On Board Charger??

[masterangler34]

I know this might seem like a really dumb question, but I'm new to the whole conversion stuff. I was wondering about my battery sources. I plan on have a trolling motor, livewell, fish finder, radio and lights. I was think that 2 deep cycles would be good enough. One for the TM and one for the others?? Maybe I'm wrong. And what are the different ways to keep these charged?? I'm not gunna have an outboard either. I guess Im just curious if I could use an on board charger or something like that. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Captain Ahab]

Any trickle charger is the way to go - and on board charger is just that, a permanent part of the boat so you do not have to keep removing the batteries to charge them. With an on board charger you just plug in the charger while everything is on the boat. (You still need to plug the charger into an external power source, whether that is your household AC or your tow vehicle)

I do not use an on board charger but have just charged the batteries overnight with my OFF board charger while leaving the batteries on teh boat. Most times the batteries come off and are stored. Of course, i cannot charge while towing but since all of my fishing trips are one day (or night) and home it is not an issue

Lots of good chargers out there for this purpose - get one that is a "tender" meaning it will auto shut off when the battery is charged

 

[redbug]

There is a HUGE difference between a trickle charger and the ON-board charger.
A trickle charger will not charge your battery It will maintain the charge or top the battery off.
you need a CHARGER that has at least 5 amps per bank I have a 4 bank 60 amp 15 per bank on board charger that as the battery reaches full charge it then has the floating charge to keep the batteries topped off. Mine needs to have an AC power source and will charge my 4 batteries in 4 to 6 hours

 

[Buckeye Boater]

Use a small solar panel. There should be plenty of sun out on the lake. See the following link.

https://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=96418

Hope this helps

 

[redbug]

Use a small solar panel. There should be plenty of sun out on the lake. See the following link.

https://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=96418

Hope this helps

The solor charger will aso just keep your batteries topped off you need at least 5 amps to charge a battery

 

[Captain Ahab]

There is a HUGE difference between a trickle charger and the ON-board charger.
A trickle charger will not charge your battery It will maintain the charge or top the battery off.
you need a CHARGER that has at least 5 amps per bank I have a 4 bank 60 amp 15 per bank on board charger that as the battery reaches full charge it then has the floating charge to keep the batteries topped off. Mine needs to have an AC power source and will charge my 4 batteries in 4 to 6 hours

You are right as usual Mr. Bug. i meant to say charger with tender feature