on board chargers

[turkeyfootnc]

How do on board chargers work? Do they charge a battery in an hour, 2 hours, overnight, etc? How do you hook them up to a battery and where do the chargers get their power from?

[Barnacle Bill]

The amount of time to recharge depends on the size of the charger, the size of the batteries and how much they need charging. I use a 3 bank, 5 amp charger connected to 2 big Delco Voyager TM batteries and an Optima starter battery. I can troll all day and they batteries will be recharged in the morning.

The on-board charger gets mounted in the boat and is permanently connected to the batteries. I plug mine into one of these http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...L&cmid=PP_P0_2 just for the convenience. The new smart chargers are really great. You plug them in and forget it until its time to go again. Once plugged in they provide charging power to all the batteries connected. As the batteries get charged (normally the starting bat gets fully charged first) it will provide those unused amps to the battery that needs it the most. Once all the batterys are charged it goes into a maintenance mode. This also prolongs the life of the battery.

[crappie bug]

They work like any oyher battery charger The more amps the faster it will charge.It gets it's power from a 110 volt ac source a cord on the charger that y.ou plug in the wall

[gabowman]

Which brands have the better warranties from those that have had to use 'em?!? I also know you get what you pay for too though. :rolleyes:

[Creeker]

I have had a Dual Pro two bank on my boat for 4 years(Installed on new boat when I bought it) with no problems. I do wish I would have went with a 3 bank becouse I run black lights some in the summer and use the livewells. Not a big deal unless you take a several day trip.

[Knappy]

i use a regular charger with a deep cycly setting--is there any benefit from an onboard charger other than ease of charging??

[sac-a-lait]

knappy I think that's the only difference. As much as stuff breaks on your boat I prefer to leave my charging system at home.

[bigfish5]

check out a stay-n-charge system. they are great. you never have to worry about running out of batteries.

[ShortStorie]

An on board charger will spoil you big time. I have a Minn Kota 330 (charges 3 batteries at 10amps simultaneously). Just plug it in when you get home and you're ready to go in 2-5 hours, depending on how deeply you've discharged your batteries. If you've spent all day running against wind or current, it might take a little longer to completely recharge them.

[rockmike]

An on board charger will spoil you big time. I have a Minn Kota 330 (charges 3 batteries at 10amps simultaneously). Just plug it in when you get home and you're ready to go in 2-5 hours, depending on how deeply you've discharged your batteries. If you've spent all day running against wind or current, it might take a little longer to completely recharge them.

I have the same charger. Really like it.