On-board vs reg charger

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

What is so great about an on-board charger vs just a standard stand alone unit?

They seem like your just adding more weight to the boat to do something you can do with a standard type charger.

What I'm I missing?

[SpecialK]

The reaso to have the on board charger is all you have to do is plug in to the charger with an extension cord and walk away. Batteries are pre wired to the charger so no messing with opening storage clamping on the leads checking the settings... yada yada yada.

[SpecialK]

Also you can charge more than one battery at a time if you have the right charger.

I am really missing the edit post button...

[PerchJerker]

Correct, on-board chargers are not at all like "just a standard stand alone unit".

- They typically have 1 bank (or charger) for each battery, so for most guys it's like having 3 battery chargers.

- Good on-board chargers will trickle charge to top off your battery, not all stand alone chargers are trickle chargers.

- Good on-board chargers are also battery maintainers - you plug them in, they charge the battery until it's full, you leave them plugged in until the next time you use your boat, and they continually monitor and maintain the batteries as needed, keeping them in tip-top condition.

- I think a good on-board charger will extend the life of your batteries, because it's so easy and convenient to keep them properly charged (and not over-charged). As expensive as batteries are these days, who wouldn't want to take the best care possible, and maybe extend their life another season or two.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

All of the above can be accomplished with a stand alone charger and a battery maintainer/conditioner, albeit a little (not much) more work. I was thinking of getting an on-board charger, but I think I will just keep doing it the way I am (for now) and save the money & extra weight and space in the boat.

If I do decide to get one, what brand do you recommend? I would only need a two bank for the 2 deep cycle batteries, since I already have a maintainer for the starting battery.

[RonT]

My onboard charger quit on me a few years ago, so I went back to a stand alone charger. After one summer I bought a new 3 bank charger and love it. They don't add much weight and mine is hidden right next to the starting battery. Worth every nickle in my opinion.

[Jmnhunter]

couldn't a guy rig a stand alone charge to be a "on board" charger? I have a black and decker auto charger right now, small and compact adn would think it would be perfect if mounted right, only thing i see that would need to be changed, is clipping the aligator clips off and crimping 2 new circle clamps to be screwed down on the battery?

[BobT]

I don't have an on-board charger. One of the problems I face is like this past weekend when we were at a resort on Vermilion. At the end of the day I needed to recharge my trolling motor battery plus run my aerator for my baitwell. As most boats, the aerator is supplied by my starting battery and my trolling motor is supplied by my deep cycle battery. With only one charger, I was unable to run my aerator because I needed to leave my deep cycle on the charger for quite a few hours. Considering that we didn't get back to the resort until after 8:00pm, I risked losing my bait by not being able to run my aerator. The only way I could do it would be to have a second charger to connect to my starting battery just so I could run my aerator over night without discharging my starting battery. Of course that would require another power cable.

I do have a second charger but it is unregulated and can over-charge a battery if you don't keep an eye on it. Too risky to use for this situation. My brother-in-law has an on-board charger. He plugs in one cord and walks away leaving his aerators running and gets his trolling motor batteries recharged by morning. I just haven't broken down and coughed up the cash for the on-board but I think it is on my wish list.

[WaveWacker]

In the big picture of things the weight of an on board charge is a non-factor. The are water proof unlike a stand alone model and can be very small. Mine I belive is a Quest and the unit is about 9" x 5" x 3" deep. 2 bank model. It's difficult in my boat to get to the two outside posts of the batteries in the compartment if I wanted to try to hook up the standard aligator claomps. And for those that have their batteries stored under in floor rod lockers it would be a pain in the rear to constantly have to access the batteries.

Plug it in and forget it is the only way in my opinion. I should mention that one should at least once a year check water levels and clean off connections/posts.

[walleyewild]

I have a 3 bank in my boat, and when I am working in the garage I flip on the master power switch and listen to the boat radio.

All of my batteries are sealed, so checking the fluid level is not necessary.

I wouldn't own a boat without an onboard charger.

I have a 100' extension cord that stays in the boat too.

It really is a necessity with multiple batteries in the boat and the cost is not a factor if you look at it as how many years are you going to have the boat and charger in the boat. My last boat had an onboard that was starting it's 5th year so the cost per year was going down to about $35.00 a year.

It's like buying good rain gear the longer it lasts the cheeper it gets.

WW

[Esox_Magnum]

I agree I would never own another boat without an onboard, park the boat, plug it in and forget it till next time you fish. With 3 battries in mine charging just the 2 trolling motor battries overnight is a pain with a single charger.