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| I recently purchased a foot-controlled electric motor for my aluminum boat. It is a 24 volt system. I have a battery charger that I have used in the past to charge one battery with my old 12 volt motors. Wondering how I should charge the batteries for this new system?
1. If I hook the charger to one of the batteries, will it charge both batteries in tandem? If this does work, how long does it take? (I have a charger that has a choice of using either 2 amps or 10 amps). Assuming this will work, is there a downside to this?
2. I'm thinking about an onboard charger (later). Can I use one on an aluminum boat? (I've heard it could be a hazard due to grounding). What advantages does an onboard charger provide?
Thanks
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Good question, Joe. Got the same issue myself, and I'm ready to find out. I think in the situation you describe, you need to disconnect the batteries from each other and charge them individually. In my case, I have two 12v in series and a Sears portable charger that has a 24v setting. I've been advised to connect the + charger cord to the + on one battery and the - cord to the - on the other battery. Even though I have an on-board charger, I just read an article in Bassmaster magazine that says most of these chargers only go 75% of full charge. This can lead to memory problems with the battery as well as premature death from consistly under-charging. The article talks about "equalization charging" - bringing all your batteries up to 100% as verified with a hydrometer, at least every 2nd or third charge. Since my Sears unit also allows for both 10 amp and 2 amp charging, I'd think that an occasional long,slow 2 amp charge would be good.
Other opinions? m |
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Posts: 5874
| Joe,
You would have to charge each battery with your 12 volt charger. An onboard charger is definately the way to go. Get a good 2 bank, 20 AMP(10 eachbank). Do you have a 3rd battery for your main motor? Then I would go with a 3 bank, 25 Amp(10/10/5). Guest makes a good charger, Model 2623 for the 3 bank. No worries with aluminum boats, as the charger only gets connected to the batteries. There is no grounding to the boat.
mikie, the Guest, DualPro, and Minn Kota chargers all are fully automatic. They all will finish the charge cycle with the high voltage cycle to top off those batteries. Also, lead acid batteries do not have memory. That is for NiCads.
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Posts: 1286
Location: Stevens Point, Wi. | I recently hooked up a 24 volt system and on board (2 bank) system and had the same concerns. After much researching I found an artical in Bass @ Walleye Boats mag. that said to isolate the 2 batteries before charging. The reason was due to a possible common grounding in the charging unit. Don't know for sure which units have this issue, but in order to alleviate any chance, I installed a switch in the jumper wire between the two batteries. A simple twist of the switch before plugging in the charger. All working great so far. |
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Posts: 536
Location: Brainerd Area | i installed a guest charge pro 3 bank charger(modle #2613)in my boat and had called the dealer to see how to install it. they told me to hook it up as if i was charging one batt at a time. 1 lead (poss/neg) to the batt i wanted to charge and so on(without crossing the wires).i also asked if i had to disconect the 24 volt system and he said no, it would not hurt by batts.3 years now with no problems.
duck |
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Posts: 188
Location: Madison, WI | Yes you can use on on-board charger. I would highly recommend that you do. It makes life a bit more simple. You can use your existing 12V charger but you must put your batteries in parallel (they are in series when you are using them as a 24V system) before you do. That means that you must connect them positive to positive and negative to negative. With a 10 amp charger you may not be able to charge them both in an overnight session (8 hours) if they are fairly drained when you start. The 2 amp setting is useless unless your goal is only to maintain a charge. Craig |
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Posts: 2091
Location: Stevens Point, WI | Remember to unhook your trolling motor if it has any kind of foot pedal or autopilot type system, your charger will fry it if you don't. |
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