Battery charger suggestions

[mnfeo2]

Hey Im looking for a way to charge some marine batteries without having to carry a gas generator. Solar is not an option and wind is not reliable enough. I was thinking of a hand crank generator. Any thoughts?

BTW, it for a canoe with a trolling motor used as a back up and convence. Just want a way to recharge the batteries alittle at night while camping.

 

[General Automag]

Our solution to the same problem was to install a dual battery setup. When your camper, trailer, or trolling motor battery is drawn down to a level where it needs to be recharged, you swap out that battery with the backup or secondary battery under your hood.

You need to have a vehicle with a decent amperage alternator and a good dual battery setup controller so the depleted secondary battery will charge up properly and in a decent amount of time. (Your recharge will be faster with a high-amp alternator versus, for example, a 30-amp stock alternator in an older FJ40). We used the 275-amp dual battery kits from IronMan4x4 http://www.ironman4x4.com/html/motorised275amp.html. It's a great kit for the money because it includes enough 4AWG wire and most of the connectors you will need. When you calculate the cost of different options, this setup should be your cheapest route. As a plus, the motorized switch is made by BEP Marine, and it is high quality, and you get a nice two-battery LED indicator which shows the battery voltages up to 14.8V. In the end, you get the assurance of having a dual-battery setup which is great to have if you like to run your radio or other accessories when you're way off the beaten path.

I used marine-type battery terminals to make it easy to remove the battery cables. It takes about 5-10 minutes maximum to swap out both batteries and get them bolted back in. Let us know what you decide.

 

[dwh]

Humans don't put out much power. Here's a foot or hand cranked human powered generator:

http://www.windstreampower.com/Human_Power_Generator.php

Puts out between 3-5 amps. So you would be able to recharge a dead 30ah battery in oh...10-15 hours or so of cranking on the thing.

Maybe you could get two and do both hands and feet for a nice 8 hour full-body workout. Only $550 each.