On Board Charger - what's your opinion??

[cjromano]

In the market for an on-board charger for my '03 Lund Explorer. I have one trolling motor battery and one starting battery.

What do you think about brands and styles?

[Northlander]

I have had good luck with my Minkota 2 bank charger.

[cjromano]

Northlander -

Do you have a preference between the two bank 10 amp total output (model 210) or the 20 amp total output (model 220)?

[andy j]

Like Northlander said the Minnkota is a quality charger. Dual Pro also makes a great quality charger. Again you would need a 2 bank. As for 10 or 20 amp. A 20 amp is better if you want a faster charge, But I have a 10 amp and I have never had a problem with charging over night. I would stay away from some of the cheap chargers, I have seen a couple out there and in my opinion don't look to great.

[cjromano]

What are some that you would avoid? I have looked at Guest, Promariner, Dual Pro, Minnkota.

[Norsky]

I have a Guest (3 bank) and it's worked great now for 5 seasons, still the same batteries (from Batteries Plus-similar to Trojan brand), it is very important that the charger actually charges in different stages so it won't overcharge the batteries. I can leave mine plugged in for months and it won't overcharge.

[Northlander]

Go with the 220. 10 amps to each bank. I like it cuzz it charges a lot quicker than my old 10amp did.

[Kab Dreamin]

I am on my second Promariner (sold the first one with the previous boat). I have a three bank that is hooked up to the cranking battery and the two trolling batteries. I have had nothing but good luck with them.

[Stratosman]

My ProMariner three bank quit working after two seasons. they replaced it no questions asked. I had a Minnkota on the other boat and like that one also.

[cjromano]

Do you have the Promariner Prosport model, or the more expensive Tournament model?

[dfv87]

minnkota 220 here and love it. best $ I have spent on boat stuff. It works fast and I have no issues ever leaving it plugged in.

[TSCTSC]

I spent like 3-4 hours struggling to install the promariner 3 bank getting the wires hooked up to my batteries and when I was done.....it did not charge my batteries at all. Went with Minnkota in the end. Got a single bank and a dual bank. Total costs was 160USD

[mamohr686]

I've owned 3 brands mentioned already, and only one has broke down. I had a dual pro charger (made by charging systems international) that would overcharge the battery to the point of frying it. Most boats come factory rigged with a CSI charger and are known to be very durable and high quality. CSI chargers also are the most expensive on the market. On my last boat I had a guest charger that was a 2 bank, 10amp, 3 stage automatic charger that I think would be about perfect for your application. It has 5 amps to each battery, is COMPACT, and totally waterproof. The model runs about $100 and I bought it on sale at scheels for $80 at the time. I have a 3 battery setup right now so i went to the Minnkota 330 charger, It's a serious beast of a charger but it has worked great for me. With a small boat like you have and only a 2 battery set-up the guest 2 bank 10 amp model will do the job. I think you cant really go wrong with any quality waterproof onboard charger.

[beer batter]

If you keep your starting motor battery separate from your trolling motor battery, wouldn't you be fine with a single bank charger for just the trolling motor battery? Why do you need another bank for the starter battery unless you're running other accessories off of it? Even if you are running other accessories, doesn't the starting battery take a charge from the motor as it runs?

Unless I'm missing something - under those circumstances save yourself some money and just get the single bank for the trolling battery.

[cjromano]

Beer Batter -

I figure if I am going to get an on board system, I might as well hook up both the starting battery and the trolling. The on board system will keep the starting battery fully charged, and will probably extend battery life. When I do a lot of trolling and am still running the electronics/livewell/radio my starting battery can get drained a bit.

I have spoken with a few different dealerships in the Twin Cities. I've learned that most chargers have two different banks (ex. 5 amps max to one bank and 5 amps max to the other). Apparently the Promariner has some type of bridge system which allows it to charge one battery more than the other if that battery is discharged more. (For example, instead of giving 5 amps to each battery, it is able to provide 9.5 amps to the more discharged battery and as little as .5 to the less discharged battery). This allows for a faster charge.

I was told that the Dual Pro and MinnKota both use "transistor technology". Apparently, this is the older technology, and while extremely reliable, it has the tendancy to over charge, or "boil" batteries. MinnKota compensates for this with a computer that regulates the transistor. The potential danger is that the computer will fail and the charger will start to over charge the batteries. At least, this is what was explained to me.

I've had Pro Mariner and MinnKota recommented to me by two local Lund dealers.

[cjromano]

One more thing - I am worried that a 10 amp (5 to each bank) charger will not charge my batteries over night (sometime I fish late one day and early the next).

I am leaning towards a 20 amp (10 to each bank).

Any comments on whether this is necessary or not?

[TSCTSC]

Hmmm...I think that 5/5/5 is sufficient. I have a 5/5 dual and a 6 single and it has always been full charge the next morning.

