Onboard Chargers

[NC]

Looking at putting an onboard charger on my baot. I have one cranking battery and one trolling motor battery group 29. I was wondering if the BassPro onboard chargers were okay to use or if I should spend the money on a Guest or something similar.
I have no idea what 2,4 or 10 amps means to me. Could someone explain this to me and also what the difference between a
1 and 2 bank charger is?
Lastly, can I buy a decent/good charger for less than $125.00 or do I need to spend more?
Thanks,
NC
ncavanaugh992@msn.com

[eye1]

Not an expert here at all but I have been looking into the on board chargers a bit lately. By banks it means the number of batteries you can charge at once, a 2 banker lets you charge two batteries at once ( it will have two sets of positive wires and two sets of negative wires), most mutliple bank chargers are actually multiple chargers wrapped up in a single unit.As for amps , there are some real wiz's out here who could tell you exactly how to calculate the charge times based on the amps put out by the charger , I'm not one of them though.Basically the more amps put out the faster you'll be able to recharge your batteries.Personally I think that going to at least a 10 amp charger is the way to go , there are some out there that will do 15 per bank but you are talking probably in the $250 range at least.

[perchjerker]

Eye1's comments are right on. For your simple setup though, I would recommend a guest 2610 2 bank charger. Goes for around $100. I have one, currently using it for my dual battery trolling motor setup. Its simple, cheap, works great.

[CI_Guy]

Amperage is the amount of electricty traveling through the circuit. Instead of electricity, think of it as water, one circuit would be pumping 2 gallons of water per hour, the others would be pumping 6 gallons or 10 gallons per hour depending on the rating.
Pat K

[Cornhusker]

IMHO there are only two chargers that are proven in their reliability. CSI (Charging systems International) and GUEST chargers. CSI uses Linear charging technology, and guest uses a 3 stage "smart" charging tech. Both are excellent in their customer service. I owned a 2 by 10 amp CSI for 6 years without any problems, and now when I ordered a new boat, I needed a 3 bank charger. Just last week I called CSI to see if they had any refurbished 3-bank chargers and to my surprise, they informed me that since I am a previous customer, they would give me a $100 for my old charger toward the purchase of a new (and therefore a full warranty) 3 bank charger. On top of this, they asked me what the best price was that I had seen on their 3-bank charger and then matched that price minus the $100 trade. (So it was a true $100 and not just $100 of retail) They then asked me what kind of boat I was putting this charger in and after I told them, they suggested that I would need one lead to be about 18ft long. They offered to put this lead on right at the factory and therefore I would have a charger that was "custom" for my boat. At no extra charge!! Needless to say I am very impressed with how CSI handled me.

But I also have friends with GUEST and they have been very happy. Guest offers extensions for their leads if you need them for a small fee (Like 12-13 dollars) and I know they too have a great CS. However, Guest seems to need a significant amount of ventilation room for their chargers, whereas CSI truly doesnt have this concern at all.

hope this helps

Cornhusker

"Winners never quit, quitters never win, and those who never win and never quit are idiots"

[Cornhusker]

One more thing. If you are a lund fanatic (Which I am, altho I think Alumacraft and princecraft are just as fine) It may interest you to know that CSI are the factory installed chargers for lund and Ranger. My alumacraft TP 185 wouldve come with GUEST, but I didnt order it and put in the CSI.



"Winners never quit, quitters never win, and those who never win and never quit are idiots"

[NC]

Thanks for all the input. Sounds like I have a few choices for my boat which won't break the bank!
NC