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Posts: 1023
| I have a 24v trolling motor with 2 deep cycle batteries to power it.
At the end of each day I detach the trolling motor and then attach 2 onboard chargers - one to each battery.
This is a pain in the you know what.
So, question is... Can I leave these two chargers hooked up at all times to my batteries and trolling motor?? Then I can just plug them in when I get home.
I just don't wanna fry something on the motor.
Thanks
Landry |
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Posts: 1184
Location: Iowa Great Lakes | Yes everything can be left hooked up.... |
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Posts: 5874
| what he said. No problem leaving them all connected and ready to plug in. |
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Posts: 1023
| Thanks guys.
I pretty much figured that, just a little paranoid.
Landry |
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Posts: 794
Location: North Central IL USA | Now the question is is it ok to leave the trolling motor 'plugged in' while charging.
The answer is probably yes because I've been doing it - mine's wired directly, no plug. But maybe some long term undesirable effects??? |
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Posts: 3504
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
If you have fuses or automatic circuit breakers installed, it shouldn't be an issue...but.... The only issue I could see is if for some reason the circuit breaker fails to trip and some sort of power surge happens from the charger, then there could be issues.
I've done both, but my charging is usually done after a short trip where the boat will be pulled some distance on a trailer. Then I unplug just for peace of mind that somehow the motor is not turned on by something shifting in the boat.
safest would be to unplug.
Steve |
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Posts: 5874
| Never once unplugged my TM when plugging in the onboard charger. Never once had a TM issue. |
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Posts: 303
Location: Not where I want to be! | The local Minn-Kota repair guy suggests unplugging the trolling motor while charging. His logic is if there is a powersurge or lightning strike due to an electrical storm, at least it cannot affect the motor. |
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Posts: 582
| If you have a switch to turn off the trolling motor you should. But there have been times i have forgotten and i never had any issues. But try to remember to kill the circuit. Its just added protection for your TM |
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Posts: 1023
| Thanks guys
I unplugged the tm and kept them hooked up
Landry |
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Posts: 97
Location: Milwaukee, WI | gregk9 - 7/12/2012 11:54 AM
Now the question is is it ok to leave the trolling motor 'plugged in' while charging.
no, No, NO!
All it takes is one power surge on the line while your battery charger is plugged in to fry the circuit board on your motor. $200+ and lost day fishing later, you will wish you took the time to simply unplug the TM before you plugged in your on-board charger.
This is especially true when your boat is on the water. During any electrical storm, the odds that there will be a power surge increases dramatically. At home its a lesser chance, but it can still happen, so why take the risk?
Alternatively, you could hook up a surge protector, but that wont protect against everything so why go through that hassle?. And if your TM is protected by a fuse, that protects against most surges - but it is not a fail safe. The only safe way to charge a trolling motor is with it disconnected.
I speak from experience on this. A day wasted on LOTW a few years ago was a HUGE bummer.
Also: this goes for any and all other electronics. If you happen to hook up a charger to your batteries that are running your locator, make sure those are disconnected as well. |
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Posts: 410
Location: one foot over the line | I always unplug mine. However, I am not so sure about running 2 different chargers on a pair of batteries that are wired in a series???? Are you unhooking everthing from those batteries and then hooking up the chargers? and maybe this doesn't make any difference, just a red flag, cause i'd hate to see you fry your batteries. |
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Location: North Central IL USA | Louis - 7/13/2012 10:27 AM
no, No, NO!
All it takes is one power surge on the line while your battery charger is plugged in to fry the circuit board on your motor. $200+ and lost day fishing later, you will wish you took the time to simply unplug the TM before you plugged in your on-board charger.
Like I said, mine's wired directly. Boat came that way. But yeah, I'd feel better with it disconnected. I might even have a plug and socket laying around here somewhere. Time to put that on the 'to do' list.
Should look to put in a master switch too so i can shut the power off to the sonars. Not an issue at home here but when on vacation I leave em in the boat for the week.
Edited by gregk9 7/13/2012 7:17 PM
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Battery charging question