onboard battery charger

[BCRider]

I suppose I'll have to look in to getting one for my boat. Never had an issue so far but I'm all for doing it properly. Thanks for the info guys!

[talltigeguy]

also, keep in mind hooking up a 1 amp charger to your group 31 cells is also NOT good enough. You want a charger with some power. I usually always go 10 amp per bank. Its able to recover batteries that are low on charge and also isn't too much either. I found that 10 amp on deep cycles and full size starting batteries is a great medium to keep them in working condition. A 1 amp charger will struggle getting a depleted battery re-charged. Could take days. 5 amp would be the lowest i would go.

I think having too much power is like too much money or too good looking.

I have not seen a charger available in many years that does not have continuous monitoring of the battery voltage and adjustments in the charging algorithm to avoid overcharging ('smart chargers'). All of the house and car fires helped to eliminate them. To put it in perspective, my last boat had a 90 amp alternator, and I think the lowest amp alternator I have seen is 50 amps in any modern wakeboat. So you are not going to hurt a battery with any onboard charger I have ever seen. Some will just be slower than others. Having more amps will help to recondition a weak battery by causing some of the sulfation to return to the liquid as well.

[JohnnieMo]

A couple comments.... I agree with everything said so far.

Winter also kills batteries. I run a tender on everything I own that doesn't get daily use. That includes the boat, the sports car, and I even have a solar smart charger from Noco on my diesel truck which sits a lot. It saves you hundreds in batteries and I've had batteries last ten years with a good tender.

Secondly i noticed the new Tige's are running 230A alternators now. That is crazy and likely the result of conversations just like this.

[chpthril]

A 230A alt is huge. Stock or standard? Im wondering if this was driven in part, by Supra's electrical issues with their 6 impeller pump ballast systems.

Even then, its still limited on its impact on a large Ah bank and how long the ride is after leaving the party spot after 8 hrs of chillin. I can still see a place for an on-board charger. Then, it still offers nothing for when the boat is off the lake.

Dont the on-board charger's rated amperage worry you. A 30A will not over charge a battery any more then a 3A. Faster is part of it, but also having enough bulk charge to "kick the battery in its @$$" and getting it going. Heavily depleted batteries can be stubborn to charge back up properly, with out a high level in the bulk stage. A low slow rate to start, and the battery may not get past the de-sulfate stage. Charger amps is like HP/torque in a tow rig, you cant really have to much.

[freeheel4life]

A 230A alt is huge. Stock or standard? Im wondering if this was driven in part, by Supra's electrical issues with their 6 impeller pump ballast systems.

^^This. Moomba is running dual fill reveresibles as well depending on model/options too. 95A couldnt cut it. At least thats my take on it. Year before they limited fill to only while running as well.

[talltigeguy]

Is a 230 Amp alternator so big that it actually requires extra fuel to turn it? Or does it do fine with a typical belt at a typical idle speed?

[chpthril]

It would be relevant to load, but yes, a larger alternator can eat more horse power, compared to a lesser output alt.

[JohnnieMo]

A 230A alt is huge. Stock or standard?

This is what it says in the brochure.

[KoolAid]

I believe it puts out 120amps at idle which is crazy. Standard on all engines except the 360. Also the fuel/water separator and the positive bus bar on top of the trans are standard on 400 and above.

[bobcat1973]

Is that for all Raptors?

[freeheel4life]

The fuel water separator is sweet! They included a test port for fuel pressure. Before you had to install a special adapter up under the cats on the stbd side. made doing a simple test a little bit of a chore. I posted it up a while back around here but you can order it as a kit and retro it onto older Raptors as well. If it was my boat I would be all about it. Without it you are relying on the mesh at the bottom of the fuel pump assembly. Ive never seen solid numbers but I would bet dollars to donuts the fuel water sep filter has a better micron rating than the screens at the pickup.

[GzeroX5]

Where are these things typically mounted? The user manual says as far away from the batteries as possible, but it also looks like 6' of DC cord.

[chpthril]

Directly over top of a wet cell battery can lead to corrosion over time, from the natural percolation of a charging battery. Close? not really an issue. Besides, you will be bound by the length of the charge leads. You will just plug up your AC extension cord to the chargers cable. I like to use an AC outlet socket mounted somewhere, so make a clean install. On a 22Ve, the storage bins on the transom is where I mount it. Connect the extension cord, close the lid, pull over cover.

[BCRider]

Well, I went out last week and bought the Noco Gen Mini 2 that JohnnieMo noted. Looks like I'll have to make a bit of an "L" bracket for it so I can mount it up off the floor in the back starboard locker of my VE. So far I'm thinking either side of the Taps motor. I don't have any room on the port side where the batteries are and the only other spot I have would be on the back wall of the rear bench in front of the motor.

^^Mike, my storage bins are forever filled with water. If I'm listed hard enough the corner of the boat is almost under water.lol. Not sure a bin would be a good spot for me.

[chpthril]

The bins should have a drain, so never pooled with water.

Rear wall of locker would be my next choice.