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So the nice folks at DKDODS said no... but I figured maybe someone out there knows of something outside of typical installations and modifications...
I want to add a charging system for my trolling motor battery to my boat... I do not want it to wreck anything else, obv...
I have;
40hp Honda Outboard (2008)
Lund Classic 1625
Minkkota Trolling... 12v system (not 110% sure if its 48 or 54lbs thrust)
I'm told there is already a charging system installed that maintains the starter battery...
How do I get the engine to charge both batteries? Is this even possible? Again, DKDODS said, nope not possible... But I thought I'd cast for more opinions... (get it, cast, a fishing joke on a fishing forum... funny right! )
Every boat I have seen has a separate plug-in charger for trolling motor batteries. You can pick up a Minn-Kota one bank charger at Lebaron for under $100.
beachburger wrote:Every boat I have seen has a separate plug-in charger for trolling motor batteries. You can pick up a Minn-Kota one bank charger at Lebaron for under $100.
HTH,
Doug
Best to go with a 2 bank charger and while plugged in your charger will top up both batteries. That way you know when you launch your starting battery is fully charged.
These are chargers that work off of the engine while it's running, or are they the ones that allow you to PLUG-IN your boat at night to charge batteries w/o having to lugg-batteries around???
I'm looking for the ones that charge off of your engine... i assume this exists...
As a fall-back I will put in the ones that allow me to plug-in the boat, and yes, definitely a trickle charge going to both batteries would be the way to go.
Hookup wrote:These are chargers that work off of the engine while it's running, or are they the ones that allow you to PLUG-IN your boat at night to charge batteries w/o having to lugg-batteries around???
I'm looking for the ones that charge off of your engine... i assume this exists...
As a fall-back I will put in the ones that allow me to plug-in the boat, and yes, definitely a trickle charge going to both batteries would be the way to go.
You should be able to charge both off the engine but you will likely need to look into a battery isolator to protect the batteries from each other. No different then the larger cruising boats except they have house batteries instead of trolling batteries. There's tons of good info out there....I'm just not an electrical genius so my advice is limited.
I've attached an basic image that shows how this is setup.
Yes it can be done and the easiest system to use in your situation of just two batteries, 1 cranking and 1 deep cycle for trolling motor is an ACR.
I have been using an automatic charging relay (ACR) device in my boats over the years as I run two cranking batteries as a safety precaution so I never have a dead cranking battery. The motor alternator chargers the cranking battery and the second battery thanks to the ACR combining the two batteries. The great thing with the ACR is no switches to worry about. The ACR also allows you to use a single over night battery charger to charge up both batteries, once you draw current from one of the batteries it switches over to work as independent batteries like normal.
Best to go with a 2 bank charger and while plugged in your charger will top up both batteries.
I know of two instances where something on the engine was fried because the engine was not disconnected prior to be put on an external charger. Maybe all the other info here is what's needed to prevent that from happening. Not sure.
I prefer not to get partial charges on my TM batteries. I would rather plug them in and know that when I head out next, the batteries are fully charged.
I also carry a spare cranking battery. Sometimes I'm lucky enough that the livewells have to start running 5 mins after blast off.....
It will charge the starter battery first, then once it is at 100%, it will start charging your second battery.
From the little I used it, it seemed to work OK (but I spent most of my time running my trolling motor, so I can't comment too much on how quickly it charges). The install was fairly easy/quick.
....hangs head in shame: I only got to try it couple times because last June I had to store my boat for a few weeks, but I forgot to pull plug out...it rained a lot that month, and that little module sat under water for at least a week, so became quite corroded.
Can you clarify what you mean by "the engine was not disconnected prior to be put on an external charger". I'm a little confused by this.
Take all the wires off the cranking battery. Perhaps the wrong kind of charger was being used. I'm only relaying what I was told. I've never had a problem with a cranking battery other than running it out of juice with the livewell timers doing their thing for 9-10 hours. When that happens, I switch all the wires over to the spare and recharge the dead battery with a single-bank Minn-Kota charger before moving the wires back over. It works for me and it ain't broke.....
Perhaps mikemicro or JP will chip in. I'm not a mechanic.
Add an ACR between your two cranking batteries, place all your house power (Live wells, electronics) on one battery and then place your big engine and bilge pump on the other. You will never have a dead cranking battery again. If you loose house power all you have to do is fire up your big engine and you will have power on the house bank as the ACR combines the batteries. Once you make a run you will start to recharge your house battery.
I use to do similar to you until I was caught in 7 to 8 footers in Lake Erie trying to swap cables as I had waves crashing over the stern making it almost impossible as I was taking on water in the battery compartments.
After asking a few big water boaters how they rig their off shore tournament fishing boats I was told about the ACR units.
-sheldon
Sheldon Hatch
Just a guy that likes to fish walleye
Thanks Sheldon. I probably don't need to worry about 7 ft waves but crawling around the back deck disconnecting stuff when your boat is getting blown towards a shore full of trees and rocks is not a load of fun either. An ACR sounds very useful.
I have close to the same setup as you. This is what I think you want http://www.minnkotamotors.com/products/ ... 1bank.aspx or the two bank one. I am not sure which one I will get either, I have to talk to a rep to find out which one would best suit my needs.
I gotta step in here and ask one very important question.. .
What is the potential of this motors charging system??????
If the charging system only puts out 20 amps and the trolling motor wants 10amps and the start battery wants 20amps, what is going to melt??????
It is not doable with your motor and listen to the dealer, none of the above answers even took into account the capability of your charging system.....and that is what the dealer is going by..........the best scenario is a SEPARATE charger you physically plug into 120AC to get batteries charged properly....
Big motors like Sheldon's put out 40 amps more than enough to handle all the load put on it ....but the smaller outboards have smaller alternators and thus less capability........if you really need to know call honda get it from the horses mouth
)
I gotta step in here and ask one very important question.. 
.
