On board charger and 4 battery wiring question

[COYOTE54]

I want to purchase an onboard charger, and am wondering about the best option for my situation.

I have 2 12 volts wired together for my 24v trolling motor. (Hard to get to, thus my reasoning to hardwire a charger in permanently)

I also have 2 batteries (primary and secondary cranking) wired through a Perko isolator switch (off, batt1, batt2, all).

My boat is 90% freshwater, 10% saltwater use.

Thanks.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: On board charger and 4 battery wiring question

If it were mine, I would use a 6A or larger on-board with dual outputs for the 24V system (isolated outputs of course as most new chargers are). Start batteries rarely need high charge rates so an inexpensive "maintainer" such as the Schumacher (about $25) would work for the Aux and Main start battery. How you set the switch determines which one gets the charge. Another option would be a three bank on-board with the third bank doing the same thing the maintainer would do. The last option is two, dual bank or one three bank and one single bank. One for each battery. I think the last two options are "overkill" however. Only you can determine how important all those chargers and charge rates are to you. If you routinely run one of the start batteries down because of a high power stereo system or other accessories, then a charger with higher output is needed.

 

[DJ]

Re: On board charger and 4 battery wiring question

I assume your troller batteries and you start/aux batteries are in different locations?

If so, I would go, as Silvertip said, with a minimum 6 amp (per bank) dual output charger. Make sure it has a "float" feature.

A "float" charger will work well with your start/aux batteries. The battery switch will determine which gets the charge, as Silvertip suggested.