Charging Batteries

[FourWinnsLC]

I have three batteries in my boat. One on bank 1 (Starting) , and two batteries on bank 2 (accessories)
Bank two has all the accessories wired into one battery and then a jumper wires to the second battery, then bank one is normal, I have a battery Switch, off, 1, 2, and both.

Can I put the charger on one of the batteries on bank two, and will they charge both batteries on bank 2 or will it charge all three batteries, Or is in not a good idea and i should charge each seperate?

I have a newer Die Hard plantimun Charger where You can pick several different settings such as deep cycle, and 2amp charge (Trickle)

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Charging Batteries

Since you have two of the batteries (accessories) in parallel, connecting the charger to either one will charge both. That will NOT charge the starting battery since there is no connection to the other bank. If you set the battery swtch to BOTH then all three will be charged PROVIDED you have the parallel set of batteries wired to BAT 2 on the switch and the START battery is on BAT 1. Tricle is not the setting to charge deeply discharged HOUSE battery bank. That setting is a "Maintenance" setting to keep the batteries from self discharging during periods of non-use.

 

[FourWinnsLC]

Re: Charging Batteries

Ic, my Charger does not have a maintenance setting, but shortly I do plan on buying a battery tender, I heard the Minn kota brand is a good one to use, you can get up to a 4 bank charger that will do the maintenance. The 2 amp charge has to be better than the alternator charging the battery? Right?

Thanks for the information, greatly appreciated.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Charging Batteries

Ic, my Charger does not have a maintenance setting, but shortly I do plan on buying a battery tender, I heard the Minn kota brand is a good one to use, you can get up to a 4 bank charger that will do the maintenance. The 2 amp charge has to be better than the alternator charging the battery? Right?

Thanks for the information, greatly appreciated.

The 2 AMP setting IS a maintenance setting or trickle setting. That's what 2 amps does. The 2 amp setting most certainly IS NOT better than the engine alternator charging the battery. But then you didn't tell us what boat/motor/year/make/model you have and my crystal ball is currently out of order. If you have a 40/50/60 HP outboard, the alternator puts out in the neighborhood of 15 - 16 amps. Bigger motors will output more than that. That's close to 10 time the rate of the charger. Since your handle is FourWinns you likely have an I/O so the engine would have a 60 amp alternator minimum. That would be about 30 times the 2 amp rate of your charger. Until you figure out what AMPS, BANKS, MAINTENANCE, TRICKLE and related terms mean and what you actually need, don't buy anything. You do realize that on-board chargers need to be plugged into household power at the dock -- correct????

 

[FourWinnsLC]

Re: Charging Batteries

The 2 AMP setting IS a maintenance setting or trickle setting. That's what 2 amps does. The 2 amp setting most certainly IS NOT better than the engine alternator charging the battery. But then you didn't tell us what boat/motor/year/make/model you have and my crystal ball is currently out of order. If you have a 40/50/60 HP outboard, the alternator puts out in the neighborhood of 15 - 16 amps. Bigger motors will output more than that. That's close to 10 time the rate of the charger. Since your handle is FourWinns you likely have an I/O so the engine would have a 60 amp alternator minimum. That would be about 30 times the 2 amp rate of your charger. Until you figure out what AMPS, BANKS, MAINTENANCE, TRICKLE and related terms mean and what you actually need, don't buy anything. You do realize that on-board chargers need to be plugged into household power at the dock -- correct????

I think your crystal ball is working just fine , Its a 96 fourwinns sundowner, i thought a 65 amp alternator but thats not a big difference. I understand the alternator charges the batteries faster, but i thought the slow charge was better for them. I do realize the on-board chargers need to be plugged in.

Thanks for the info.

 

[dwparker99]

Re: Charging Batteries

Get the onboard charger. You won't regret it. It is worth a lot just knowing you are starting the day with fully charged batteries. With your setup you could get by with a 2 bank charger but I would spend a few more dollars and get the 3 bank. Do some research and read reviews of different onboard chargers. I went with a Noco Gen 3 which I've had for about a year now and have no regrets.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Charging Batteries

Look at it this way. If you sucked 40 amps out of just one battery, at a 2 amp charge rate it would take 20 hours to charge it -- and likely more than that since the charging profile is not linear. That 2 amp rate is very low, and is just barely a trickle/maintenance rate. If batteries were supposed to be charged at a trickle rate there would be no need for a high output (10 - 20 - 30 amp charger) would there!

 

[FourWinnsLC]

Re: Charging Batteries

Look at it this way. If you sucked 40 amps out of just one battery, at a 2 amp charge rate it would take 20 hours to charge it -- and likely more than that since the charging profile is not linear. That 2 amp rate is very low, and is just barely a trickle/maintenance rate. If batteries were supposed to be charged at a trickle rate there would be no need for a high output (10 - 20 - 30 amp charger) would there!

If i am on the boat and lets say i Use 50% of the battery. And when i get home i put the charger on the battery charger, it makes no difference if i use a 2 amp 10 amp or 20 amp charge just the amount of time it will take to charge the battery?
What if its completely dead ?

Thanks for the information.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Charging Batteries

If you routinely run a battery totally flat, you sir are a battery killer. For shame! At 10.5 volts your battery needs to be charged. Deeply discharged batteries should not be left in that state for long periods. Hence a higher charging RATE. Trickle charging is not the way to do that. Let the charger do its job. If the charger is a modern unit it knows when to cut the charge rate back and go into the maintenance mode.

 

[FourWinnsLC]

Re: Charging Batteries

Cool thanks for the information. I may of the left the battery switch on once or twice :facepalm:

Thanks again.