Another battery thread. Have I been doing this wrong?

[vxooxv]

I have 3 batteries, with the blue seas add a battery with acr.

My house battery is regular size marine battery group 24 that's on my starter side.

I just replaced my 2 group 31's with Optima Blue group 31's. Well, i took them both out; bought one ran my stereo system for a day, then bought the other and hooked them up in parallel the same way I had the previous 2. Basically, my amp + & - blocks run to battery 1. And then I have a + & - jumper between batteries 1 & 2. I assumed that battery 1 needed to be charged while battery 2 is brand new, so i threw the charger on. I have the Pulse Tech 12v 2.5 amp xTreme 2 bank charger hooked to the terminals on battery 1. For some strange reason, the charger keeps throwing bad battery OR won't ever go above 25%. I've actually tried 2 identical chargers. 1 charger gives me bad battery and the other just hangs at 25% for over 24hrs.

Does it matter these are AGM? The charger says it supports them.
Should I have my amp power blocks configured so that the negative is on the negative on battery 1 and the positive on the positive terminal on battery 2?
If the batteries are connected in parallel, isn't the charger charging both batteries to full? Do I need a 3 bank charger instead?
Does it matter the house battery isn't AGM if i were to ever "combine" batteries using the switch?

@Island Jay I heard you are the battery expert

 

[vxooxv]

So apparently most chargers suck when it comes to AGM readings. Called optima and at full charge the blue top group 31's should read about 13.5v Battery 1 is at 13.1 and battery 2 never used at 12.8, even though 2 identical dual bank Pulse Tech chargers never read past 25% OR simply throw a bad battery indicator. Strange. Optima also said they don't make a charger that will charge their batteries while in parallel. They told me I need to ensure whatever charger I do get, can do this or I'll need to put an isolator in the middle when charging. Optima also says a decent charger will need to charge @ 10amps in order to break up whatever is inside the battery. So my 2.5 amp won't cut it? I'm unsure what the proper configuration should be. For the interim, I have an old school charger and am doing them one at a time back to 13.5, re paralleling and going from there. PITA.

 

[vxooxv]

Spoke to NOCO.

Apparently, the Gen3 NOCO - 3-Bank 30A On-Board Battery Charger - GEN3 can handle AGM and according to customer service, it somehow charges parallel batteries in isolation?

The Gen3 also sends 10amps to each bank as Optima recommended charging at 10amps.

"The charger basically creates a “circuit” between the connected terminals, and only reads and charges whatever is between the negative and positive charger leads. So each bank only sees whatever is between it’s own positive and negative connectors. Therefore, it doesn't matter if a multi-battery system is in parallel or series, as long as the charge leads are hooked up in 12V increments (i.e. Bank 1 to Battery 1, Bank 2 to Battery 2, Bank 3 to Battery 3).
It does not matter if Battery 2 and Battery 3 are connected in parallel, Bank 2 will only read Battery 2 and Bank 3 will only read Battery 3."

 

[Stevenpigsooie]

That’s what Minn Kota says too regarding the DVSR, that regardless of it being “active” that the smart charger will still charge the batteries independently. I’m not knowledgeable enough on the battery issue to argue one way or another.

 

[tabbibus]

NOCO Is linda awesome. I'm loving my 2 bank 20amp one

 

[tabbibus]

That’s what Minn Kota says too regarding the DVSR, that regardless of it being “active” that the smart charger will still charge the batteries independently. I’m not knowledgeable enough on the battery issue to argue one way or another.

It gets muddy. But it seems that if you have the dvsr active all chargers will not charge independently. Hence the need for the red or black wire dvsr mod

 

[vxooxv]

I ordered the Gen3; 10amp x 3 banks. I'm hoping it does what it claims to do and charged each bank/battery in isolation even though the 2 Optima's are in parallel.

I wonder of the ProMariner's do the 'same'?

 

[Stevenpigsooie]

It gets muddy. But it seems that if you have the dvsr active all chargers will not charge independently. Hence the need for the red or black wire dvsr mod

Yes I’ve read all those threads. But my charger shows the batteries at different stages and seems to be working as it should. I emailed Minn Kota and they responded with basically the same answer that Noco provided above.