How to charge batteries when lake is down?

[carlcmc]

I have a Cabelas Prosport 3 battery onboard charger. When I take fishing trips, I leave my boat in the lake at the dock for the cabin and run an electrical cord along the dock to the boat to keep it charged over night.

The lake we are going to this year (North Long near Baxter) is down considerably. I may end up having the boat out a ways from shore line. Any ideas of keeping the batteries charged besides the tedious option of every evening carrying batteries and charger up to the garage to charge? Any way to run the cords (safely) through shallow water (or keep the connections points out of the water) to where the boat will be?

Thoughts?

[sparcebag]

Solar chargers put out so little charge you'd need to invest more money into solar than the cost of a small generator and the generator could be put to other uses,and it would charge over night.

[Glenn_S]

If you are running 110V 200 yards, the voltage drop will cause your charger to not even work. Most onboard chargers shut down if supplied with less than about 85-90 volts AC (per Bass & Walleye Boat magazine testing last year).

Even if you had extension cords made from 10 gauge wire, and the actual voltage at the resort was 110v (most actually run about 102-108v)the voltage drop from a 600 foot run assuming you have a 30 amp (10/10/10) charger would only give you 76.6 volts. Even if your charger did work, it would not give you a full charge.

Along with that, NEVER run an extension cord IN the water. Water and electricity NEVER mix well. Think toaster in the bathtub!

Glenn

[carlcmc]

*sigh*

Doing things the easy way doesn't seem to be an option.

[sparcebag]

Small charger could be set right in the boat!

[DinkADunk]

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Even if you had extension cords made from 10 gauge wire, and the actual voltage at the resort was 110v (most actually run about 102-108v)the voltage drop from a 600 foot run assuming you have a 30 amp (10/10/10) charger would only give you 76.6 volts.

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Your calculation is wrong, very, very wrong. A 10/10/10 charger does not draw 30 amps. You won't find a 120V30A circuit anywhere near a boat dock for plugging in a charger. If you look at the specs for a 10/10/10 charger (say a Guest), you'll find that maximum current draw is 7.5A . Calculating a voltage drop over 600' yields 4.6V for a 10AWG wire, 7.3V for 12AWG which isn't very much at all. The charger will work fine.

[carlcmc]

i'm continually amazed at the talent and expertise we have on board here. I appreciate your input.

[Glenn_S]

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Even if you had extension cords made from 10 gauge wire, and the actual voltage at the resort was 110v (most actually run about 102-108v)the voltage drop from a 600 foot run assuming you have a 30 amp (10/10/10) charger would only give you 76.6 volts.

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Your calculation is wrong, very, very wrong. A 10/10/10 charger does not draw 30 amps. You won't find a 120V30A circuit anywhere near a boat dock for plugging in a charger. If you look at the specs for a 10/10/10 charger (say a Guest), you'll find that maximum current draw is 7.5A . Calculating a voltage drop over 600' yields 4.6V for a 10AWG wire, 7.3V for 12AWG which isn't very much at all. The charger will work fine.

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You are correct, I did make an assumption on the charger draw.