XPS phase charger

[Boogey Man]

Anybody ever tried one of these? I've always been curious if they really worked or not.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-XPS-12V-Phase-Charger/product/27369/-704071

[Way2slow]

What size motor/charging system do you have on you're boat. 

Two things that come into play with these things is:

One, do you have a large enough charging system for it to do you any good?  Many older motors only have a 16amp or smaller charging system.  These will hardley keep the cranking battery charged, much less have any extra for anything else.  I would recommend a minimum 35 amp charging system to see any benifit.

Second, and this is big, you can burn out you motors charging system and that's a super expensive "Oh, Crap".  Outboard motor charging systems and not very robust and the extra load and length of time it has to work at full or near full output keeping charging TM batteries also can cause it to fail.  I've seen several of these type devices take out stators/regulator rectifiers.

Now, others will say they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, so you might want to talk to a dealerships mechanic and get their opinion for you're particular motor.

[Fishing Rhino]

Keep in mind this may be useless unless you make long runs with your outboard.

The electronics on my boat run off the starting battery.  I seldom run the outboard for more than five minutes at a time because the ponds/lakes I fish are fairly small, the largest being five miles long by a mile and a half wide.

I have yet to make the "long run" from the extreme north end of the pond to the south end of the pond when fishing.  It is a quick jog here and a quick jog there.

The pond I fish most is only a mile and a half long by a half mile wide, so from one spot to the next takes no more than thirty seconds.

My starting battery failed a couple of weeks ago.  Had to swap with one of the tm batteries to get it fired.

Back to the ramp.  Get the jumpers from my truck.  Switch the batteries back.  Use the jumpers to get the motor started, then joy ride for a half hour or so.

Bit by bit the electronics sapped the batteries.  A tenth of a volt one day.  Another tenth or so the next.  And after a season of fishing, I had drained the battery so it could not start the engine.

When I got home, I put the voltmeter on the starting battery and it was just above eleven volts.  Hooked up the charger and when fully charged it was 13.4.

Way2slow has given you sound advice.  Depends not only what the amp rating is for your alternator, but also how much you run the main engine.  In my case, that item would be useless, since it would never divert power to the trolling motor batteries.

[Boogey Man]

My alternator is 18 amps so Way2slow I get what you're saying. Rhino, most of my runs are short. The lakes I fish are fairly small and I fish a river where I mostly use the trolling motor and only use the outboard to get back to the ramp. I've seen these in Bass Pro catalogs and always wondered about them but what you guys said makes a lot of sense. Thanks, guys.