Battery Charger

[reillym]

Hi fellow fishermen

 

Im looking to buy a battery charger for my boat ,would prefer to get a mobile one that would charge the batteries

on board and one that would trickel them during winter storage.It looks like the ones with microprocessors or called smart chargers are the norm but it also looks like I would need one with at least 10amps or more to get a complete charge in 6-8 hours,right now I have my starting battery and putting in a deep cycle for the riggers. All thoughts would be appreciated.

[Knotlost]

You get what you pay for when it comes to chargers.

 

Most of the time you will need to anti up for a good charger in the marine environment. The new ones are programmable for different batteries, they have temp probes on some and very sophisticated charging patters that really keep your batteries nice, but none of that is cheap. To me its worth a lot of money for a good charger, it saves your batteries and that saves your trips out. No such thing as a free ride when it comes to chargers.

 

Most mobile ones are not designed to do all you seem to want, you need one to install and leave in. If your looking for a complete charge from flat (not sure why) then 10amps will do it on small batteries.

 

First start with size batteries, if your using the smaller or mid size batteries, and your not discharging them below a solid 12v then over night on a 6 to 8 amp will normally keep a good battery just fine. If your pulling them down farther then go to the 10 amp. Now only do this if your real tight on cash.

 

Better to get a nice micro-processed 15 amp double bank smart charger and in a years time you will not regret it.

[jimski2]

I had a couple batterys explode from the hydrogen gas generated by the fast charging battery when the quick clips sparked as I removed them. The battery people want you to use permanent spade bolt on terminals for this stuff.