on board charger question

[FargoDawg 8]

Anyone recommend a brand/model that they have had good luck with?? figuring I want to do that first if the snow ever melts...

 

opinions????

[WETSU Wakesurfer 56]

I have had really good luck with the MinnKota series. I had a MK210D in my Duck boat and never had a problem with it, was five years old when I sold the boat and still charging perfectly. Boat was always dstored outside and run in the nastiest of weather. Charger was mounted on an exterior seat base and exposed to elements but is fully waterproof so no issues. I have the MK220D in my Enzo and again no issues, it is about a year old now but I expect it to perform just as well as the 210 did. Both of these are 2-bank chargers, MinnKota makes 3-bank as well and most have the Smart-charging where they will determine which battery requires most charge and adjust the amps produced appropriately.

[Bongo Fury 640]

When we upgraded to a three battery system on the Falcon we went with a Guest 3 bank charger and it always worked like a dream.

[WakeDoc 471]

We are currently using a PD9280 - 80 Amp RV Converter/Charger

 

Below are a few of the features it offers:

• Built-in Charge Wizard.
• Reverse Battery Protection.
• Delivers filtered DC power to all 12 Volt lighting and appliance circuits, providing safe and reliable service.
• Electronic Current Limiting.
• Low line Voltage Protection

• Variable speed intelligent Cooling Fan.

• High Voltage Protection.
• Automatic thermal shutdown.

It is mounted under the observers seat, get back from the lake, plug it in and done. One of the best things is the charger will bring all four batteries to full power in a couple of hours and provides clean power/no feedback when the boat is plugged into shore power.

 

We started with a Kinetik Itelligent several boats ago it lasted 5 plus years of being plugged in after each trip and left on until the next. As well as it worked we went with the one above when we had to replace it which is basically the same charger. It has a two foot cord that plugs into a 120v socket. The only downfall with this one over the original one is the cord has a 20 amp plug (one blade is turned 90 degrees from the other) while we have 15/20amp sockets at the house, we did not have a 20am extension cord so bought a six dollar adapter so we can use the 15amp extension cord..

[BigWillOKC 1]

I have two CTEK Multi US 25000 units in my boat. I have 4 Kinetik HC2400 competition audio batteries and it works great. Two per charger.

Edited January 16, 2014 by BigWillOKC