So I want to put a battery charger on the new system. From advise on here I will be going with the following:
1 Perko Switch
3 Batteries running parallel off one side of Perko
1 Starting battery off second side of Perko
Question 1. Where do I hook up a battery charger to the batteries so all will charge in storage?
Question 2. What is a good battery charger for the above question?
I am using the Cascade APS-75 for my system. This one will allow you to jump into a generator someday if you wanted. Mine has the positive wire out of the power supply hooked to the common side on the perko so it can charge both batteries at the same time. The ground is hooked up to one of the battery ground terminals. Thats all it takes.
Just leave the perko switched to both if you want to charge all the batteries at the same time. I guess you could leave the perko switched to off but use jumper cables to tie the batteries all together. It would be the same as having the perko set to both but with no chance of accidently starting the boat.
I was doing some reading last night and I thought I would have to get a two bank charger. I have read a little about the APS-75, but aren't those pretty expensive? Anyone have a recommendation for a two bank charger other than the APS-75?
I'm using the APS 75 for the same type of batt system. It is ran to the common on my perko. I have 1 Optima for my starting batt (#1 on Perko), 3 Trojans for my amps (#2 on Perko). My starter is attached to the common also. When I plug in I switch the perko to what I want to charge. Usually just #2. I only use the APS to charge the trojans to save my alt. When I unplug to go out I switch the perko to #1. When I start it pulls from the optima and only charged it. I can just switch to "all" if I need to. Works great for me. I can easily add a gen if I need to. But I haven't. Good luck.
Just remember that most 2 bank chargers will put out 10-15 amps per bank, this could take days to charge up 3 drained batteries.
Since I use my boat once a week, I went with the Guest 2611A dual bank charger. I don't think I will really drain my batteries too much, so this small charger should do just fine. It will have a week to charge the batteries. I got it over at Skipper-dan.com for $82.95 with free overnight shipping.
Sounds good. How many amps does it put out?
It's pretty small. It only puts out 5 amps per bank. Like I said, I have a whole week between trips, so hopefully it will work out. If not, I can upgrade bigger if needed.
Just a quick question...
Will I run into problems if I parallel two batteries for starting and three batteries parallel for the stereo will I? I have never paralleled a battery before. Thanks
No problem, but why. It will give you more cranking amps. You can parellel as many batteries as you want. Now when you run them in series you will start changing voltages=bad. 1 starting battery should be plenty.
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