installing dc charger for 24 v trolling motor on 20 ft pontoon boat

[larriem]

I,m preparing to install a MK2 DC charger for my 24Volt trolling motor to charge the two 12 volt batteries required . Starting battery that the charger connects to is at the back of the boat and approx 17 feet away from where the charger will be installed . The Charger comes with 6 feet of cable and battery connectors for the starter battery as well as two sets of connections for the trolling batteries . As I would like to keep the cable intact from the charger to the the starter battery this will require me to open up the charger and install a 17 foot 12 AWG x 3 conductor cable . Do I have any other options .

 

[wifisher]

Re: installing dc charger for 24 v trolling motor on 20 ft pontoon boat

why a 3 conductor? You would want a 4 conductor to run a separate circuit to each battery. You do not want to share a ground between the two as this can cause voltage fluctuations in the charger. As far as 12 AWG I can't comment as I do not know what amperage the charger is capable of.

 

[larriem]

Re: installing dc charger for 24 v trolling motor on 20 ft pontoon boat

the cable I'm replacing is 3 conductor 12 awg .

 

[wifisher]

Re: installing dc charger for 24 v trolling motor on 20 ft pontoon boat

should be no problem then. There is a common ground in the charger. You could also mount a junction box to connect charger on one end and batteries to other. Only advantage would be that you can remove and replace the charger more easily.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: installing dc charger for 24 v trolling motor on 20 ft pontoon boat

Lets try to get some clarity here. Your charger should an AC power cord and one, two, or three pairs of DC outputs (total of two, four or six wires). Is this correct? I too do not follow you with this 12 AWG 3-wire line you want to extend. You are aware that the three wire cable is probably the AC POWER cord aren't you. Remember -- we can't see your charger or your boat so we need to go by your description and right now I feel you don't have a thorough understanding of this. A MinnKota MKII is a two bank charger. Do you have two batteries total or three? If you only have two, that means you are using the engine starting battery as one of the two batteries needed for the troller. That is also a bad idea. Details, details, details please.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: installing dc charger for 24 v trolling motor on 20 ft pontoon boat

As I would like to keep the cable intact from the charger to the the starter battery this will require me to open up the charger and install a 17 foot 12 AWG x 3 conductor cable

Don't open up the charger and make any modifications inside, this will automatically void your warranty. From what I remember of MinnKota's instructions (AC charger, not DC charger), any modification to the wiring will void the warranty and if cables need to be extended you need to use their cable extension kits. What do the instructions say about lengthening the DC charger cables? My AC charger said specifically NOT TO lengthen the output cables (there are temp sensors in the cable ends) and that you need to use their cable extention kits,,, but I lengthened 1 of the output cables anyway If there are no warnings against lengthening the engine side of the DC charger, go for it! Don't open up the electronics housing, just add to the existing input cable.

I don't have or have never installed a MK DC charger, but I'm curious;
- what are you installing this on
- what type of engine/alternator is going to be supplying the power to the charger
- is the output sufficient to charge up your TM batteries while motoring around

I looked into one of these, but for what I do it wouldn't work well. The DC charger's output is too small for a heavily depleted battery. it would take hours, and hours, and hours of running the main engine to recharge the TM batteries. If I was on/off a bow mount TM and running and gunning to/from spots it probably would work fine.

That DC charger is limited to a capacity of 10 amps/bank so it's not going to charge up heavily depleted batteries