Battery Charger on Sport Cabin. 2120/2320 etc..

[shawnee83]

I'm doing homework for my winter projects, one of which is installing a hard wired battery charger. I've read some of the mounting instructions that say you should not mount the charger near fuel tanks or in the battery compartment? The 2 places that I thought I would mount one was either in the bilge compartment or in one of the jump seat compartments. Both of these would be a no go according to what I have read. Has anyone out there mounted a charger and if so where? Any pics would also be good. Thanks!!

 

[pilot]

I'm doing homework for my winter projects, one of which is installing a hard wired battery charger. I've read some of the mounting instructions that say you should not mount the charger near fuel tanks or in the battery compartment? The 2 places that I thought I would mount one was either in the bilge compartment or in one of the jump seat compartments. Both of these would be a no go according to what I have read. Has anyone out there mounted a charger and if so where? Any pics would also be good. Thanks!!

Wet cell batteries while sloshing and charging emit a sulfuric acid vapor both explosive and corrosive to electronics close enough to receive the condensate. AGM and Gel cells don't emit these vapors. If all your batteries are AGM or Gel placing a charger under the jump seat has worked fine on the 2014 2120 i have. A high quality charger like the Minn Kota MK345PC won't arc under normal operation but of course all precautions should always be taken when fueling. All electric systems should be off until sufficient time for vapor dissipation has been completed.

 

[Ttucker512]

I agree with comments above. I had three AGM batteries on my 2120 and also used a Minn Kotta MK series charger under the jump seats mounted near the batteries.

 

[shawnee83]

Thanks guys. That's good info. Putting it back in the jump seats would be much better/easier.

 

[Riding High]

I mounted a Marinco battery charger under the starboard jump seat next to one of my batteries 7 years ago - so far so good.

 

[shawnee83]

X 2. Thanks

 

[shawnee83]

Another question on the charger. From looking at wiring diagrams on chargers, it looks like if wiring a set up with one starting battery and 2 house batteries wired in parallel, you only need a 2 bank charger. The wiring on the house side is what I need clarification on. It looks like you would run the positive from the charger in on the pos of one house bat and the neg to the other house batteries neg position? I just wanted to see if this is correct and also, if you could use a 3 bank charger and charge each of the house batteries separately on their own bank even though they are wired together in parallel? Any help would be appreciated as I need to figure this out before I start ordering stuff.

 

[Ttucker512]

I had the same question, and after some research the conclusion was that a bank of batteries wired in parallel act together as one battery and therefore should be connected to one bank of a charger. Connecting the charger to both batteries (that are paralleled) may confuse a smart charger as well as cause it not to output its full amperage. You would need the second charger output only if wired in series for 24/36volt operations.

It will not matter which battery you connect the charger output to if they are paralleled (pos/neg to one or the other OR pos to one and neg to the other) all the same to the charger as the voltage will be equal.

 

[shawnee83]

Thanks Tucker! Looks like a good 2 bank will be the ticket. How many amps was your charger? On the house side I was thinking about using a 100amp hr bat in the port jump seat along with mounting the charger there and then putting a 200 amp hr bat in the bilge on that shelf. Probably a slim line AGM type for fit? What do you think?