eye on it though. Thanks for the heads up. Cant wait to get these units back on hardwater!
I thought the reason they quit using the digital charger was because people would not disconnect it when not in use? This would drain and ruin the batteries causing people to call Marcum and complain about bad batteries.
I have never heard of them overheating and burning up.
Mine went bad, so I tossed it.
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The digital charger was junk! On all 3 of the lx5’s dad and I run they’ve all burnt out and 2 of them almost started a fire. Be glad yours doesn’t have it. They should knock a couple bucks off the price though for less features though.
I was just finishing up a monthly maintenance charge and felt the one on my 5 and figured it was just about to catch on fire. I’ll probably just snip off the pigtail and terminal splitter and re-wire so that I can at least charge with an the easy to connect pigtail instead of having to go back to disconnecting. Given all that Marcum has accomplished and their engineering prowess, I wouldn’t have thought the charging unit to be their Achilles Heel that it has.
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The digital charger was junk! On all 3 of the lx5’s dad and I run they’ve all burnt out and 2 of them almost started a fire. Be glad yours doesn’t have it. They should knock a couple bucks off the price though for less features though.
I was just finishing up a monthly maintenance charge and felt the one on my 5 and figured it was just about to catch on fire. I’ll probably just snip off the pigtail and terminal splitter and re-wire so that I can at least charge with an the easy to connect pigtail instead of having to go back to disconnecting. Given all that Marcum has accomplished and their engineering prowess, I wouldn’t have thought the charging unit to be their Achilles Heel that it has.
Achilles heel might be a wee bit strong. If I remember my Greek mythology correctly he died a slow and painful death. 
. Especially considering their charging system is no better/worse now than the closest competitor, I don’t think of their charger as a weakness.
Point taken however regarding a failed charger. My only problem with this post, is that it more than slightly overstates a non-issue for the strong majority of Marcum owners. Each person has their own experiences and like anything electronic, there is a small failure rate. I’ve owned more than my share of LX-5’s over the years, and the only DCS I’ve had fail is one that had a frayed wire where the negative went into the DCS unit itself. But that doesn’t matter. What does matter is what they do for you should something like this happen.
As for lowering the price for less features, Marcum realized that people might have an issue with this, and started shipping a 9-amp battery instead of a 7-amp, along with a snow-shield, as soon as they discontinued use of the DCS.
IceNutz hit the nail on the head in terms of the reason for the discontinue. 90% or more of all flasher issues…..Marcum or competitors…..are battery related. Leave it connected, and there’s a draw that will kill your battery over the summer. That’s true whether you leave the lights on in your car, or keep the DCS connected on your flasher. To improve the overall experience for most Marcum units, it was a sound move that saved batteries and frustration!
Joel
My memory may be incorrect but I thought the reason for pulling the digital chargers was due to users yanking the charger off and using it charge batteries other than the one for the flasher. Then they put it back and it didn’t work…and Marcum would be stuck with replacing a piece that was used for something other than it’s intended use.
But my memory may not be accurate…
My only problem with this post, is that it more than slightly overstates a non-issue for the strong majority of Marcum owners.
Joel, I love my LX5 and dad dose too but it’s not really an overstatement when all 3 of them have a problem and 2 of them now have melted cases. It’s not just those 3 either i know of a handful of others with the same problem. Maybe your right though for a guy that only fishes a few times a season it’s a non issue?
The wires were to small and cracked or broke and could cause shorts on the old auto chargers.
I found this one at Mills fleet and I prefer it over the ones currently offered by Marcum.
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My only problem with this post, is that it more than slightly overstates a non-issue for the strong majority of Marcum owners.
Joel, I love my LX5 and dad dose too but it’s not really an overstatement when all 3 of them have a problem and 2 of them now have melted cases. It’s not just those 3 either i know of a handful of others with the same problem. Maybe your right though for a guy that only fishes a few times a season it’s a non issue?
Again, I can’t dispute the experiences you have in your own skin. Neither can anyone dispute my own or that of many others. However, it would be erroneous to suggest that DCS units never fail, just as it would be incorrect for people to assume that all DCS systems fail and are lucky not to start fires.
Whether you fish often or rarely, the point is that your charging system without the DCS is still as good or better than anything else accompanying other flashers these days.
Joel
Here’s some more info on the current 3-stage charging system available with Marcum systems:
A 3-Stage charger works like this—
Stage 1 (Bulk Stage): Constant current charging at a high voltage level at
maximum amperage to minimize charge time.
Stage 2 (Absorption Stage): Current tapers off for final 10% of charge.
