Need to charge deep cycle in truck and boat.

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I have a deep cycle battery in my truck shell. I charge it using a Noco Genius charger. As I am possibly going be spending more time away from home I am looking at alternative ways to keep this battery topped off on the road.

• Could I pull power from my truck via 12v cigarette adapter, though my rear window?
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• Could i do the same from this car battery to my boat's battery to level the two batteries?

Here is the charger i own.
https://no.co/g7200
Here is the accessories to make it easy to cross connect to multiple battery systems.
https://no.co/products/accessories/x-connect

 

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So I think I got this figured. Using NOCO attachments I have a male cigarette plug. to a 10' extension, to a male-to-male attachment. I then plugged this into the lugs on my battery made to attach my NOCO battery charger. This last attachment remains full time on my battery for charging. This setup allows me to move this charger from battery to battery.

I plug the cigarette lighter plug in the truck run it through the back window, and plug it into the battery. When the truck is running the deep cycle battery in the truck cab is getting 13.9V. When done driving around today my battery was showing 12.6v. THis is a nice easy way to charge the deep cycle battery when on the road.

 

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3 part set.

12V plug
10' extension
male to male

It is 16 gauge, and can handle 14 amps.

 

[67cj5]

I have 3 of their Chargers, I have the G3500 and the G15000 and also the G26000,

If you are trying to charge that battery on the go you would be better off with a Normal 12 to 15 Amp Charger,

 

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I have 3 of their Chargers, I have the G3500 and the G15000 and also the G26000,

If you are trying to charge that battery on the go you would be better off with a Normal 12 to 15 Amp Charger,

Is there a model of charger you suggest? I was considering investing in a big 40A marine charger for both my truck and boat but the dimensions on it make it too cumbersome as something I would want to carry back and forth. I am considering installing a battery to battery charger and bringing a cable back from my truck battery to my truck bed and installing one of these.

http://www.promariner.com/en/~/media/inriver/353126-36036.pdf

My power drain is not much and I tend to spend a lot of time on the road. So figure anything that will charge off my truck when it is running will stay well topped off.

 

[67cj5]

Is there a model of charger you suggest? I was considering investing in a big 40A marine charger for both my truck and boat but the dimensions on it make it too cumbersome as something I would want to carry back and forth. I am considering installing a battery to battery charger and bringing a cable back from my truck battery to my truck bed and installing one of these.

http://www.promariner.com/en/~/media/inriver/353126-36036.pdf

My power drain is not much and I tend to spend a lot of time on the road. So figure anything that will charge off my truck when it is running will stay well topped off.

Well again I have tried to put back the power in to a 115Ah battery that I used over 2 or 3 days using about 26 Amps from the battery and I used the Noco G15000 and it took over 8 and a half hours for the green light to stop pulsing and then it went in to it's equalizing mode where it keeps clicking until it has finished charging the battery, That took 31 hours from the moment I put it on charge until the moment it shut off and it chewed up 899 watts, I then repeated the test again using my normal wheeled workshop charger set on the Lowest "9 Amp" setting and it took 3 hours 37 minutes,

I realize this brand might not be in the US but there must be a Clone copy of them or some thing like it over there, I have their wheeled version which puts out 35Ah on High and 310 Amps for Boost/Jump Starting, I bought it back around 2000 +/- and it works like a charm, If I need to charge a Battery right this minute this is the best one for the Job, These three Noco's I will use them for when I need to leave a battery permanently on charge, because they are truly not much use for anything else, I am giving the Noco G15000 "15 Amp" one away to my brother because I just can't find a use for them because we tend to only charge a battery when we need it done Like Now and these Noco Chargers are just a total flop and I hope others Avoid all their Sales BS,

You don't need to spend big bucks on a fancy all singing Charger, Something like these two below will give you power you need when you need it and my wheeled version on the low setting that I use to charge these 115Ah batteries only uses about 270 to 380 watts sometimes up to about 460w where as that 15 Amp Noco will eat up to 1100w or more to charge the same battery.

This is the one I would go for if the battery is under 150A/h

Clarke BC125 Battery Starter/Charger - Machine Mart

www.machinemart.co.uk

If you want something up around the 40 Amp mark then this will do the job But that would most likely kill the battery unless the battery is a 400Ah Monster but on it's low setting it will do a 110/115Ah battery in about 3 to 4 hours Max,

Clarke BC190 Battery Starter/Charger - Machine Mart

www.machinemart.co.uk

hope that helps,

 

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This is the one I would go for if the battery is under 150A/h

Clarke BC125 Battery Starter/Charger - Machine Mart

www.machinemart.co.uk

I got something like that on a shelf somewhere. It is too bulky to carry with me on the road, and when I am at home I can wait for my slow Noco charger to get the job done. Is there any bulk charger that is streamlined?

 

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I guess I'm confused. @Photobug - Are you looking for a DC-DC charger (on the road), or an AC-DC charger (at home)?

Do you know how many amp-hours you're removing from the boat battery while away from home, and roughly how much time you'll have to charge it while driving? I'm not well-versed in this, but I know that you'll need to determine those parameters to figure out what kind of charger output you'll need to recharge your boat battery. Your NOCO G7200 only puts out 7.2A, so it may take a long time to get the job done.

If your intent is to recharge some while driving between water, but your battery's capacity allows you to get by until returning home for a long AC-DC charging session, you may be in good shape. On the other hand, if you expect the NOCO G7200 to provide a significant charge in a short time after heavy use of your boat's battery, it probably won't be up to the task.

