Hi all, new here.

[photonfanatic]

Just thought I'd make use of the welcome forum. So hi everyone. Might as well ask a question or two while I'm in here.

I'm looking for a deep cycle battery charger, but I'm looking for the one that is the 'bang for the buck' model. Not looking to pay too awful much, but I would like one that is of reasonable quality. One that doesn't get too hot, charges pretty quickly, and can be mounted in the console of my 2014 Veranda 22' pontoon. Anyone have any recommendations? It will be for charging the trolling motor batteries, which is a 24 volt system. However, the 24v part may not matter, because I was told by the dealer to charge them individually. Which would knock them back down to just 12v each.

So I guess I'm looking for a charger that has 2 sets of wires, a set for charging each battery. I'm going to mount the charger in the console, and then run its wall wire to the back of an inlet plug, that I'm going to install on the outside of the boat. That way, all I have to do is just walk up and plug an extension cord into the boat. Much easier that way.

[smltooner]

Welcome to the club.

[photonfanatic]

Thanks!

[Gonefishing]

Check out Basss Pro Shop. They have some and are not real expensive

[grouser]

Welcome from the State of Jefferson,,,, just google a two bank battery charger and take your pick

[steveiam]

Welcome!
Where are you from?
Where do you boat usually?

[photonfanatic]

Thanks, I'm from Cleburne, about 30 miles south of Fort Worth TX. I'll be doing a lot of Lake Whitney, and other local lakes in that area. Perhaps some of the brazos river and other places that feed into lake whitney. But what I'd really like to do, is avoid high usage lakes like Lake Texoma, and Lake Granbury. I'd really like to find some lakes that actually see very seldom usage. Or at least, pretty low usage compared to other lakes.

Anyway so what yall are saying, is that there aren't any preferred brands of chargers, or ones to be avoided?

[steveiam]

Cant help ya on the chargers--
But cool your are kinda local to me--
Looking forward to seeing pics from Whitney, been wanting to try that lake-

[JBO]

These get pretty good reviews:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas- ... 309718.uts

I have one, but have only had it for 6mo. No issues in that time, however.

These get good reviews as well:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JSO1X2/ref ... _pC_nS_ttl

[photonfanatic]

Cant help ya on the chargers--
But cool your are kinda local to me--
Looking forward to seeing pics from Whitney, been wanting to try that lake-

I'll take some and post some up next time I go. Its a fairly large lake, and its kind of nice. Being out in BFE helps the lake some. There are still more people and structures on the lake than I like, but its definitely better than some others. I prefer the more natural setting. You don't get that with apartment complexes lining the banks like Lake Granbury lol

Also thanks for the recommendations, JBO. I'm curious as to why they have 3 banks for charging though. Does that imply that you also need to charge your engine battery? I was under the impression that the alternator would handle that.

[KevinMs]

Welcome! Concerning on board chargers, I have pretty much the same one JBO has except mine is a two bank. So far no issues, but one improvement I did make was installing a waterproof charging plug in an easy to reach spot as it got tiresome crawling under the boat cover to hook up an extension cord. Best of luck in your search and happy boating.

[photonfanatic]

Thank you sir. Yes I too will be installing such an inlet plug. Ordered one off amazon, as per a recommendation here.

[JBO]

Also thanks for the recommendations, JBO. I'm curious as to why they have 3 banks for charging though. Does that imply that you also need to charge your engine battery? I was under the impression that the alternator would handle that.

I have a 3bank charger for our boat. 2 trolling motor batteries and 1 starting battery. The starting battery doesn't always get fully charged, especially if you start and stop a lot on the water. Any additional power consumption such as lights/radio/etc will drain the battery further. Boat motors don't top off a battery as well as a car engine would. Topping off all of the batteries on-board is the best solution. If you're going to get an on-board charger, I'd make sure it could top off all batteries.

[photonfanatic]

Thanks! Anyone here good at batteries and electricity?

I heard that the slow chargers are better. That it will charge the battery "better". Meaning, that your charge will last longer. So say you charged the same battery, once with a fast charger and once with a slow charger. Some say that slow charger will put more energy in the battery. So its going to go longer before it runs down. Is this true? Just something I've been seeing on youtube and in a few articles. Doesn't seem to me like it would work that way. Seems to me, like a full battery is a full battery. Maybe I've got it wrong, and I've misunderstood what they were saying. Or they have it wrong.

[JBO]

Thanks! Anyone here good at batteries and electricity?

I heard that the slow chargers are better. That it will charge the battery "better". Meaning, that your charge will last longer. So say you charged the same battery, once with a fast charger and once with a slow charger. Some say that slow charger will put more energy in the battery. So its going to go longer before it runs down. Is this true? Just something I've been seeing on youtube and in a few articles. Doesn't seem to me like it would work that way. Seems to me, like a full battery is a full battery. Maybe I've got it wrong, and I've misunderstood what they were saying. Or they have it wrong.

Just get an on-board charger and you'll be good to go. You want to trickle-charge batteries, like the on-board chargers do. You don't want to try to charge them with a 225amp automotive charger by any means.