Posts: 3480
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
With your two deep cycles in parallel, you can get away with charging both off of one bank of a 2-bank charger. The time it will take to charge will be doubled since you are charging 2 batteries instead of 1. With this set-up, your second set of leads could go to the cranking battery, which, depending on what kind of electronics you are running would be a good idea. Consider if you are running a GPS, a graph, a stereo, and potentially if you are running at night, your night lights, you could run down your cranking battery if you are not running from spot to spot all day and running the big motor a bunch. By doing this, you allow every battery to be charged over night, unless you run your two deep cycles down a long way due to wind, higher speeds, etc.
With a 3-bank charger, you can charge all batteries independently...even the two in parallel without worry of damage, or having to unhook a jumper of some kind to isolate the batteries. This mainly allows for a faster charge since all 3 batteries are receiving an independent charge.
If you stick with a 2 bank charger, I'd suggest getting one with a higher amount of amps per bank. This will help to cut down on charging time.
If you don't run a bunch of electronics off of your cranking battery, you could get away with not putting any set of leads on it....the big motor will do the job, given it is running enough to do so. Cranking batteries are designed for a quick discharge and quick charge, so it isn't a huge deal to not charge it. It's when you have a bit of electronics running off of it that can cause issues.
I have a 2 bank charger and a 24 volt system up front. What I did is ran one bank to one of the deep cycles up front, and ran the other lead to the other battery up front, then used some 6 gauge wire to connect the battery in the back (dual purpose battery) with one battery in parallel. This way, all 3 batteries get charging, and by morning, all 3 batteries are fully charged and ready to go. I would not suggest this if you have a basic starting battery in the rear, though.
I put a dual purpose back there since that battery runs 2 gps systems (one at the console, and one at the bow) a depth finder in the rear, and a stereo, which is usually on when I am by myself. I don't run the big motor all that much, and when I do, they are short runs so charging is not all that high on the go. B
Before I configured the way I have it now, I would find that after a few days, my starting (dual purpose) battery was low enough that it could not turn over the main motor. Since changing to the configuration I have now, I'm fully charged each morning.
You can do it on two banks..but you may find a 2 bank that runs 20 amps on each bank to be the same price as a three-bank that runs 10 on each bank. If that is the case, I'd go with the 3 bank...
No doubt, once it is in, you will never go back to a portable charger....
Steve
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