onboard charger

[Justin Lavely2]

Ok, so I have two trolling motor batteries in parallel (12 volt) and a 12-volt cranking battery. Is a two bank charger adequate? Would it be better to have dedicated charging cables for both my trolling batteries or is charging them with one ok? I'm thinking about picking up a Guest two bank with 5 amp output.

 

[Bob G.]

If you have to buy a charger anyways and you have room, I'd get a Guest 3 bank charger.



I notice you are also in VT. Where do you fish? I'm in Milton and usually launch out of St. Albans Bay on Champlain.

 

[Justin Lavely2]

Bob G. - I'm in Danville and fish primarily around the Northeast Kingdom. I do make it over to the big lake occasionally, at least for the LCI. This year, my buddy and I are planning to fish the whole weekend in Mississquoi Bay. Any tips?

 

[Ed Rife]

I have the same set up..Justin I have a 2 bank Minnota charher I have one bank on the cranking battery the other bank on the two 12v trollys..On the trollys I have the positive lead on the positive on battery A the negative lead on Battery B and it works great keeps my batteries charged to the max..I leave mine hooked up all the time also and check my water in my batteries once a month or so.



Hope this helps.



Ed

 

[Lamar Gilbert]

If two batteries are hooked up parallel, they are in fact acting as one battery. The charger sees only one battery and charges the load that it sees. If you add a second charger, it would be simply hooking two chargers up to one battery. Not a recommend situation.



On the other hand, if two batteries are in series, they are individual batteries and will require either a single 24V charger across the two batteries or two 12V chargers, one hooked to each battery.

 

[Justin Lavely2]

Sounds like a two bank is the way to go. Thanks.

 

[Carl Bowers]

Something I just learned: My batteries have a minimum charging amperage requirement; 13.62 amps (slow charge) so even a two bank, 5 amp charger would fall short of the minimum. You might check out your battery's charging requirements before you buy.