chargers

[baitball]

Hi All
I need a new battery charger. Heres what I have. 2 Trojan T105 for house and 2 group 31 1000 cca starting. what do u recommend. Both batterys are flooded batterys. My boat is small 24 ft F/B Skipjack. Going to need something that splash proof or water proof that i can mount in the bildge.
thanks,
T

[Miss Trial]

ProMariner seems to be a economical charger that would fit your bill.

http://www.pmariner.com/Chargers.php

[dward51]

The guy who previously owned my center console had set up two banks of batteries. One bank of 3 for the 36v trolling motor, and another bank of 3 with one dedicated to the outboard and the other two in parallel to power all the goodies and lights on the boat (he night fished). He had a single 15amp x 3 bank Dual Pro charger for the trolling motor and used a 6 amp Guest single bank switched manually on the other 3 batteries.

Needless to say, I thought that was too much work and would be a pain in winter storage having to keep switching the single bank between the 3 batteries. I bought one of the new "recreation" series 3 bank dual pro chargers and love it. It only has 6 amps per bank, but unless you are turning around every couple of hours after draining the batteries it should be plenty.

Here is the cut sheet for this model:

http://www.dualpro.com/media/pdf/RS2%20insert.pdf

I bought mine from "Batterymart" and it was drop shipped direct from Dual Pro when I ordered it. Cost was $160 for the 3 bank and the 2 bank for your application is $120 with a 2 year warranty (Dual Pro is a very good brand that stands behind their units). Just buy two of them and wire them into the same AC shore power circuit.

http://www.batterymart.com/p-dual-pr...harger-2b.html

Or you can get their 4 bank "SE" Sportsman model which is a 10 amp per bank charger for $381 if you don't want to have multiple chargers.

http://www.batterymart.com/p-dual-pr...harger-4b.html

The difference between the Dual Pro and most of the ProMariner models is the Dual Pro has a dedicated charger with x amps per battery. Most of the ProMariner (ok, the more affordable ones - excludes the professional top end models) use a combined amperage for the bank of x number of batteries. Some people swear by both types, some swear at both types. I have ProMariner 45amp 3 bank model in my electric freshwater boat for the local electric only lakes and have never had a problem, but it did cost about twice what the Dual Pro did. I went with higer amperage for that boat as the batteries are the sole source of propulsion and needed the quicker charge time.

Either brand will serve you well, but the Dual Pro recreation "R" series is hard to beat for a weekend angler. Both are sealed and waterproof.

Google for pricing, but batterymart is usually about the lowest and a very reliable vendor. I've been buying from them for over 10 years.

[Mr. Demeanor]

I had a 7 year old Guest that had been on two different boats finally die. I sent it in for service and Guest sent me a brand new charger free of charge. They are the Bennet Marine of the battery charger world.

[Glock Diver]

Maybe somebody can explain this to me... I'm a novice when it comes to boats (just bought my first about 2 months ago).

My batteries are Dual-Purpose, and state they have 745 Marine Cranking Amps. I'm told that's plenty of power.

I recently bought a BassPro XPS (essentially a rebranded ProMariner) dual battery charger. It's a 5/5 Amp.

I'm just confused. 745 marine cranking amps on the batteries... 5 Amp charger... somebody explain the huge difference and why these things work!


By the way-- looking to mount this in the bilge area. What creative solutions have you used to mount yours?

[dward51]

Here is the difference between the diffferent rating descriptions you commonly see:

What does CCA mean?
Cold Cranking Amps is a rating used in the battery industry to define a battery's ability to start an engine in cold temperatures. The rating is the number of amps a new, fully charged battery can deliver at 0° Farenheit for 30 seconds, while maintaining a voltage of at least 7.2 volts, for a 12 volt battery. The higher the CCA rating, the greater the starting power of the battery.

What are MCA or CA rates?
This is a rating used to describe the discharge load in amperes which a new, fully charged battery at 32 degrees F (0C), can continuously deliver for 30 seconds and maintain a terminal voltage equal or greater than 1.2 volts per cell. It is sometimes referred to as Marine Cranking Amps or Cranking Amps.

What is reserve capacity?
Reserve Capacity, (RC) is a battery industry rating, defining a battery's ability to power a vehicle with an inoperative alternator or fan belt. The rating is the number of minutes a battery at 80 degrees F can be discharged at 25 amps and maintain a voltage of 10.5 volts for a 12 volt battery. In the boating world it's the number of minutes you can supply a load of 25amps (ie, you electronics, bilge pump, etc... strictly on battery power). The higher the reserve rating, the longer your stuff can operate.

All that being said, you never want to take a battery below a 50% discharge or you will severly shorten it's life. So a 105amp deep cycle should not be drained more than 52.5 amps (or 10 hours at 5.25 amps per hour worth of load). It's sort of confusing that a 105 or 125 amp battery is really only a 52 or 60 amp battery from a usable load point of view. That's why you see so many multiple banks wired in parallel for more load capacity.

Your 5 amp charger puts back in 5 amps for every hour it's connected. So if you drain out 20 amps, it will take 4 hours to recharge to full capacity. Does not matter the size of the battery or battery bank, that is just the rate the amperage is being returned during the charge. More amperage in a charger = quicker charge times, that's the only difference. I have a ProMariner 45amp (3 banks at 15 amps per bank) and it will charge one of the batteries 3 times as fast as the BPS model you referenced. That being said, I have a 3 bank 6 amp per bank charger in another boat and it works just fine. You see a lot of bass and other tournament boats using the higher amperage chargers (I'm talking about open fishing & CC's here) because they fish all day and turn around and do it again the next day so they need the quick recharge. For a recreational boat it's not that big of a deal to have a high amperage charger unless you need the quick recharge time.

Also to prolong the life of your deep cycle batteries be sure to recharge them as soon as possible after draining them. Don't let the boat sit on the trailer in the yard for a month before charging them back up. If possible, a good multistage charger can be left hooked up and charging all the time in storage and should not "boil" the batteries (cause the fluid to evaporate or "boil" off). Just make sure to check the water level every few weeks until you know if your particular charger causes your batteries to "use" water or not.

[Glock Diver]

dward- Thanks for a great informative post, I learned something.

Interesting that batteries are rated in CCA/MCA, indicating the # of amps delivered in 30 seconds, while a charger is rated by the # of amps delivered to the battery in 60 minutes.

Since you seem to be pretty knowledgeable, let me ask this. I also carry a 3rd emergency battery, which is not connected to anything. I kind of regret not buying the 5/5/5 charger, but oh well, too late. If I want to periodically top off that 3rd emergency battery, could I just connect some jumpers to one of the other batteries and let it "top off" ??

[ProMariner]

Jim here from ProMariner.

I would be happy to help anyone with charger questions or concerns. Email works best as I don't have as much time as I like to read the forums. We do have a charger for every application and I would be happy to support any of you. Refer your friends to if I can be of service.

Jim Mitchell
Manager, Technical Services Group
Direct Line 603-766-7603
Email: jmitchell@pmariner.com

[Glock Diver]

Thanks Jim, I'll drop you an email with my question (unless you respond to it here, so other users can benefit). I have a ProMariner 5/5 charger.