battery charge?

[rcl700]

when charging a duel battery setup 24v system. Can I charge each battery separately +,- post?
does it just charge that battery or both?

Thinking of maybe do a solar panel setup for these so I will not have to charge before I go to the lake.

anyone have a solar setup? can the panels stay hooked up while using the batteries ?

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: battery charge?

when charging a duel battery setup 24v system. Can I charge each battery separately +,- post?
does it just charge that battery or both?

Thinking of maybe do a solar panel setup for these so I will not have to charge before I go to the lake.

anyone have a solar setup? can the panels stay hooked up while using the batteries ?

I cannot speak for your particular wiring setup, but...if you are using a battery charger that automatically cuts off when the battery is fully charged, then you will have to isolate these batteries. Otherwise, the charger will not know when one is charged, and may overcharge that one while trying to bring the other to full charge. Or conversely...can cut off when one is done, and never bring the second to it's full potential.

Happy boating!

 

[rcl700]

Re: battery charge?

so it is charging both if they are tied?

my charger does cut off when full.

I dont want to isolate because its all hooked up nicly an I dont know how it is all wired. I dont want to mess the wireing is confuing because of the duel electric out drives plus what a pain in the ***** to do every time to charge.

is there a way to charge without unhooking but still safe for the batterys?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: battery charge?

First -- are you certain you have a 24 volt system and not two 12 volt batteries in parallel. Big difference as to how you charge the batteries. If you are positive the batteries are wired in series providing 24 volts, then you must charge them individually unless you have a two bank on-board charger which apparently you do not. IF -- and only IF the batteries are wired in parallel which still provides only 12 volts you can connect to just one of the batteries and both will charge. Forget the nonsense about charging batteries in parallel. This has been discussed to death and unless one battery is drastically degraded, this is not an issue. A charger cannot monitor one battery over another, it monitors "system" voltage. Only multi-bank chargers can monitor individual batteries.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: battery charge?

so it is charging both if they are tied?

my charger does cut off when full.

I dont want to isolate because its all hooked up nicly an I dont know how it is all wired. I dont want to mess the wireing is confuing because of the duel electric out drives plus what a pain in the ***** to do every time to charge.

is there a way to charge without unhooking but still safe for the batterys?

You might be able to do this (isolate) using your battery selector switch...I can't tell you, but others might.

As for manually isolating them, all you would have to do is unhook the negative (ground) post of either one of them, and using the charger on each battery until that battery is charged. Then reattach the ground terminal....

Happy boating!

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: battery charge?

First -- are you certain you have a 24 volt system and not two 12 volt batteries in parallel. Big difference as to how you charge the batteries. If you are positive the batteries are wired in series providing 24 volts, then you must charge them individually unless you have a two bank on-board charger which apparently you do not. IF -- and only IF the batteries are wired in parallel which still provides only 12 volts you can connect to just one of the batteries and both will charge. Forget the nonsense about charging batteries in parallel. This has been discussed to death and unless one battery is drastically degraded, this is not an issue. A charger cannot monitor one battery over another, it monitors "system" voltage. Only multi-bank chargers can monitor individual batteries.

That was my intended point...charging them together will not detect a weak, or badly discharged, battery. To my mind, I would want to know the state of each one as opposed to the total available voltage.

Happy boating!

 

[rcl700]

Re: battery charge?

for now I will isolate so that I do not over charge.

Thanks guys.

still would like to know more about the solar option.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: battery charge?

Solar panels are not the answer you are looking for. A solar panel with enough output capacity to actually "charge" a battery would have to be half the size of your boat, cost in the neighborhood of $900 and be a target for thieves. Solar panels also need a charge controller which acts as the voltage regulator for the system to avoid over charging. Smaller panels are good only to "maintain" a battery at full charge. P (power or watts) = E (volts) x I (amps). So a 7 watt panel which is about 20 inches wide and 18 inches high operating at 12.6 volts would output about 1/2 amp. If you operated a typical 12 volt trolling motor for one hour you would draw about 46 amps from a battery. At a charge rate of 1/2 amp the panel would need to see full sunlight for roughly 92 hours to replace that current. You still didn't answer the question about whether you actually have a 24 volt system or not.

 

[rcl700]

Re: battery charge?

Yes I do hava a 24v system *
it is needed to run the lenco trolling system.

I thought that by it sitting in the driveway all week with two small 5 amp solar pannels it might have the batteries topped up ready to go.

 

[J JACKSON]

Re: battery charge?

if you hook your charger to each battery one at a time you can charge them with a 12 volt charger with out disconnecting them. but you wont be able to use a solar charger they are only for maintaining a full charge.