Stage 3 (Maintenance Stage): Lower voltage mode to prevent electrolyte
loss, keeping your battery at full charge indefinitely.
Joel
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The digital charger was junk! On all 3 of the lx5’s dad and I run they’ve all burnt out and 2 of them almost started a fire. Be glad yours doesn’t have it. They should knock a couple bucks off the price though for less features though.
I was just finishing up a monthly maintenance charge and felt the one on my 5 and figured it was just about to catch on fire. I’ll probably just snip off the pigtail and terminal splitter and re-wire so that I can at least charge with an the easy to connect pigtail instead of having to go back to disconnecting. Given all that Marcum has accomplished and their engineering prowess, I wouldn’t have thought the charging unit to be their Achilles Heel that it has.
Achilles heel might be a wee bit strong. If I remember my Greek mythology correctly he died a slow and painful death.
The point being (using the modern use of the term Achilles heel, as in a weakness in an otherwise strongly viewed situation/individual/company ;-)) is that it is/was a weakness and a common complaint. There’s nothing wrong with being honest, otherwise how is a company to receive good feedback and improve their products when appropriate? Marcum has seen and experienced the issue, they’ve moved on and seemingly do not offer the digital meter as part of the charging system. Okay, that’s one way to deal with it. Again, for all that they’ve brought to the working end of ice sonar, I was just a bit surprised there was a weakness in what is seemingly a low-tech side component.
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I was just a bit surprised there was a weakness in what is seemingly a low-tech side component.
This is likely more info than anyone cares to have regarding the decision to switch to a more standard battery charger in lieu of the Digital Charging System (DCS) but here goes anyway…
There were two considerations at work here. One was the inherent weakness of any design that expects people to read and follow directions. Long story short, and as stated by others previously, if you leave the DCS hooked to your battery for long periods of time that battery is likely toast. The owner’s manual tells us not to do it but we’re human. And LOTS of people forgot to remove their DCS, myself included.
The second part of the story is the decision to do away with the DCS or re-engineer it to eliminate the low voltage draw placed on the battery if the DCS was misused. MarCum didn’t opt to do away with battery monitoring… they built it into the head unit of all their products going forward. With the LX-6, LX-7, LX-9 and cameras all having built in battery meters having full time voltage monitoring on the battery itself no longer made any sense at all. Neither did the investment in engineering costs and retooling for a product that would only be useful on the mechanical flashers.
The current battery chargers supplied with all mechanical flashers are as good or better than any charger included with any other flasher sold today. Are they as fancy as the DCS? Nope. But they’re also fool proof. Problem solved.
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I was just a bit surprised there was a weakness in what is seemingly a low-tech side component.
This is likely more info than anyone cares to have regarding the decision to switch to a more standard battery charger in lieu of the Digital Charging System (DCS) but here goes anyway…
There were two considerations at work here. One was the inherent weakness of any design that expects people to read and follow directions. Long story short, and as stated by others previously, if you leave the DCS hooked to your battery for long periods of time that battery is likely toast. The owner’s manual tells us not to do it but we’re human. And LOTS of people forgot to remove their DCS, myself included.
The second part of the story is the decision to do away with the DCS or re-engineer it to eliminate the low voltage draw placed on the battery if the DCS was misused. MarCum didn’t opt to do away with battery monitoring… they built it into the head unit of all their products going forward. With the LX-6, LX-7, LX-9 and cameras all having built in battery meters having full time voltage monitoring on the battery itself no longer made any sense at all. Neither did the investment in engineering costs and retooling for a product that would only be useful on the mechanical flashers.
The current battery chargers supplied with all mechanical flashers are as good or better than any charger included with any other flasher sold today. Are they as fancy as the DCS? Nope. But they’re also fool proof. Problem solved.
See, that wasn’t so hard. 
It was informative and provides greater insight into charger technology as well as Marcum decision making which I and probably others will respect. It also reiterates a feature of the 6, 7 and 9, not present on the 5, which hadn’t come out previously in the conversation (or one that I simply missed) and that is the on-board battery charge indication of those models.
Thanks James.
It also says in the manual to “only use the MarCum charger”.
Did you know the older style cell phone chargers fit nicely into the DSC?
How do I spell screw up?
T-O-A-S-T-E-D battery and DSC. 
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The current battery chargers supplied with all mechanical flashers are as good or better than any charger included with any other flasher sold today. Are they as fancy as the DCS? Nope. But they’re also fool proof. Problem solved.
Nobody is pushing innovation in ice elctronics more than Marcum. We found somthing that did not pan out , they corrected it. We got 2 LX-5’s and out fishing people with other brands. Not sure what would happen if we got The 9 
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