minn kota dc alternator charger

[kvine]

anybody got any feed back on the alternator chargers for two bank chargers, also can a guy put a 110 plug on them so you can still plug it in to an extension cord? any feedback appreciated

[jopes]

Only thing I have seen is if your not driving long distances your not going to charge the batteries up much.

I had thought about one, but for only driving short distances between spots your starting battery will get charged first then your trolling batts.

[Browning300WSM]

NO on the cord DC in and DC out....

[jeffbilodeau]

Ditto on what Jopes said. I had one on my last boat and didn't get much bang for the buck. It did help on extended runs but most of the lakes I fish are smaller than 5000 acres so time between spots is short. Unless you are making long runs on a regular basis or get in a situation where you may not be able to plug in at night on a trip...I would not bother.

[REW]

Remember when charging batteries, current out times time = current in times time.

i.e. if you troll for 8 hours, you likely are going to have to charge for 8 hours. But, if you have a 10 minute run to your fishing spot on your big motor - troll for 8 hours, and then have a 10 minute run back to the dock, there is no way that any charger will recharge 8 hours of battery use in 10 minutes.

On the other hand, if you were in a fishing situation, where you made a 100 mile run up or down river to fish for 8 hours and had a 2 hour run back to the dock, then the use of an alternator charger could make some sense. For example, in the recent Bass Masters tournament, several of the competitors were making 100 mile one way runs to get to the pool in the river where they wanted to fish for a few hours. For those boats using the trolling motor and boat in that way, the use of the on board charger would have been quite effective.

Good luck
REW

[kvine]

thanks guys appreciate the feedback

[Superfishman186]

I had one hooked up to my two group 31 agms for my terrova, with the amount of draw the terrova pulls the measly 10 amps that the charger puts back is kinda a waste, it would take me 3 days on the water to charge up the batts after just a few hours of use.
I thought it would be a good idea at first but it is just not enough charge to be noticeable and I commonly make 10-15 mile runs with the boat.
Also the ten amps that the charger is rated at is the maximum, that doesn't mean you will get that, based on the output of your alternator and the requirements of your engine you could only be getting a fraction of that to charge with.

It certainly doesn't eliminate having to charge the batteries when i get home, maybe just gives a small boost for a few extra minutes of trolling. I have since removed it from the boat and installed it under the hood of my truck and ran wire back to the hitch with a 4wire quick connect and charge the trolling motor batteries while hauling the boat. I suspect this works better because my truck has more charging amps to spare than the optimax does.

[jeffbilodeau]

Originally Posted by Superfishman186

I have since removed it from the boat and installed it under the hood of my truck and ran wire back to the hitch with a 4wire quick connect and charge the trolling motor batteries while hauling the boat.

Awesome idea!!

[Superfishman186]

Originally Posted by jeffbilodeau

Awesome idea!!

I used to just use the charging lead that is part of the hitch factory wiring harness to do the same thing but that wire is small and hardly will charge 2 large deep cycles, also I now carry a truck camper and that same charging lead is used to run the 12v fridge and charge the camper battery but is to small to also charge the boat.

[EyeKing]

What if you run your kicker while trolling and hook the dc charger to that? The charger should feed the battery at all time when the kicker is running?????