3 bank charger

[trolloni]

Need a new 3 bank on board charger for the boat. Any suggestions on what brand,and amps,just need one that works overnight , not 2 days.

[Pat K]

I have had good luck with Dual Pro and Minnkota on board chargers. The Dual Pro was a 2 bank the Minnkota is a 3. My friend had a ProMariner that they replaced twice before he got one that worked for more than a month. The last one was still working at the end of that season but he was so frustrated with it by then that he sold it on the c list and bought a Dual Pro.

[delcecchi]

Need a new 3 bank on board charger for the boat. Any suggestions on what brand,and amps,just need one that works overnight , not 2 days.

So far as amps go, a typical deep cycle battery is somewhere in the 80 to 100 amp hours capacity range. So you need to be able to put about that much charge back in to get to full charge, maybe plus a little but you typically won't be starting will all batteries flat.

If "overnight" is 8 hours then a 10 amp per bank that does charge sharing would do the job. Charge sharing routes spare capacity to where it is needed so if the cranking battery is charged the 10 amps from that goes to the other two banks. I think most chargers have that now.

If "overnight" is more like 12 hours, then you could likely get by with a somewhat smaller charger, like 5 amps per bank, especially if you don't really flatten your batteries.

Only reason for the smaller charger is to save a few bucks.

I have no opinion about brands.

[delmuts]

I would definitely go with a 10 amp. three bank. Brands?? I've ben very satisfied with my Dual Pro. I'm on my third one.( three different boats) Customer service has been great too; from wiring problems to having a unit go bad. ( after 7 or 8 yrs. I sent it in and they converted it to a repairable unit. Got a rebuild for about a third of the cost of new)

[B-man715]

I did a lot of research and ended up with a Guest brand charger. Quality, waterproof, but a little spendy.

Take a look at them too.

[BoxMN]

I did a lot of research and ended up with a Guest brand charger. Quality, waterproof, but a little spendy.

Take a look at them too.

We have had several Guests over the years and had good luck with them. Then they were bought, and service wasn't the same (they got rid of "Sue", she was awesome, so we tried other brands).

We now have a couple Cabelas brand premium chargers, one is 2 and one is 3 bank with most amps, and it seems to be doing just fine.

One thing that we liked about the Guest three bank was it had a light for each battery, instead of just one light for all. Definitely get one that shows battery state for each battery. I think our new Cabelas one does, but honestly can't recall. We also tried a remanufactured charger, from supposed highly reviewed seller, and it was bad, even ruined a couple batteries.

I would recommend Cabelas, but only two years on ours now so hard to say. Guest (3 of them) lasted anywhere from 7 to 12 years for us.

[delcecchi]

My charger is tucked back in under the floor of the boat. I could only see a light if I got down on my belly like a reptile and held a mirror. I certainly wouldn't pay extra for more lights.

[delmuts]

I mounted ( well actually a friend did. I was laid up) mine where I can see it.( had the room to do so!) The Dual Pro has five lights for each bank. Four red showing how low the batteries are, and green when fully charged.

[BoxMN]

My charger is tucked back in under the floor of the boat. I could only see a light if I got down on my belly like a reptile and held a mirror. I certainly wouldn't pay extra for more lights.

You would like the lights when/if you ever developed an issue. Makes things very easy to troubleshoot. If the Dual Pro has that type of diagnosing built in, I will look at it for my next one - hopefully long time from now.

BTW we mount ours where we can see it easily like delmuts, right under console, as it also allows it plenty of air circulating, unlike a closed hatch.

[delcecchi]

My problem would be that I can't think of a good place to mount a charger that would make it possible to easily see the lights.

My boat is a 98 1775 pro-v, and the charger is mounted way over to the right in the battery compartment, back under the floor. Putting it in the front storage compartment would have required fishing wires around the live well some how. I guess I could have put it in back, in with the cranking battery, since I think it is supposed to be waterproof but that would also have required fishing wires.

[delmuts]

I'm going to be shameless now! Some one thought this out.On my new Ranger RT 178 they provide an alum. plate that was formed to be mounted on two of the up-right braces on the back of the boat in with all the batteries and such. Everything is right there. Didn't have to add any wires or anything, for a change.

[BoxMN]

Yeah, we did extend the wires back to the cranking batt, and some fishing wires. Good thing is oonce the wires are fished, you can reuse them if you ever need a new charger, which we keep boats for a long time so it comes in handy

Currently a 97 Alumacraft Tourney Pro 175 that we got new. And will likely have another 10+ years...

[trolloni]

Better answers than i got from L&M,[ON BOARD CHARGER?WE DONT HAVE THOSE!]I have a 1st gen 3 bank minn kota it has all the lights youre talkin about,but its only 6 amps per bank.[too slow]i have 2 guests in my old boat i think they are 10-12 years old ,2 bank only, but they are 10 amp and they work as good as the day i put em in, real happy with em. Thanks again for the ideas now its time to use the Christmas bonus.

[Down Deep]

I had a Guest on one of my previous boats and it performed well for 8 years. When I purchased a new boat it came with a MinnKota added as a spiff. Going on 6 years now and I haven't had a problem. It is mounted in my battery compartment. Charging and full charge lights are easily visible.

[gunner55]

Older MK 10amp/2bank here,must be 6 or 7 yrs old,no problems.No indicator lights & mounted under floor next to battery compartment.

[Genofish]

I went with a 3 bank 10amp Dual Pro for my lund. A little heavier than my old

Pro mariner but with the 10amp it is expected. Look online and you can find

fairly good pricing on reconditioned units with warranty

[delmuts]

Question! Looking at on board chargers for my wife's sons' boat. I've always had chargers that had XX amps per bank. Looking at cheaper units, I see one that has " on demand amps." Any one have experience with these? Thanks!

[delcecchi]

Question! Looking at on board chargers for my wife's sons' boat. I've always had chargers that had XX amps per bank. Looking at cheaper units, I see one that has " on demand amps." Any one have experience with these? Thanks!

I have a charger with three banks that has a max total output of (I forget, maybe 15 amps) that supposedly gets divided up among the outputs depending on what they can use. So if the cranking battery is all charged up, its 5 gets sent to the trolling batteries and they each get another couple.

It seems to work fine. It charges the batteries and has since 98.

I don't know if that is what they mean by "on demand" for the one you are looking at, but it is a good feature. Typically my cranking battery doesn't need much more than a top up so it doesn't waste that capacity.

[delmuts]

Thanks! That's how I thought they worked, but wasn't sure.

Although I'm married to his mom; I'm not one of the family, so I have cover my butt on what I recommend.

[delcecchi]

Might be able to tell more easily if you posted or pm'd the mfg and model. Usually it is easy to tell what they are doing.

[delmuts]

Was looking at the Cabelas brand.

[delcecchi]

I looked at those and saw

Quote:

ProSeries Distributed-On-Demand™ charging technology, which takes 100% of the available charging amps and distributes them to any one battery or combination of all batteries as needed, is combined with its extruded-aluminum housing for increased power and faster charging.

and this...

Remember that the listed amps has to recharge the capacity of all batteries combined. So if you have two trolling motor batteries and a cranking battery the 12 amp version might only give each battery 4 amps. After the cranking battery is charged, then the trolling batteries would get 6 amps.

I think the 20 amp or 20+ would be a minimum. They look a lot like and even use the same verbiage as the pro-Mariner chargers.

[delmuts]

Thanks Del. The one I was looking at is a 20 amp. I love my Dual Pro, but know he won't spend that much. At least I do have him talked into an on- board. Having a trolling motor is all new to him let alone a 24 V system, and I wanted one that would cover all three batt.