battery charger question

[mako1]

i recently got 2 power poles on my skeeter and they definitely run down the power in my trollling motor batteries. does anyone know about some kind of charger that can be installed that will charge the batteries while the motor is running? the guy here at marine place said he could put a breaker switch on it to cut power supply while im not using them .
thanks

[Goooh]

Why would it not be wired to the cranking battery? Everything on my boat goes to the cranking battery, the trolling motor batteries are for the trolling motor only.. Bait well, live well, PP, 2 Lowrances with structure, phone charger, etc... And I have no problems.

[mako1]

im not sure. i didnt really know anything about it to ask before i had them put on

[mako1]

well i called guy . he said they are hooked to crankn battery. guess i need to look when i get home. but my trolling motor goes down alot quicker now that i have them on. maybe i just run my trolling motor alot . but starting at daylight my trolling will be dead by say 3-430.

[Goooh]

Originally Posted by mako1

well i called guy . he said they are hooked to crankn battery. guess i need to look when i get home. but my trolling motor goes down alot quicker now that i have them on. maybe i just run my trolling motor alot . but starting at daylight my trolling will be dead by say 3-430.

Mine did that too just recently, but I wouldn't make it that long. The wind we have been fretting definitely puts a strain. I checked the water levels and they were low so I filled them up and it's been fine since - most day it's too late and to change the batteries once the water gets lower than the plates, but my experience is different.

[mako1]

well i just had my 100hr maintenance on my motor. i would think they would check the batteries. i dunno.

[swd814]

Stealth charging systems, charges while you run. Have had them on my last two boats, no problems.

[lil bubba]

Get one of these. They are only a couple bucks and tells you the capacity of battery cells. You can check trolling or cranking battery and know ahead of time how good they are.

[mako1]

where can u get the stealth chargers from?

[Visco]

I had the same issue the last few weeks but I know it was because of the wind and I use my ipolit a lot for anchoring.

I am thinking about adding a third battery for my trolling motor just to be on the safe side.

[juicegoose]

If you are having a hard time with your trolling motor batteries I highly recommend pulling them out and filling them with distilled water and at the same time cleaning the posts real good. At the same time I would bring them to an auto store and have them tested. How old are the batteries?
In regards to charging while running. Technically your alternator isn't a "charger" it's more of a "top offer"(nice word right!!). With that being said it should be able to keep your cranking battery topped off while you run around the bay. If your wanting to charge your trolling motor batteries while you run to I would look into some sort of motor driven charger or do like the other poster said and have your motor wired to charge your trollers too.

I would highly recommend you install a "house battery" for all your loads not engine related. It'll only take one time on the water with a dead cranking battery for you to wish you had done it. You can install a blue sea ACR/add a battery kit that will help to safe guard your cranking battery against accidental over discharging.

My setup is like this
4 batteries - 1 house, 1 dedicated crank, 2 trollers(24v)
All batteries have onboard shore chargers for nighttime charging
I have installed the blue sea ACR between the house battery and cranking battery. What this does is it watches the battery voltages levels on both the house and crank. When the house battery drops below a predetermined voltage it will open the circuit and isolate the cranking battery from the system so that you don't drain it. When you start the engine back up the system will close the circuit automatically and top off both batteries. It's much more simple then I'm making it out to be and a cinch to install. Best of all you don't have to worry about a perko switch with bat1, bat 2, both it is just a simple on off battery switch with an emergency parallel option incase your cranking battery tanks out while on the water. I highly recommend it best 100 bucks I've spent.