On Board Battery Chargers

[Matt193]

I'm putting an onboard charger in a guy's boat and am looking for some input about the different brands out there. I've installed many Minnkota chargers over the years but it seems that they have been having some issues as of late with banks dying out on them, which makes me hesitant to put one in this boat. Has anyone had any recent experience with Noco or Promariner chargers? My coworker just put a Noco in his boat and seems to like it but it's less than a month old. I have had good luck with the small Noco chargers/maintainers, but those don't take the abuse of a marine environment.

 

[gnappi]

I have three batteries in my boat (two for the TM one for lights and instruments), and initially had a one bank charger which was a pain to keep batteries charged, then I went to a went to a 2 bank battery tender and kept the third battery in the house and charged it there.

I finally got tired of screwing around with connecting and disconnecting batteries and bought a Pro Sport 20A 3 bank charger which I sent back. It was too large to fit well in my boat, it ran VERY hot, the output cables were EXTREMELY stiff and hard to manage, and it had no visual indication of the state of charge. Flush...

I wound up with the Noco 3 bank (12A) which I've secured to the transom wood. It's smaller than every charger I looked at, waterproof, and charges all my batteries overnight if I go fishing the next day.

The reason I did not buy the 30A Noco is I'm using small 35Ah batteries and have no need for 10A per bank. If I did use large batteries and needed to charge them overnight I would have considered the 30A model but as it is for twice the price on the 12A model it wasn't a serious option.

PS, I too read of the MK charger issues and decided against them as the Noco chargers got generally stellar reviews, I'm happy I did.

 

[Scott F]

I don’t believe there are any chargers that are 100% reliable. The Promariner charger I had didn’t last 2 seasons. I’ve tried various cheap chargers in the past and they all failed. I’m on a Minn Kota now. Keeping my fingers crossed the $300 I spent will not be wasted.

 

[Matt193]

Thanks guys. I ordered a Noco and hopefully it'll hold up a while.

 

[gnappi]

I don’t believe there are any chargers that are 100% reliable. The Promariner charger I had didn’t last 2 seasons. I’ve tried various cheap chargers in the past and they all failed. I’m on a Minn Kota now. Keeping my fingers crossed the $300 I spent will not be wasted.

For sure, but long term reliability to eventual failure is a serious thing to consider on cost / payback. The "bathtub curve" of reliability is present in every electrical product ever produced and a fact of life.

 

[hipster dufus]

i have a noco mini genius 2 bank 8 amp. 0ver a yr old with no issues. not really mini.

 

[onthewater102]

I know everyone wants their charger in a compartment tucked out of the way - but I wonder if the trapped condensation in these areas are what cause all these different brands of chargers to fail prematurely.

Perhaps mounting to a protected external area (under the steering wheel perhaps?) might work.

 

[Rivernut]

Its mot the humidity in small compartments that kills sealed battery chargers,its the heat. This is my 4 battery Stealth charging system. It is about 20 years old. It can be used with 12, 24, or 36 volt trolling motor systems. It charges my three trolling motor batteries with 40 Amps from the engine’s alternator or a traditional battery charger or even from solar/wind power. I mounted it in the open in my V-8 jet boat rear compartment. It gets plenty of air flow and the aluminum framing acts as a heat sink. It is small, not much larger than a sandwich and only a few pounds. And because it charges on the fly the batteries don’t sulfate as much and last much longer (service life) Best battery charger I’ve run across.