Charging question

JOFO17

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I have read over many posts on the subject and am still unsure of exactly what I should do. I have a single outboard with two batteries and a single 4 position selector switch. Positions are ON 1 OFF 2. One battery is a deep cycle type and the other is a bigger cranking battery. My question is charging. Is it ok to put my craftsman 12v 10a charger on either one of the batteries and put the battery selector switch to the BOTH position ? I have read a few post saying they must be done individually and other saying same time is ok.
 

H20Rat

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Mar 8, 2009
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It will work, but it isn't ideal. Lead acids are very forgiving about doing things like that, but it still is generally a better idea to connect it directly to one battery at a time. (or get a dual battery bank charger if you need to recharge both)


(* only if they are standard flooded cell lead acid batteries. You do not want to do that if they are 2 different types of batteries, especially an AGM and a flooded cell)
 

mike_i

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since they're different capacities you should charge them individually. If you connect the charger to both of them at the same time the lower capacity battery will come to a full charge first which should, depending on your charger, switch the charger to float mode.
 

Chris1956

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Crap, I disagree with all the above posts. Put the battery charger on the pos post of one battery and the neg post of the other battery and setthe switch to both.

That is exactly how your engine charges them.
 

H20Rat

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Crap, I disagree with all the above posts. Put the battery charger on the pos post of one battery and the neg post of the other battery and setthe switch to both.

That is exactly how your engine charges them.

No... Electricity 101.

A low wattage charger doesn't care one bit which post it is connected to. There is no magic that happens by connecting to each battery, and in fact, unless you also merge them with the battery switch, you are only going to be charging the one connected to the positive terminal. The other isn't going to get a single electron. (there are advantages in high amperage draw applications to doing what you are talking about, but not for a small charger)


The capacity problem isn't really a problem, as lead acid batteries have a relatively consistent relationship of voltage to capacity. Lets say both batteries are at 12.5 volts, they are both at 50% capacity. Doesn't matter how big the battery is, for the system to get to 12.6 volts, BOTH batteries will need to have charged enough to get to 60% capacity... In other words, if one battery is 50% larger than the other, it will also receive 50% more of the chargers output.

A charger won't kick into trickle/float mode until the voltage of the entire system is around ~13.4. There is positively zero chance of that happening if one battery is discharged to some significant percentage and the other battery is fully charged.
 
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bruceb58

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Not a problem. You can charge them in parallel with no issue as long as they are the same type.

It also doesn't matter what terminal you put the charger on.

On my pontoon in my signature, I have an ACR which comes on whenever the engine starts and charging. Equivalent thing as putting a charger on one battery and putting the switch to both.
 

JoLin

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Aug 18, 2007
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Not a problem. You can charge them in parallel with no issue as long as they are the same type.

It also doesn't matter what terminal you put the charger on.

On my pontoon in my signature, I have an ACR which comes on whenever the engine starts and charging. Equivalent thing as putting a charger on one battery and putting the switch to both.

Yup. A flooded lead-acid battery is a flooded lead-acid battery. Same voltage capacity, same charge profile. Deep cycle battery, starting battery- it's all the same thing from a charging perspecitve.

My .02
 

Chris1956

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Gee, I put the charger on one post of each battery to assure both batteries are connected in parallel. If the ammeter on the charger registers zero, that means something is wrong.
 

bruceb58

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Gee, I put the charger on one post of each battery to assure both batteries are connected in parallel. If the ammeter on the charger registers zero, that means something is wrong.
Yes, it means your grounds aren't tied together. If your grounds are tied together like they should be, your charger will show something whether the batteries are in parallel or not.
 

Chris1956

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I have had battery cables turn to blue/green mush in one night here on the salt pond. You need to check them.
 
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