Dealer Suggests Adding On Board Battery Charger

L

Lidokey

New Member
Apr 14, 2013
82
Florida
Boat Info
260 Sundeck, 2012
Engines
5.0L Bravo III
About six months ago, we bought a 2012 Searay 260 Sundeck with double battery option. We're seasonal south florida people, sometimes go up to 2 months without being down there. Boat is kept on a lift. My dealer is suggesting they install an on board battery charger. I note that was a factory option so it must be fairly popular. Haven't talked price yet so can't supply that. My boat is 6 months old and I haven't had an issue with dead batteries yet, but I know that will happen as it gets older. So, looking for pros/cons vs simply plugging in an extension cord to recharge the batteries vs buying a portable charger and setting it up when needed. Any thoughts, advice? No doubt a portable charger will be significantly cheaper so I suppose I'm asking more about the positives of having it installed on board. I'm confident the negative will be price/cost.
 
I think the biggest difference is that the on-board charger keeps your batteries charged, which is MUCH less stressful than having to do a "rescue" charge using a portable. Repeatedly letting them run down and then having to do a big charge will shorten the life of the batteries a lot. Think about the cost of replacing the batteries every 2 years vs every 5 years when figuring the "cost" of the charger options.

Those aren't hard and fast numbers, but you will be replacing them more often if you let them run down a lot.
 
If you will be gone for six months I would remove the batteries and put them on a trickle charger.
 
Get a price on them for th on board charger. If your handy price it doing it yourself.

Those of us in a slip, generally pay for the privilege of having power connected and charged batteries all the time.

My last trailer boat, I set up a C-tek charger in the garage with wires (12v) run out to where the boat was parked. The twin batteries were on charge the whole time it sat there.

I put new batteries in it when I purchased the boat. The same batteries were in it when I sold it after 6 years. I never missed a trip through flat batteries.


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We have an onboard charger and it has been great for extending battery life in our three battery system.
It is powered through our shore power with automatic staged charging and trickle charge.
Plug it in and walk away. No charger or cables laying around or needing to be hooked up.
I have done both and definitely prefer the onboard charging system.
In your case, if you do not have a shore power hook-up in the boat, I'm sure you could wire in a receptacle somewhere for an extension cord to power the charger while in dry storage.
 
Thanks to everyone for your quick responses. I listened and I'm having the dealer install the unit next week. spfortjohn had a good suggestion regarding the Battery Tender. I have one and use it on the car I keep at the house in Florida. Works great. With the boat, I think I'll opt for the convenience of simply unplugging the extension cord from the hull. My wife and adult children go down without me from time to time and the simpler I can keep it the better.
 
+1 for a onboard charger. A tender is fine if your batteries are charged however I have no idea how long it would take them to actually charge a dead battery. Another plus for onboard charger is that they will typically tell you when your battery is dead and no-longer holding a charge.

If you can drill 4 holes and undo terminal nuts, you can install the charger. It took me about 20 min's to install my (2) bank charger. Just drill 4 holes and mount it, then undo the terminal nuts on your batteries and put the corresponding wire from the charger to it (re-securing the nuts). It's that simple. Mine has red + wire for bank #1, yellow + wire for bank #2, then two black wires for ground. In total, my pro-mariner was under $200
 
Lidokey said:
About six months ago, we bought a 2012 Searay 260 Sundeck with double battery option. We're seasonal south florida people, sometimes go up to 2 months without being down there. Boat is kept on a lift. My dealer is suggesting they install an on board battery charger. I note that was a factory option so it must be fairly popular. Haven't talked price yet so can't supply that. My boat is 6 months old and I haven't had an issue with dead batteries yet, but I know that will happen as it gets older. So, looking for pros/cons vs simply plugging in an extension cord to recharge the batteries vs buying a portable charger and setting it up when needed. Any thoughts, advice? No doubt a portable charger will be significantly cheaper so I suppose I'm asking more about the positives of having it installed on board. I'm confident the negative will be price/cost.
Click to expand...

i installed a Pro mariner 8 amp dual bank charger to keep both batteries charged full time.....the charger is connected to the shore power box....the pic below shows how i use a drop cord and an adpater cable to hook the shore power box up to normal 110VAC.....

cliff

View attachment 31398

pmr42008.jpg
 
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