I currently have a 3 bank Minnkota digital charger powering 2 trolling motor batteries in series and one cranking battery. My question is can I add another battery in parallel to the cranking battery and charge them off of 1 lead?
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Battery charger question
- Thread starter TRIGGER
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yes but they dont recommend it, per the user manual. it takes twice as long to charge a 2 battery bank and could result in a charging error alarm.
kind of confusing the way most manufacturers list their products. they should just change the labeling to battery instead of bank. theoretically a 3 bank charger could charge a 2 battery 24v series connected battery bank and a 2 battery 12v parallel connected battery bank. my xps charger specifically says no more than 1 battery per bank no matter how they are connected.
i suppose instead of going out and replacing your 3 bank charger with a 4 bank charger you could add an on board single bank charger or a stand alone single bank charger. but, id call minkota and see if you would have to disconnect one of the batteries in order to connect a seperate charger.
kind of confusing the way most manufacturers list their products. they should just change the labeling to battery instead of bank. theoretically a 3 bank charger could charge a 2 battery 24v series connected battery bank and a 2 battery 12v parallel connected battery bank. my xps charger specifically says no more than 1 battery per bank no matter how they are connected.
i suppose instead of going out and replacing your 3 bank charger with a 4 bank charger you could add an on board single bank charger or a stand alone single bank charger. but, id call minkota and see if you would have to disconnect one of the batteries in order to connect a seperate charger.
bluball":1dau2op2 said:
yep. also need to pay attention on how you connect the charger to them. the voltage drop needs to be the same or close to it, across both batteries.
the correct way for charging 2 parallel batteries with one charging lead. if the charger is less than 10 amps then the blue w1 piece of wire is not needed, just hook the leads up in the pic to the posts. the way some folks think is correct is too hook both the charger leads to the same battery but what this does is to create a larger drop to the second battery because of the jumper cables.
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What is the purpose of the fourth battery?
Pilchard":1ylbetqk said:
probably 2 for trolling motor and 2 for electronics and starting so he will have more capacity running the electronics, live wells, etc.
WTM":76xdo3pr said:
Yes. This new solix 15 uses some juice.
those things draw almost 4 amps average and 1.75 on standby lol. if it were me i wouldnt try to charge it on a one bank lead or run 2 in paralell. id look at either a single group 31 AGM battery (if it will fit) or add another battery using a combiner. with a combiner you can split the loads with 2 batteries. the engine alternator or charger can charge both but they will be seperate as far as connections and seperate while the charging device is not connected and discharging. when the cranking battery is fully charged it will switch to the house battery and charge it.
double browtine
Well-Known Member
I would buy one of those onboard charging systems that can charge your batteries while you are running down the lake.
double browtine":nbh36etu said:
lol thats what a combiner does.
Stealth brand chargers are good and will charge your batteries (trolling motor included) while running. Great customer service as well.
What group size are your batteries? Do you have a switch so that you can wire your trolling to your cranking but only pull from the trolling to crank if needed? This is the way I'd go rather than add an additional battery.
Unless you fish all day without cranking the motor while running pumps, electronics, radio, etc, I can't imagine you'd need another battery unless it's just for peace of mind.
What group size are your batteries? Do you have a switch so that you can wire your trolling to your cranking but only pull from the trolling to crank if needed? This is the way I'd go rather than add an additional battery.
Unless you fish all day without cranking the motor while running pumps, electronics, radio, etc, I can't imagine you'd need another battery unless it's just for peace of mind.
Pilchard":z93at6y6 said:
I'm running 3-31 optima batteries.(brand new) I don't have a switch but do keep jumper cables just in case. You can't catch fish if your on plane. I have my low battery alarm set as low as it will go (9.8 volts I believe) and it starts alarming after about 6 hrs if I'm fishing hard and have the livewell going. I have 4 units powering 3 transducers, three external gps pucks,a heading sensor for the trolling motor,and livewell pumps. Not to mention lights when night Fishing starts. If I'm by myself I put the two units (15" solix and 9" helix) on standby while I'm fishing which helps a lot but I like to keep the units on if i have a co-angler so they can see what's going on from the back of the boat. My 225 Yamaha 4 stroke has never failed to start yet but it really hurts my confidence when I have to crank it up while Fishing.
If you must buy the battery (I don't think you do) I would connect your existing charger to the new battery and the trolling batteries. There shouldn't be a need to charge your cranking battery, especially if it's exclusively used for cranking.
For what it's worth, before I moved from Florida neither of my boats had an additional "house" battery. One was a skiff with less electrinics and another was a hybrid bay boat with every electronic add-on you could imagine including 3 1100 gph livewell pumps that never stopped running. I never had a battery issue.
For what it's worth, before I moved from Florida neither of my boats had an additional "house" battery. One was a skiff with less electrinics and another was a hybrid bay boat with every electronic add-on you could imagine including 3 1100 gph livewell pumps that never stopped running. I never had a battery issue.
I'd install the switch before I added an additional battery.
The switch works the same as jumper cables correct? It only gets used if you cranking battery is to week to start the engine??Pilchard":44g38fd8 said:
TRIGGER":1uep4pci said:
that would be all i would use it for, an emergency cranking situation. electronics off the same bank as the trolling motor will cause all kinds of interference.
if your hitting 9.8 v dc then your already below the lowest input voltage for your electronics, it will even get worse when you add lights. with your style of fishing i dont see any other way but to add another battery and a 4 bank charger. if you run them in paralell and charge them using a single one bank lead you could be waiting 12 hours or more for them to charge.(double the charge time). with all that stuff on your boat, imo anyways, your going to have to split the loads between 2 batteries or run 2 in parallel to get more reserve capacity.
TRIGGER":2des6zx5 said:
Correct. With the exception that has three positions. Battery 1, cranking. Battery 2, trolling. Or both. Meaning if you get in a real bind and your cranking battery and your trolling batteries are low you can pull from both to crank.
How many times have you had to use your jumper cables? If you use them frequently and you are solving a real problem, buy the additional battery- but I don't believe you need to buy a 4 bank charger... just leave your cranking battery to charge off the motor... it shouldn't die, ever, unless you go for extremely long periods between using the boat.
If you're just doing this as a precaution, the switch will give you the peace of mind...
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Attwood-4-Wa ... 3=&veh=sem
