Battery Chargers

[TrenPT]

I recently bought a boat and have been trying to research battery chargers (for the trolling battery as well as main battery). Does anyone have a suggestion on brands that work better than others? How about the on-board chargers? Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Nick Kuhn]

Your main battery should not need to be recharged except maybe before the first time you launch in spring. Trolling motor batteries I was told to let run until nearly dead until I charged them. Really 12V DC is such an easy load to supply that any charger will work if you leave them run overnight. If you already have one for a car just go ahead and use that.

[Sandmannd]

Car charger will work. I did that with my first boat. The boat I have now came with an on board charger. Don't think I would ever go without one. Just get home and plug the boat in and ready next time out. It's awesome. There is a thread going now on the onboard chargers. If I find it, I'll post a link here for ya. Vahn is right, you should only have to charge the main once, but it doesn't hurt to check it now and then. Sucks to get stuck on the lake or river with no juice.

[Sandmannd]

Found it, here's the links: About On Board Chargers; Charger for sale on FM

[TrenPT]

Exactly. I was on a boat once where it would not start. I had my dad charge the main boat battery this time, but dont't want to keep borrowing his stuff all the time, so figured I could get a dual purpose charger. Thanks for the info.

[eyebjim]

I installed a Guest 30 amp 3 bank on board charger when I bought my boat in 2000. It has performed flawlessly and sure makes charging the 3 batteries easy. It also keeps them topped off so you can leave it plugged in for extended periods without issue. I usually leave my batteries in the boat all winter with it plugged in to keep them topped and from freezing. This works great unless you do like I did last fall and forgot to plug it in. They froze. I will definitely not go without an on board charger. I think I will install one on the fish house before this winter. They are a bit expensive compared to regular chargers but well worth it IMO.

[Kyle Sandberg]

If you have a deep cycle battery and have plenty of time in between fishing trips, get a trickle charge, automatic shut off charger.

With any charger, make sure it has an automatic shut off just in case one of those days you forget.

[BobT]

One problem I have experienced with trickly chargers even with automatic shutoff is that most batteries, if not all, will draw a little current even when fully charged. As a result, I believe chargers can sometime be fooled into believing the battery is not done charging when it really is.

It is certainly possible that my charger isn't sensitive enough but because of this I have noticed considerable dehydration in my deep cycles while using the trickle charge feature.

Food for thought.

Bob

[Tom7227]

Not from Admin, please read forum policy before posting again, thank-you.

[fishguyd]

on board chargers are great, but no matter what , always have a set of jumper cables in the boat!

[jigginjerk]

Put a pro mariner 20 plus in my boat three years ago and have never regreted it. Charges all three batteries and have had no problems with it. Just added water for the first time this year. Plug in after every trip, batteries always ready. This charger has kind of a smart charge because it directs amps where they are needed most and has maintenace charge so they don't boil out. Forth year on the same batteries.

[TrenPT]

I have read the other posting that has some discussion on Amps. I have seen several 2 bank chargers with 8, 12 and 20 amps. Several times a year, I will be doing back to back days. Will the 8 amps be enough for me?

[Nick Kuhn]

8 Amps will be fine so long as you aren't fishing 20 hours a day. Plus it takes more than a single full days use for me to run my trolling motor battery dead, not sure about what you guys have but I can go quite a few half days of fishing before recharging.

[TrenPT]

Just as information to me, as I have very little knowledge of batteries, what type do you use for your trolling motor?

[Nick Kuhn]

 Originally Posted By: TrenPT

Just as information to me, as I have very little knowledge of batteries, what type do you use for your trolling motor?

They should be Marine Deep Cycle batteries. They are built to supply a lower current consistently as opposed to the main which needs to kick out a really high amount of current for a short time to start the motor. My trolling motor battery is a Megatron by interstate batteries I think...