 

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I guess I'm confused. @Photobug - Are you looking for a DC-DC charger (on the road), or an AC-DC charger (at home)?

When I wrote this I was just looking for a way to charge both my boat and truck from my truck battery. My goals have since changed.

I plan on adding solar to both vehicles. and a DC-DC charger to my truck. If it all works out I will build a portable case with an MPPT charger and a DC-DC charger to control both. Not sure how the DC-DC charger will help with charging on the boat, my only power source on the boat now is a small output from my outboard with maybe 6amp alternator.

These are the two units I am thinking of buying to make my portable battery controller.

http://www.promariner.com/en/~/media/inriver/354427-37034.pdf
https://www.google.com/search?ei=8a...2......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.PbiEJHwdoUA

 

[67cj5]

I got something like that on a shelf somewhere. It is too bulky to carry with me on the road, and when I am at home I can wait for my slow Noco charger to get the job done. Is there any bulk charger that is streamlined?

Well you can get more compact versions of them which might do the job,

I see in your next post you talk about charging the battery on the Boat ?? but thinking about it depending on the size of the Boat and the power Draw / watts used per hour you could add a 30 to 60w solar panel to the boat so it would always be charging even when it is at home, and while you are going down the road as well as while you are at Anchor, If you can fit more panels then the more the merrier.

 

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It's a small boat with limited power needs right now it lives on a trailer and is planned for racing on the weekends where it will be in a slip then back on the trailer for storage. I would like to develop the boat's capacity to be able to spend time cruising and at anchor.

 

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Depending on the size of the Boat and the power Draw / watts used per hour you could add a 30 to 60w solar panel to the boat so it would always be charging even when it is at home, and while you are going down the road as well as while you are at Anchor, If you can fit more panels then the more the merrier.

The boat came with a single solar panel and I believe it has a controller on the back of it, likely PWM. There is no place to store the panel on the boat. I will likely just plug in the cockpit and let it charge the batteries while away.

What I am considering is adding a panel on my boat and one on my truck. Have a 3rd panel likely a flexible one. That travels with me and goes from truck to boat to add the power as needed.

 

[67cj5]

The boat came with a single solar panel and I believe it has a controller on the back of it, likely PWM. There is no place to store the panel on the boat. I will likely just plug in the cockpit and let it charge the batteries while away.

What I am considering is adding a panel on my boat and one on my truck. Have a 3rd panel likely a flexible one. That travels with me and goes from truck to boat to add the power as needed.

Yeah I would be adding a 120/140w flexible panel to the Cabin roof, A 140w will give you up to 98Ah per day on sunny days, that's more than enough for most off grid RV's, I have a 100w mono Panel and it will easily run my 50QT and 80QT fridges with power to spare,

A Single 335w would be nice but A couple of 120/140.s are in my future LOL, because all my gear is low wattage, I just bought a small TV and it uses between 6.6 to 7.2 watts per hour where as my other small TV was chewing about 30w per hour and my big TV chews between 85 to about 120w per hour, I have spent a bit of time trying to find and replace Items around the home that I can fit in a camper and not have to have a huge power supply to run them, So far I have got my daily power usage down to between 200w to about 900w Max,

But without going too far off track there is some good gear out there that you can kit out your boat with and seeing as it is a Sailboat you could even add a 300 or 500w wind Turbine and that would make you power 24/7, with a solar panel and a wind turbine you would never have to charge a battery ever again That's what I will be buying next.

But going back to battery charger, I use the big 35Ah one because it consumes the least power and charges faster than the two smart chargers, So I worked out that if I was to use a small generator to power the battery charger I could fully charge the batteries on about 2 litres of Gas/petrol which is half a US Gallon. Getting the power back in to the batteries is easy enough but it is not a solution and the better way to go is to add panels and such that will cover all your needs so you don't have to worry about charging batteries and seeing as this is a good size Sailboat and they are normally used on windy sunny days tells me that a good size solar panel and a small 300w wind turbine is the ultimate setup for your needs. Just about every Yacht/Sailboat I have seen has the same setup so those folks must know something about it.

hope that helps.

 

[67cj5]

Alot of folks do know something... Ask around at the Marina about a used one. You may find people happily sell you theirs.
Firstly, those turbines work. No complaints there.
But unless you are deaf, miserable things to be around. Its blades get to screaming and its constantly changing pitch and volume.
To produce useful energy, wind has to blow pretty hard. What can work whilst underway, and can be boosted if placed gain extra air spilled from the sails. But if moored with suitable wind, its a miserable place to park a boat.
Also, dangerous. Those blades get screaming fast. Unless you have a large boat, mounting it to stay clear of riggings and yourself can be a hassle too.
My sailboat buddy happily gave me his with full disclosure of its misery. I put it up at an offgrid cabin. let it run only when I am gone to keep batteries charged. Its switched off when I am there.

I'd love to get one of them 500w versions but they are about 4 feet across and just too big for my needs, Dreams are free so I will get the 300w and just look at the pictures of the 500, It's cheaper that way. Lol.

 

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But unless you are deaf, miserable things to be around. Its blades get to screaming and its constantly changing pitch and volume.

I have heard that. I am a light sleeper, will likely never have a wind turbine.

This boat is mostly about racing, but might be used for short cruises in the future. All it will need to charge is a few LEDs lights worth of energy. I can't imagine needing more than a few solar panels.