On Board Battery Charger

[poppop]

If I am using two trolling motor batteries wired together in parallel and one starting motor battery, would I need a two bank charger or a three bank charger? Thanks for any help.

[zappaf19]

3 would be the way to go. My Skeeter has 4 bats and all are wired to the charger.
Bill

[Doodlesock]

Speaking about your trolling motor batteries. If you are wiring your batteries in parallel (12VDC) you are in a way just making a larger battery. Charging them as one will work fine. You can put the lead from the charger on either positive post and charge both batteries.

[poppop]

I was thinking that maybe I could use a two bank since they were connected as one big battery. I think I may also follow zappaf19 advice and get a three bank....I am keeping a 4th battery in there to hook a convertor to...never know when I may want to watch tv.

[Barnacle Bill]

I always recommend a 3 bank for situations like yours. Simply because most fishermen don't run their big motor enough to keep the starting battery charged. Plus if you ever decide to go to a 24V TM, you won't need a new charger.

[joewildlife]

I agree on the 3 bank idea. I have 2 trolling motor batteries wired in parallel and one starting battery. I disconnect the positive lead between the parallel batteries when I charge them, just to be safe. Then when I go to a 24V trolling motor as some point, the charger will handle it.

You can't go wrong, if you have just two batteries with a 3 bank charger, you just put two sets of charging leads on one battery. At least that is what the directions for my ProSport 20 3 bank charger indicates.
On the other hand, if you have 3 batteries on a 2 bank charger and two of the batteries in parallel, I think the charging time will effectively double in order to charge the "one big battery" with only 1 bank.

Joe

[poppop]

thanks for everyones response...