[beer batter]

cjromano - great information on the different types of technology each charger uses internally. Keep posting any additional information you find like that. It's a gold mine for anyone looking into chargers.

On your point of leaning towards a 20 bank, based on your prior post about the Pro-mariner able to lend more amps to other banks as needed, I'd stick with the pro-mariner 10 amp charger.

My guess is that your starting battery will never require much of a charge as the motor should keep it charged fairly well from a day's outing. You'd be able to push 9.5 amps towards your trolling battery and be charging just as fast as a 20 amp charger pushing 10 amps per bank.

I have a follow up question:

What are the pricing differences between pro-mariner, minnkota, and dual pro for a 2 bank 10 amp charger and also the 20 amp chargers? Are they all fairly evenly priced? Unless money is no object - that would also factor into the equation. I really like the cross over technology of the promariner, so if it's in the same ballpark pricing as the others it would seem the way to go.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I have had quite a few different chargers in the last few boat Ihave owned. The one I have now is the Bass Pro Shops XPS 10/10/5 three bank charger.

However, I think there is a lot more to it then just the charger. I think trolling moter, and batteries play just as large a role as the charger its self. IE, my last boat was a champion bass boat and had a Minnkota 3 bank charger, I had a Moter guide trolling moter on it. I could run it hard for a day and it would charge the bateries back up by morning no problem. I now have a triton with the XPS, I just put brand new batteries in it this spring, and have a 74 LB Maxxun Minnkota. I can run it HARD for 10 full hours, and plug it in, in 5 hours all the lights are green and ready to go, while I am still draggen my butt around after the hard day on the water.

What I am getting at?.. Its the whole package, batteries, charger and t-moter.

[delmuts]

what can happen with relying on the outboard to chrg your starting batt; is you need to be running in the upper rpm range to put back more than just a low trickle chrg. also if you troll , and or idle alot you put back very little into the batt. also any equipement you run of of that batt , may drain it more than you think. before i had a two bank, and would put a seperate trickle chrg. on the starting batt once a month ( atleast) just to be sure. i now have a three bank and don't have to worry.

[carlcmc]

I have the cabelas (believe it is the promariner) 3 bank charger. for my main batter and dual trolling batteries. Works awesome with no problems. Just leave it plugged in all the time and unplug when i need to go.

[beer batter]

I just did some quick research on the different brands and found that the Promariner with the cross-over technology (the ProTournament series) are the most expensive by quite a ways.

Then comes Guest which is fairly evenly matched with Cabela's ProSport prices, followed by Minnkota which have the cheapest prices. I'm basing these off of Cabela's online pricing.

Minnkota, Guest, and ProSport are all pretty similar in pricing for each model. 3 banks run $150-$170 while 2 banks run $110-$120. The ProMariner ProTournament series run $170 and $270 for their 2 and 3 bank models respectively.

ProMariner also has a ProMite series which list a 2 bank 10 amp for $100 and a 3 bank 13 amp for $120. These seem extremely reasonable but haven't heard much about them from anyone as of yet. I'm thinking they might be the ticket for boats sitting for extended periods between use (weekenders).

Anyone have anything to say about the ProMariner ProMite series of chargers?

[cjromano]

Beer batter -

I've also done some research on price. Promariner actually makes a couple of different models. The Pro Tournament is the most expensive - top of the line. They have another model (Pro Sport) that is not as expensive and seems good. Cabela's doesn't carry them.

But I THINK the Cabela's chargers are made by Promariner - they look very similar and have the same features. I think these Cabela's chargers are infact the Promariner Pro Sport model (maybe Promariner made special Cabela's brand chargers - this would explain why the Pro Sport is not availabe at Cabelas).

I've found that the Dual Pro (CSI) chargers are the most expensive, followed by the Guest. Then come Promariner and Minnkota. Although the Guest, Promariner, and Minnkota are all very close in price ($20 or $30).

I am still in the market for a charger. In fact, I'm heading to Cabela's today. I'm leaning towards the Promariner or Guest, although I haven't ruled out the Minnkota. I'll see what the guys at Cabela's say.

Regardless, I'll post which one I buy. I have decided to get a 20 amp (10 per bank). It seems like this is the general consensus for a two bank charger that is being used for trolling motor batteries.

[cjromano]

I ended up buying the two bank (20 amp total) Cabela's brand charger manufactured by Promariner (The Pro Sport). It was $160.

I looked closely at the Guest, Dual Pro, and Minnkota and determined that the Promariner was the best one.

Thanks for all the comments -

[TSCTSC]

For that price or slightly more, you could have gotten the Promariner 20 Sport Plus or something like that. It is a 3 bank fully automatic distributed charger. But it may have been out of stock. You can still make an exchange at Cabelas.

[cjromano]

Yeah, the Pro Sport Plus is only $10 more - but I don't need three banks (unless I get a new boat, which isn't going to happen any time soon).

Thanks though.