On-board chargers

[bakerlh]

i am a relatively new boater. I have a 16' aluminum fishing boat with a 25 hp engine. What is all this talk about on-boat chargers? Why are they needed or convenient? My bow mounted trolling motor is conventionally wired and goes to the deep cycle battery, and i run the fish finder directly off the 12 v battery starter battery. Am i missing something?

Loon

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: On-board chargers

An on board charger is just a very convient way of keeping your batteries charged. Your TM battery should be charged immediatly after every use. With a good on board charger you can plug it in and forget it until time to go again.

 

[TheChad]

Re: On-board chargers

Not to take over this post, but to save the bandwidth of another post under the same subjetct....

Is it acceptable practice to leave your onboard charger plugged in all winder to keep your batteries toped off? Or should I be connecting battery maintainers?

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[bruceb58]

Re: On-board chargers

You can leave it on as long as it is a float charger.

 

[bakerlh]

Re: On-board chargers

Pardon the ignorance. Are these chargers plugged in to something? Or do they themselves hold a charge and in turn re-charge the TM battery? Is this a way to avoid hauling the TM battery 300 yards for a recharging?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: On-board chargers

Perpetual motion has not been invented yet so yes -- an on-board charger is simply a battery charger that is mounted in the boat and plugged into 110V AC power source when at the dock or when stored on a trailer at your residence or storage lot. As was mentioned, if it is quality charger with a well regulated "float" (trickle charge) feature it can be on permanently.

 

[TheChad]

Re: On-board chargers

As was mentioned, if it is quality charger with a well regulated "float" (trickle charge) feature it can be on permanently.

Is a Guest 5/5 Onboard charger a "Quality" charger?

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[Silvertip]

Re: On-board chargers

Yes. But I see you have an 80# thrust motor so you are running two 12V batteries in series for 24V so I would also assume these batteries have a fairly high amp/hour rating. With that in mind, dual 5A outputs, although it will work, may not fully charge deeply discharged batteries overnight. As I said, 5A will get the job done given enough time, but 10A outputs would be better.

 

[TheChad]

Re: On-board chargers

Yes. But I see you have an 80# thrust motor so you are running two 12V batteries in series for 24V so I would also assume these batteries have a fairly high amp/hour rating. With that in mind, dual 5A outputs, although it will work, may not fully charge deeply discharged batteries overnight. As I said, 5A will get the job done given enough time, but 10A outputs would be better.

Yeah, This Guest 5/5 Charger is what came packaged with the boat when I bought it new.

My old MotorGuide 70lb thrust Motor would last a LONG time on fully charged batteries (Like 3 Days, Fishing 1/2 day each day). When I go camping I plug in the onboard charger every night If there is power available within 100'.

That said, Thus far the 5/5 charger is doing a fine job for me. If the day comes that the charger dies, or my needs change, I will definitly get a 10/10 charger instead.

I more or less just wanted to confirm that a Guest charger was considered a "Good" or "Quality" charger, as I was going to leave it plugged in all winter if that was acceptable.

Before buying this boat, I had never heard of Guest So I wasn't sure if they were good chargers or not.

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[Silvertip]

Re: On-board chargers

Yes, it can be left on! I currently own one and the one on my previous boat (now owned by my daughter) is 10 years old and working fine.