Onboard Charger vs Portable Charger

[kap1492]

Hey fellas, I recently purchased a Minn Kota PowerDrive 55 and need to charge my battery. I store my boat in my backyard and it's too long to run an extension cord to the boat. I was thinking about getting an onboard charger and make soem type of quick release mounting baracket so I could remove it when fishing and store it in the garage. I really like the idea of the onboard chargers that maintain a charge to keep it at peek condition, so do portable chargers do the same thing? Oh, I guss the size of battery might help, it is a 12Volt. I wanted to see what everyone does and maybe some of you guys use both, just looking for some feedback.

[Muddpuppy]

I have been useing a reg. good quality portable automatic charger with a maintain mode, but I don't leave it on for any long length of time.  I usually try to check the batteries with a meter and take it off when they are fully charged.  I might put it back on for brief periods before I go the next time if they have dropped.  I have considered getting an onboard  maintainer after I didn't use my boat as much as normal this year so I don't have to mess with them as much if it sits up or I don't need to charge them in a hurry.  An onboard would be far more convienent but I have several other things that I could use anouther charger for too.  As long as I get the life out of the batteries that I have in the past I have no complaints with the portable, but I don't have any like the Optima batteries on my boat, either.

[Team_Dougherty]

I like the idea of using a portable charge with the "float" or maintain charge. This way I can us it for the lawn tractor, car or what else needs a charge or jump. The one I have has a 2/10/50 amp setting. I just leave set to deep cycle and 10 amps and hooked up to the boat battery all the time. If the car or something else needs a jump I just move it to the vehicle set it for regular battery and 50 amps and in about 5 or 10 minutes it will give enough charge to start it.

My boat spends most of it's off water time in my barn so this works for me. But I can see if your boat spends its time outside you would want a water proof on board charger. When I go on vacation my boat spends the whole week on the water. It would be nice to have an onboard charge then so I do not have to worry about whether it will rain that night and short my charger out.

Paul

[jb_from_texas]

until recently i too was using a portable charger.  But i just installed an onboard and i have to tell you, it's worth it.  BPS had and may still have them on sale.  you can/could get a 2 bank, 12v/24v 8 amp charger for 69 bucks.

have you thought about running some 1 inch pvc under ground for a conduit?  Then running extension cords to your charger?

I might do this too but my set up would only require one cord.  not sure if chaining two together would be a problem or not.

Ben would probably have all the answers you need, if he still wants to weight in on batts and chargers.

jb

[NBR]

Kap, I don't quite understand your question since with an on board charger you still have to run power to the boat. If you are talking a solar power generator or one of those that charges the battery while driving to the lake I don't think you could effectively bring TM battery(s) up to snuff with this type of equipment. A real long very heavy duty power cord, putting a cable under ground or a portable generator are likely your best options.

[cart7t]

How far away is the boat from the nearest receptacle?  They do make 100 ft extension cords ya know.  

[Muddpuppy]

I know we have run some pretty good spans with 12g. cords I guess they would be rated for about 1500watts.  Anything heavier then 12 ga. can get pretty costly.   Underground Romex might be the cheapest way to go to get power to the boat over a long distance .  

[camofish]

Sounds to me like you need the All-Charger or Stay-N-Charge for this company.

http://www.stayncharge.com/

And if you give them a call they can let ya know what model you'll need. If you only have 1 trolling and 1 starter battery, you should be able to get away with the charger that will charge your batteries as your driving down the road to your favorite launch.

I got both of there products and only have the boat All-Charger installed right now and have had the boat out 3 times last week and she runs great. The test will be when I take her out again and my batteries will charge them selfs as you run your big motor.

It is a great product, you should look into it, I too hated having to move the boat just to charge up the batteries. I have 2 trolling and 1 starter battery in the boat and all last year I couldn't even get a heavy usage 18 hour day out of my trolling batteries, I never have to worry again. 8-)

[NBR]

Getting up to full charge from your car/truck charging system would depend on how far you are from the water and the vehicule's charging output. I am about 20 minutes from the drive to launch and no way my truck charging system is going to bring the batteries to full charge after a half day fishing let alone a full day.

[camofish]

Getting up to full charge from your car/truck charging system would depend on how far you are from the water and the vehicule's charging output. I am about 20 minutes from the drive to launch and no way my truck charging system is going to bring the batteries to full charge after a half day fishing let alone a full day.

Plus, what kind of run time on the water is the norm for ya.

The launch is only 10-15 mins from my house, that is why I also have the All-charger that is installed inside the boat, and will transfere a charge from my starter battery when full while running the big motor to my trolling batteries.

And so you have to run your truck for an extra 5-10 mins. which if you are in line to launch, leave your truck running and then you pull her out of the water.

But, I do also travel an hour or so to some places too.  

But, if you have the time to extension cord to your hand charger and boat, go for it. We all start somewhere, right.

[kap1492]

Just had a new idea to maybe solve my problem maybe you guys could solve: Since storage of my boat is a problem and the onboard charger is the best way to maximize battery life and maintain a charged battery for the off season. I was thinking about purchasing a onboard charger but mounting it to a wood storage area that will also serve as a rack for my battery in my garage. Thus taking the "onboard" out of the equasion, hahaha...  ;D. Is this logical? I look at it this way, the only difference between a portable vs. an onboard charge is that the onboard is convenient and an easy way to not have to unload the battery every time it needs a charge. Does anyone have an opinion on this matter, and what are the pros and cons of this idea.

[Rattlinrogue]

I inherited a big(you have to roll it on wheels) charger that my Daddy used on his trucks at his concrete mixer company.I just roll it out and have a 100 ft extention cord to supply the juice.Even if you have an onboard charger,you'll need a long extentio n cord to put the power to it.

[Muddpuppy]

I wouldn't know why you couldn't use it like that the only significant difference that I can think of would be size and protection from moisture.  Minn Kota and a few other companies make chargers that a designed for deep cycle batteries that are portable.  Some do get a little costly on some of the maintaining and De- Sulfateing systems designed for long periods of use.   There are some really informative sites online from chargeing to battery maintenance.