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BR400.
I see you guys have the Lester Chargers for sale now!!!!!!!!!!!!!I didnt ever think about plugging it into the TM Plug. Question, My Starting battery is shared with the other two by my TM, will it hurt to hook the lester into the TM plug in this application.My on-board charges 12v/12v/12v.I was thinking of adding a battery anyway to stop the sharing but, Im just curious.
BCB suggests a manual timer model as it totally shuts off to eliminate over charging or cooking the batteries. They stock them in house and Lester offers mostly the auto style.
The Lester model carried by BCB is the best (its the timer). Ive used one the past two seasons with ZERO battery problems. Disconnect the troller, plug it in the same receptacle as the troller, set the timer to no more than 3 hours, and let em cook. Have never had to charge over 4 hours, even after spending a day on Erie in the big water. Even with low voltage in the campground. Could very well be the last charger youll buy. Bobby Lee or Scott can most likely hook a brother up.
In 15 + years of owning bass boats I have never had a battery issue with on board chargers unless I bought cheap batteries or had a charger fail. Vibration over years will cause a charger failure, and once I had a circuit board go bad (under warranty), most often with new chargers it is because they are not left plugged in and cannot re-coup fast enough on a quick charge which means you go fish with a half charged battery. Most new chargers sample the battery every so many hours and charge as needed…not wait till friday night and plug in for saturday morning the false readings the charger gets cannot overcome this problem. We have all heard about Garages burning down from leaving a charger plugged in but in reality this is less than a 1% chance. Plug em in set it and forget it and fish for 3-4 years from good quality batteries, like optima 31 classs.
I asked Rick from Cul-m-rite about leaving the charger on all the time. The only issue he had with it was that it would decrease the service life of the charger. He thought that if you have the boat where its conveniant to plug and unplug it, he would charge it up after use and then plug it back in for several hours before you use it. Unless you were not going to run the boat for a long time, then you should recharge the batteries and not let them go completely dead. Others have said, and I think its valid, they are worried about electrical surges frying out their systems so they dont leave it plugged in.. Maybe Im a gambler, but I dont worry about that too much.
Thank you all for the input, i will be in touch with Mountain Home in the am. Funny, I got the suggestion from a greenskeeper first and then heard it again from a fellow angler and now I find out BCB carries them so I must be on to something right. I found it funny that Optima group 31s would act this way and well, I learn something new everyday. Thanks again
I agree with john1112 and rick, service life of the charger may be an issue, but if you will think of it like your hot water heater.. when the water is hot the elements are not heating when it cools off the thermostat makes and the elements get hot until the correct “charge”/temp is achieved…same rocket science just applied to your $150-$200 batteries. I just like john1112, will continue to gamble due to my lack of problems and long battery service life.
Part of it could be those Optima batteries in the AGM Spiral cell technology. They claim lighter weight with better performance, though we never liked lighter batteries except Northstar and the previous Trolling Thunder series. BCB
I bought a $20 light timer and installed it in-between my on-board charger and electrical outlet. It comes on once a week (every Thursday night) from 7-11:00 pm. No more worries about charger service life, electrical surges, overcooking batteries, or fire.
fishmagnet, Thats a great idea, and I do that myself. But you should always charge your battery fully as soon as possible. Then, let the timer come on at your desired intervals. If you go fishing on the weekend, and wait until the next thursday to charge the batteries, you will not get the full potential out of your batteries. You may be doing that already, but just thought I would mention it just in case. KentKent Charles 2002 Pantera Classic & 200 Yamaha VMax
Good question. I was wondering the same thing since the page (http://www.basscatstore.c…sterbatterycharger.aspx) says, “Does not charge the cranking battery”. My guess is it doesnt if the cranking battery is separate from the TM batteries. But like yours, my cranking battery is in series for the 36v TM. Im looking forward to the answer on this one.
If you have a 36 volt set up and three batteries, then you are using your cranking battery and it will charge all three. Some have a 24 volt set up and three batteries, in which case no leads will run from the front to the rear and the cranking battery is not in the “series”. In that case a 12 volt charger or the on board would be required to charge the cranking battery. You will not need to use the Lester long at all. Tucker, Stone, Iaconelli, Short and others use the system for only about 3 to 5 hours, then they are good to go.
Thats some good info. Thanks BCB. I have a Lester 24volt charger, good to know that I could use it on my Cougar, if I need a quick charge. Its a heavy thing…but it does the job for certain!!
I really like my Lester charger. When I bought the boat from Kevin Short, he gave me a choice of the Lester or a brand new built inn charger. I asked him why doesnt he use the built in model. He said the Lester is way more efficient and will still charge in a low voltage situation….as in a string of outlets at a hotel or marina. I chose the Lester based upon his recommendation and it has been great. The drawback is having to take it from storage and plug it in but it charges all 3 trojan batteries in 3 hours.
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