DC chargers

[heat checker]

Does anyone have any experiance with the DC chargers from Minnkota? (they operate off the big motor's alternator when it's running). It looks like they come in 1,2,or 3 amp. Also wonder how well the solar powered chargers work?

[marine_man]

I don't have any first hand experience with Minnkota's chargers. However, any DC charger is very dependent on your alternator's output and the percentage of time you operate the motor at mid to high rpm. If you do a lot of idling you're not going to get much for a charge from the engine's alternator.

That said they do work, but they work the best if you make long runs at mid to high throttle.

marine_man

[PerchJerker]

I agree with everything marine man said.

The only thing I would add is the the bigger your motor, probably the bigger the alternator. Or to put it another way, if you don't have a big motor with a big alternator, you're not going to send much to the batteries.

[Farley]

I just saw those today on Cabelas HSOforum. I'm thinking of getting the 2 bank for my boat up on Kabetogama. Since the lake is so big, we run generally long distances at high RPM, usually 1-5 miles or even up to 10-15 miles to get back to the cabin. I think this would work pretty slick but how do I go about finding out my motors alternator output? It's a Mariner 150, not sure of the year, but late 80's to early 90's. I'm thinking of hooking up everything but the trolling motor batteries to this (1 27c, 1 X67, stereo, sattelite radio, guages, lights, starter, all pumps, and everything else I can find) and also run two voltmeters on the dash to monitor voltage (one for each battery). I already run one battery off the alternator and have run all lights, X27c, guages, pumps, starter and stereo off it and have never had a problem. I want to run two batteries for all this stuff though. Do you guys think that charger would work all right or should I just buy a single bank charger and another extension cord to plug in once docked? I suppose it's hard to say unless I know my alternators output.