what is the best all around on board battery charger. i am looking at getting one for my new old boat, and was wondering which ones you guys preffer and how well they work. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. i plan on doing alot of night fishing, and i already have 2 mega-tron deep cycle batteries, but i dont want to get out there and fish all night running red led lights and find my battery is dead. any suggestions?
thanks for posting this joe. i have been looking into getting one myself. when i run my floundering lights off of my trolling battery it really eats the juice fast. hopefully somebody has an answer for both of us.
Dual Pro hands down. I just ordered several items for the new boat from them and they got here last week. I ordered direct and saved a few dollars. I will see if I can find a thread that was about this a few months back. Had some good info about other brands and good reason to go with the Dual Pro. Plus you will not find better customer service anywhere, they back the products they make. Thanks David
:0a26:Here is the thread I was talking about. http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67022&highlight=battery+charger I guess a second choice for me would be MinnKota but only if I could not get another Dual Pro. Just my opinion and it will differ from others. LOL Thanks David
yeah my wife was joking with me last week when i bought the boat, she told me i was going to have a 500 dollar boat with 2000 dollars worth of upgrades. the way its looking, she might be right about that.
That is much easier done than we like to think. LOL:crazy: A good boat is just the starting point. My wife could start a support group to help other wifes that have husbands who suffer from this same affliction.oooh::big_smile: Thanks David
Joe she is right believe me and your in trouble now if she dont like fishing:wink:I have a 1500 boat and double that in getting it all right...rebuilt the trailer..new floor carpet........Its a expensive hobby there aint no doubt bout it! I am testing a soler panel trickle charger-I think it is gonna work out but we aint started fishing hard yet and it is yet to be seen
Dual Pro 3 bank Pro Charger is the one I have on the new boat. http://www.dualpro.com/index.html Pete
I did alot of research on this subject, probably about a month, before I decided what to buy. After reading internet reviews on all the major brands, and talking to Big Dave (thanks Dave), I ended up buying a DualPro, Three bank SE. So far so good. They manufacture about any configuration a guy would ever need. I'm told that their tech assistance and warranty program are as top notch as their products. They may be a bit more expensive, but the reviews I read on em all tell the story,,, "You get what ya pay for". Good luck.
Pete, that is the same one I just got in for my boat. I added the Pro Xtra III so I could give the acc batteries a little added juice on the longer runs. I also opted for one of there Battery status gages so I can see when the cranking battery is at full charge and the Xtreme feature start to help the acc batteries. I have always liked having a battery status gage on my boats. I am glad Dual Pro started offering one. Looks like a pretty nice unit and I sure with the Dual Pro name it will be quality as well. Thanks David
I believe both threads were dealing with on-board battery chargers. Some just have different features that others, like the Xtreme feature on some of the Dual Pro's. You are correct that some motors will not have enough output to make a big a difference as other motors with higher amp outputs. i know the Xtreme feature works great on my Tracker with a 70 horse Johnson. It has 20 amps of output (so I have read and was told) and it only takes a few minutes of run time for the starter battery to reach full charge and the Xtreme feature switches over to the acc batteries. I watch this happen on the battery status gages I have installed, so this is not a guess. I am not sure of the output of the 115 Johnson I am going to be using this newest set up on but I figure any added charge I can get during a long run on the water is getter than nothing at all. This type of charging feature is not designed and is not going to give your acc batteries a full charge. Like I have said before I figure I am getting about 20-30% more run time. That also depends on how much boat riding I do during a fishing trip. Sometimes I move a couple time and some times I move four or five in a night. Sometimes I move just a few hundred feet/yards and sometimes I move several miles between spots. Sorry if there was any confusing in how things were worded, I did not see where there should have been any.:confused2: Thanks David
