Cranking battery question?

[bAcKpAiN]

First time electric start owner here. I am wondering what I should do as far as maintanance for my cranking battery? I have on order a two bank onboard charger for my two trolling motor batteries, but what should I do with my cranking battery? Will it be ok if I charge it every few weeks with the manual charger? I never had a cranking battery before, and don't want to kill it. It does have my pumps and fish finder attached to it if that makes a difference.

 

[redbug]

my first boat i had 3 batteries and only a 2 bank charger. it was fine and i had no problems but my motor had a 60amp alternator in it and i would run it on the way back to the ramp. I would think putting it on the charger when you get home to top it off would be the way to go.
remember NEVER store a battery that isn't fully charged

 

[Quackrstackr]

I would think putting it on the charger when you get home to top it off would be the way to go.
remember NEVER store a battery that isn't fully charged

Winner.

Depending on how much running you do, the alternator may or may not fully charge what was drawn off from starting, pumps, fish finders, etc.

 

[bAcKpAiN]

Quite often I fish electric only lakes and would never even use the big motor. How often would you throw the 6amp manual charger on the starting battery? When finances arent so tight, I will probably get a separate 6amp onboard for it just for the convenience. But I don't want to kill the battery in the meantime.

 

[Quackrstackr]

Me personally, I would plug it up every time that I came in if I was running accessories off of it. It shouldn't take long to top it off.

 

[bAcKpAiN]

Thanks for the advice, it won't be hard to stick a charger on it overnight after I run the boat.

 

[longjohn119]

it really depends on what you are running off of it, if all it does is start the motor and your motor starts good then the motor will charge it up. If you are running accessories then it may not. It's when you aren't using it you'll be more likely to need a charger to keep it fresh. You can get a little 3 state 1 1/2 - 2 amp charger for 20-25 bucks and mount it on the battery box or in the boat, they don't take up much room and you can leave it hooked up to the battery all the time, even during operation so all you have to do it plug in the power cord ast the end of the day and unplug the power cord when you use the battery. The Minnkota chargers are nice but there is nothing magic about them and you are probably paying an extra 20% just for a name just like you do when you buy anything labeled Apple (Ipods, Iphones,Iwhatever all have a 35% margin in an industry that averages less than 10% margins which is still a good profit)