on board charger

[bucketmouth64]

I am thinking of purchasing a 2 bank Minn Kota on board charger. Minn Kota has a $25 rebate plus I have a $10 gift card. Is this a good product? Are all chargers relatively the same in qualtity? My last question is placement. Is it better to have it on the wall or on the floor of an aluminum boat(pro team 165).

[Random guy]

I'm not sure about placement on Alum. boat but I would be lost without my Minnkota onboard charger. Pull in the garage, plug it in and forget about it until I go out again. I think using the onboard charger verses others has saved my big $ in battery life.

I also bought one of those power converters for my pick-up so when I go up to lakes camping without power I can plug my boat into my truck and charge up the trolling motor batteries while I make dinner on the camp fire. I also run the cord out the topper door and plug it in when traveling from one lake to another on those four day lake hops.

I have only used Minnkota or Guest onboard chargers and they both served many years without trouble.

[EBass]

Yup that's a good buy. I have that one. The MK210 I believe. Takes 8-10 hours to charge. They make a quicker charge than that, but that cost I think 100 more or something. But those are 4-6 hour. Plus they have 3 bank and such.

I mounted mine under my deck. They are water proof and take a beaten. That's what the dude at Cabela's said.

[bucketmouth64]

Thanks for the info. I was set to purchase it when I looked at the display model and the size of it. Didn't think it would fit. So I made some measurements and came home to see if it would fit. Yes, but it would block my batteries. So I think I'll go with the one bank charger for the trolling motor. I normally don't have a problem with starting battery.

[katoguy]

If you mount it on the side wall of a batter compartment, make sure the fins on the charger line up vertically and open the compartment when charging to allow the gas to escape. The fins being vertical will allow the heat to escape (versus "holding" in the heat horizontally).

[Random guy]

Quote:

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If you mount it on the side wall of a batter compartment, make sure the fins on the charger line up vertically and open the compartment when charging to allow the gas to escape. The fins being vertical will allow the heat to escape (versus "holding" in the heat horizontally).

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Wow good call, never thought of that.

[dfv87]

I swear by my Minn Kota on board charger, it is by far my favorite purchase. Once installed, batteries become the last thing I worry about, and I can concentrate on fishing.

[bucketmouth64]

Wondering if I should use plastic grommets to hold the screws in better? And, do you always disconnect whatever is hooked up to the battery to charge or can I just leave everything hooked up along with the charger? One last question, hopefully, at the end of the season do you remove the charger from the boat? I ususally store my boat outside and bring the batteries inside house.

[katoguy]

You shouldn't need to disconnect anything or remove the charger in the winter.

Older model chargers that were not "rectified" could let spikes through and harm some electronics. Should be a problem in the past only.