battery charging while camping???

[newboater74]

I'll be using my Minn Kota trolling motor out fishing for four days over Memorial weekend. I'm wondering what is the best way to charge the battery? I'll be out in the sticks, with no AC power available.

What does everyone else do? I'd like to be able to fish for the four days rather than just the one day.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: battery charging while camping???

You have basically three choices: 1) take a portable generator with you, 2) rig your vehicle up (as in take some jumper cables along) and charge the battery from the car/truck (with $3.00+/gal gas thats not efficient), or 3) take another fully charged battery with you. Forget solar panels -- you don't have room in your vehicle for one big enough for that. I assume you have an outboard motor but chances are the alternator output is not high enough to fully charge the battery in a reasonable time. You would need to make very long high speed runs to make that work. It would extend run time slightly however.

 

[jtexas]

Re: battery charging while camping???

been there, a few times...1st time we got a campsite with electric, but all those RV's, too much like a trailer park...we prefer tent city........so what I do now is silvertip's #3, take another battery. actually I just added a 2nd trolling battery, parallel connection...I can get 3+ good days fishing this way. I'm on it quite a bit, almost never anchor, but I do try to use the wind to my advantage whenever possible.

I remember seeing plans somewhere for a home-made generator built from old lawn mower/edger engine and an automotive alternator.

 

[drewpster]

Re: battery charging while camping???

Buy a couple of extra batteries and taking them along is probably the least expensive route to take. I have noticed however that the prices of small 1000 or 2000 watt gas generators have come down quiet a bit. A friend of mine used one at our camp this past season. We all were dreading the noise of that thing all night. But as it turns out its not all that bad when its run in the back of a truck facing away.

 

[sc_shane]

Re: battery charging while camping???

For a little more than the expense of a couple extra batteries, you can find a cheap generator. I would spend a few more bucks and buy one with a little more wattage output, but here's a cheap-o for $199 http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94678
These things will run a battery charger at 6 amps without a hitch. You'll need a bigger one if you want to charge faster than that. According to a google search, PepBoys has this 3500 Watt for $229 after $50 rebate http://www.shoplocal.com/default.as...oreid=2315037&adref=froogle&EntryPageOption=0

Hope that helps!

 

[andy1canada]

Re: battery charging while camping???

Hey New-Boater...

Ditto on Silvertips generator advise.

If you don't have one already, get yourself a good deep-cycle (Trojan etc.) battery and a small generator. ebay is a good place to start; I got an older 1000/watt Yamaha (really quiet - 59/decibles) for $600. Then get yourself one of them 'smart-chargers' that'll throw 25 to 45 (or more) amps at her durning the initial dump stage.

The only thing I would have done different is buy a generator with a higher output to handle a bigger charger. You must be careful to match your generators output with the chargers capacity. My little Yammy will barely push my 12/amp charger; consequently, I need to run the Genny for 3 to 4 hours a day to charger the battery back up. In some campgrounds you can ****-off a lot of people running one for that long.

That's why it'll also pay you to buy one that's quiet ( 59 to 60 dbl. seems about the best in the industry).

If you can afford it, get a 2000/watt Honda/Yamaha/Subaru etc.

Good Luck.
Terry

 

[newboater74]

Re: battery charging while camping???

Thanks guys. I actually do have a 1000w generator that I could use, I just never thought of using it to power my charger and recharging the battery that way. The bad thing is that it is kinda loud, but I usually camp way out in the sticks, away from most everyone, so noise shouldn't be an issue except for my buddies.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: battery charging while camping???

The generator's a great idea, and you can probably get by without running it all night if you have a good charger.

I'd avoid those cheapo generators, though. The Chinese-made engines on them are OK, until they aren't, and getting parts for them is almost impossible. Spend the extra bucks and get a Honda.

 

[newboater74]

Re: battery charging while camping???

Yep, mine's a Honda

 

[beerfilter]

Re: battery charging while camping???

Here's some cool links for those that don't own a Mr. Fusion:
http://wondermagnet.com/other/hydro.html
http://www.stewardwood.org/resources/DIYhydro.htm
http://www.qsl.net/ns8o/welcome.html
http://theepicenter.com/tow02077.html

The packrats and junk junkies should have some fun with these links!

FYI,Google will turn up massive amounts of info on alternative/homemade energy production.
HTH

 

[Silvertip]

Re: battery charging while camping???

What I've seen done to quiet small generators even more than the quiet ones is to build a wooden box that is insulated with lead foam (sort of like the vest they drape over you when the dentist is taking X-rays of your teeth). Each end of the box has a labrynth built in with a muffin fan at each end. One fan pushes air into the labrynth and other extracts its so the engine stays cool and the exhaust is extracted, but most of the noise stays trapped. The box does not need a bottom.

 

[Rancherlee]

Re: battery charging while camping???

actually running a car/truck isn't that bad of an option. Most V8 trucks only burn 1/2gallon or less an hour at idle while still providing at least 20 amps of charge. Deep cycle are suppose to be charged at 10amps or less each so charging them isn't that big of a deal, 6-7 buck for 4 hours of run time on the truck to charge 2-3 batteries at a time.

 

[wbeaton]

Re: battery charging while camping???

That box is a good idea, Silvertip. I'll file that one away for future use.