Charging for Dummies ... revisited?

[JDFester]

Been out about 3 weekends since I got the boat; two brand new batteries in it, so I figured I wouldn't need to worry about them until the off season, as I never have in any of my other boats before... Granted they didn't even have a radio and this one has a high power audio system, but we have been focused on watersports so far; not parking and listening to tunes (that will come, but probably not until next season...)

Well, last weekend when taking the boat off the trailer, the boat seemed slower to turn over; no low voltage warning or anything, but audibly weaker starter in my opinion. Boat still started fine, and gave no problems all day. But, it got me thinking. I put my standard car battery charger on the start battery in the boat last night, and it was drawing full capacity, confirming the battery was at least weak...

I had already noticed a bunch of posts about charging systems, etc. but hadn't paid a lot of attention until this week. Now I am reading them, but am more confused than I was before... so far, the thread that I have found to most closely resemble my situation is: https://jetboaters.net/threads/battery-charger-for-dummies-o_o.831/; I have two lead acid group 24 batteries, and the SeaSense Add-a-Battery kit, as near as I can tell. I haven't had a chance to trace out how its hooked up (battery or load side, which I am not even sure I understand the difference yet).

I think I want to add the ProMariner ProSport 20 Dual Bank charger, but I've read posts that seem to indicate the ACR may confuse the charger? I may or may not need to add a switch or relay? Am I reading too much into this? Can I just hook up the charger to each battery, or do I need to do something different? In the mean time, can I just use my car charger, and if so, does the ACR let it charge both batteries when only hooked to one?

Sorry to beat a horse that's been beaten to death here before, but truly looking for a dummies guide here. Thank you!

 

[jcyamaharider]

The only thing you will have to so is add a switch in between the little red wire to turn off the ACR when it is charging with the onboard charger. When on the lake flip the switch back on so the ACR can do its job.

Edit* You do the above with the factory installed system. Not sure since you did the add a battery kit using the blue sea ACR. I would think if you just flipped the switch to off you would be ok.

 

[afsigma21]

You mention "2 Brand new batteries"

Are the Deep Cycle, Dual Purpose or Starting? Makes a difference on how long the charge lasts for powering all the equipment. Each has a different function. My new boat came with 2 starting batteries, which are NOT ideal for stereo's with amps etc.

I am swapping them to Deep Cycle and I added a permanent charger that I plug in after every day of use. (Dual Bank 4 amp).

 

[bumpy]

OK, this is probably a stupid question, but how does the ACR play in at all when using a dual bank charger with separate leads from the charger to each battery?

 

[jcyamaharider]

OK, this is probably a stupid question, but how does the ACR play in at all when using a dual bank charger with separate leads from the charger to each battery?

It shouldn't and if it does then you need to stop it from doing it. That is why you have to do the mod I posted above to the boats that came with ACR from the factory.

 

[Matt Phillips]

If you have two batteries, then typically, one is designated as start and the other should be as "house. the start battery is for starting the engines and the house powers all other electronics and systems. Over the years and with two Yamaha's, I've found that the start battery always has enough juice in it and additional charging is for the house battery.

I'm unfamiliar with the ACR and how it works as I used a direct solar charger on my 09 and the 17x has the built in solar chargers.

 

[Beachbummer]

Somethings up though. With the usage you describe your battery should not have been weak.

Do you have any other draws in your system (Did you wire your radio memory? Do you switch the boat to Off when you are done?)

I have the older boat with no ACR, and I have very little draw because my sound system is wimpy. I switch from one battery to the other every few outings, and the other battery is always ready. if the battery had decent charge, 8-10 weeks before you use it again for a new fully charged battery should NOT be a problem. There may be a parasitic draw somewhere. If you have a voltmeter you could measure your parasitic draw with the Amp-meter. Also, Be sure no draws are connected straight to the battery, and instead they go through the switch so when you turn the switch off, the draw goes away.

The ACR will bridge the batteries while it detects a charging voltage, that way both batteries charge while there is a charging voltage present, but will disconnect them from each other when not charging.

 

[JDFester]

Ok, thinking I found my issue: I do have two different batteries, and as luck would have it, I have a new starting battery installed by the dealer, and a new deep cycle battery that I purchased (quite by accident; the store gave it to me as a direct replacement for the dead starting battery I was trading in...SMH) I assumed the dealer had hooked up the new battery to the starting/engine circuit, so I put my new battery in the other position, which I thought was the house. But upon tracing the wires, it looks like those were reversed. I am going to fix that now, and hopefully that will take care of it. I am guessing that the Deep cycle isn't all that good for starting, which is why it seemed weak, and since I didn't use the stereo much, there wasn't much draw from the starting battery, so I didn't notice an issue there...

Thanks again!

 

[Zizzou 192]

The easiest way to charge the boat when the engine is not running is through its 12v "cig lighter".

Battery tender chargers are the expensive idiot proof charger. Plug it in and wait until the light turns green

Get the "cig lighter" plug on the chaatger and plug it into the boat. Plug the AC 110v plug into the wall.

If you don't have AC power, you can use their solar panel charge controller combo and plug that into the boat's 12v outlet.

If the boat's ACR is set up correctly when the engine is running once battery 1 is charged fully, battery 2 will start charging.

When the engine is off the 12v "cig lighter" charger utilizes that same onboard system.

 

[Whisky]

Reading through this thread got me wondering, 212X with dual batteries. Im I understanding correctly, that if I want a plug and play solution, without having to remember anything but to plug it is, I should get a single bank charger, hook it up and let the ACR do the hard work?

If this is the case, are our ACR's dual sensing capable? Or should we connect to a specific battery?

Or, would this overcharge one battery while working to charge one that is drained further? Perhaps a dual bank and ACR disconnect is the preferred method?

 

[Zizzou 192]

In an ideal world each battery would be disconnected physically, removed to a warm dry place, and 1 battery per trickle charger that could be cycled once a month.

"Smart" chargers work by sensing when the battery is accepting less amps from the charger, then switch to a trickle maintainer charge, just like a human would check the analog gauge on a "dumb" charger from the 1970's for amp drop and then disconnect the battery realizing that this is the battery's signal that it is charged.

ACR is an Automatic Charging Relay that senses when battery 1 is fully charged, then begins charging battery 2.

There is some debate whether the ACR would confuse the single smart charger hooked up to the stock boat charging system, when it switched to a less charged battery 2. If it did, the smart charger would switch back to the trickle charge and take a few days to charge battery 2 instead of a few hours.

 

[Whisky]

Thanks @Zizzou 192 ! Appreciate your help!