Charging battery help

[Brian]

Not sure if this is the correct area.

Currently i run a 55Lb thrust minn kota bow mount. powered by 130 amp trogen batteries. I am looking at a generator to charge the battry after a days fishing or rigging a solar system on the bow to allow a trickle charge while out fishing.

I may even need both although i do carry a 2nd 130 trogen as back up. I currently have a 10 amp smart charger to charge the batteries.

Question. 1 How may amps does a 55lb draw per hour?
Question. 2 which generator should i be looking at or does anyone run solar at the moment.

Thanks Brian

[tonyp]

Brian,

Trojan are good batteries, 130 amp hr should last you plenty of hours unless you troll at 100 pecent or it is windy all bloody day,then you would not be on the water anyway.

1. 55lb draws about 34 amps at 100 pecent From memory
2.There are some good little generators out there at the moment but they may be dear. Forget the solar i reckon a good one would be very dear.

Your ten amp charger should be fine if it is a true 10 amps output. I have a 24 volt setup with twin 130 amp batteries and can last all weekend if needed on them. I have a GUEST 2620 10 amps per bank 3 stage automatic charger. They are great . I now am associated with them so will say that !

Brian but with the two batteries you should be fine for a weekend.

[aussiebasser]

The maximum draw of an RT55 AP is 45amps. Theoretically your 130AH battery will last for 130/45 or 2.888 hours at full speed. You'd need a fair spread of Solar Panels to keep up with that. With general fishing a 130AH will last all day, so with two you should be pretty right for a weekend

[Brian]

I generally only travel around on about half to a bit above half once on location. My fishing area is only about 30 mins full steam.

The amp usage is that with a maximizer ? as mine has one off them which i believe saves some battery. My battery charger is a genuine 10 amp 3 stage smart charger.

Its not so much a problem for a weekend its the extended stays thats the issue 4 - 5 days etc.

If its a generator i need i was going to look at honda as i believe they are rather quite when operating.

Brian

[aussiebasser]

G'day Brian,
I have heard the generator/chargers are not real kind to batteries. Then again you could run your normal charger off the gennie. Your Charger 10 sounds like the same as mine. They have about an 8amp max output which should take about 14 hours to charge a 130AH battery from dead flat. The Charger 10 is not an automatic charger, so don't leave it on for extended periods, it will boil the batteries.

[Richo1]

Hi Brian,
If you can afford a Honda Generator, it will run both, 2 fridges and your battery charger with no problems. A Honda is out of my budget at the moment so I bought a $168 GMC from Bunnings. It is only slightly loader than my mates Honda and ran the Fridge and Battery chargers beautifully, with roughly the same fuel consumption as the Honda. It came with a 2 year warranty. ( Just came back from a 2 week trip)

Cheers Richo

[NQCairns]

Richo1, I am looking for a small generator to get me through the cyclone season, you GMC sounds good. Can you tell me what size Fridges? or Freezers? you used. I would like to run a single fairly large upright freezer and the bar fridge? am I in with a shot useing the GMC? thanks nq
Sorry Brian for jumping on your thread.

[Richo1]

NQ Cairns, nice place to be, just got back from that way. The GMC is rated to 850w, we only ran 12v fridges(with 240/12v adapters) an Engel 60L? and an Autofridge 70L, plus a battery charger. All went well. Don't know how many 240V appliances it can handle.

[NQCairns]

Thanks Richo, I just checked the freezer and it pulls 1 amp full load, the 850 watts gives me 3.5 amps so I guess it will start and run and that is the most important appliance to keep going if we lose power for a few days. Thanks again for the info these choices make more sense when backed up with real life experiences like yours.nq
Just playing with the numbers and not real good at it, it seems you could double or even triple your camping load and the GMC would handle it. Not totally sure, 240v electrics confuse me somewhat. cheers

[Brian]

I got this charger because it stops when the battery is fully charged so it will not boil the battery. cause i know i would forget it and boil; the battery.