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I've always brought my boat back to the garage and immediately plugged it into the onboard charger. I've always left the trolling motor and starter marine batteries plugged in 24/7 all year long, including during the winter with the boat in a heated pole barn or garage. I've had 2 boats, one with a high end Dual Pro Professional Series and low end Minn Kota charger. Someone said that you shouldn't leave it plugged in 24/7 if the onboard charger doesn't have a 'maintenance/trickle' charge function. I just assumed that all newer onboard chargers had maintenance/trickle charge built-in but apparently not. He said he brings his boat home, plugs it in until it's charged, about a day, then removes it. If he doesn't go out right away again he'll plug in the onboard charger the night before he goes out. Don't today's onboard chargers have maintenance/trickle charge feature and are meant to be left plugged in 24/7 all-year long? Even if it has a maintenance/trickle charge feature are you supposed to unplug it after it's fully charged? So, are you supposed to leave your Boat Batteries plugged in 24/7 all-year long on the Onboard Charger?

I had a Dual Pro Professional in my last boat for 7 years and it worked great. It charged 3 old batteries that it never should have charged for 7 years. They were odd batteries. One was an old battery from Comcast, one was an new battery that sat on the concrete floor of my father's pole barn for years, and the third I don't know where it came from. Out of those 3 batteries, two were from the previous boat owner and the third was from me. That Dual Pro kept them working for 7 years though, I never had to replace batteries in that boat. Ranger also puts these chargers in their boats which is a confidence booster. Also, I think the Dual Pro has 15 amps per bank which would charge the batteries faster than the others which are 10 amp per bank, no? My current boat has a cheaper Minn Kota charger. Not the higher end Precision charger that has the equalize cell feature. I have 2 batteries that are 4 years old and most likely need replacing. However, if I could equalize them perhaps I could get another year out of them rather than replacing them which would be nice. NOCO brand chargers are widely regarded on this forum as being compact and reliable. The Dual Pro's are fairly large, however they take space up vertically, so their footprint may actually be smaller than some of the other flatter chargers. I know that Dual Pro, NOCO, and Minn Kota are 3 of the biggest names out there in onboard charging but feel free to add others that I didn't add. So out of these chargers which is: 1.) Best 2.) Best bang for your buck I'm not sure if the NOCO does but it would be nice if the NOCO and Dual Pro had the equalize cell feature that the cheaper Minn Kota does. Also, if the Minn Kota Precision chargers can equalize cells why isn't this an option with the other more expensive brands?

I have two Optima deep cycle marine batteries and a starting battery for my motor in my boat I recently purchased used. I've noticed the life of the Optima batteries hooked up to my trolling motor and fish finder may be on the tail end of their life. They last me all day when coming off of a fresh charge, but they do not appear to hold a charge. I'm not sure what is acceptable in terms of loss of charge over time in storage, but my batteries are usually completely dead one week sitting after being fully charged. I have an onboard battery charger for all the batteries, but due to storage needs I can't have it plugged in at all times. Last week I left the boat charger plugged in after I parked it. I returned one week later and noticed that the on board charger had a green light for fully charged, as it should be since I left it plugged in. Well I take the boat out and the all items running off the deep cycle batteries are dead..the trolling motor turns the prop maybe 1/32 of a turn and stops. The fish finder beeps when turned on but does not have enough juice to show anything on the screen. The motor battery is ok but of course that's a different type of battery. I know the batteries aren't great, but when left plugged in, they shouldn't be completely dead...So: 1. is it possible that the charger is able to conduct an immediate charge but fails to kick into maintenance mode as it should be doing? The light on the charger indicates the batteries are 100% after a week of sitting, but if I unplug it and plug it back in, it shows red again for charging/not fully charged. 2. Also, how long should I expect my deep cycle charge to last when sitting in storage unmaintained by charger?