help deciding between two chargers
 

I'm replacing (3) blue tops with (3) Deka 8A24M AGM's. 1 for start/crank and 2 for stereo/house bank. I'm replacing my battery charger as well. I've done quite a bit of reading, and believe I have it narrowed down to two models, but am looking for some advice on choosing between the two to make sure I'm correctly supporting the investment.

I've narrowed it down to the Dual Pro Professional PS2 (2x15A) and the ProSport 20 Gen2 (2x10A). From everything I've read I want to be somewhere between 10-15% of total bank amp hours per leg. The Deka's are 79Ah each, so call it 158 on the house bank. The Dual Pro is shy of the 10% mark by .8%. While the Pro Sport is even farther off the mark, their "Distributed On-Demand" technology claims to distribute the total 20A to the bank that needs it. I take that to mean that if my start batt is fully charged, my house bank is going to be getting what it needs to properly maintain it.

I don't use a switch, but I do use the SurePower 1314 inbetween banks to seperate them.

My modest setup nets out around 1500W RMS, but I will be replacing my Pro80's with Rev10's this spring and with the amp re-wire I'll be somewhere around 1750W (Syn4 and Syn6).

Really appreicate any advice you guys can lend me. Thanks!

For these applications I would look toward the new Minkota chargers. The trolling motor guys have it figured out.

When I re-did my stereo/battery bank setup last year I did a lot of research into chargers as well. Everyone I talked with (Earmark, Pro Mariner, etc.) said I needed a 3 bank charger since I was running 3 batteries. (1 - starting 2 - house) Even though the house batteries are wired parallel making them one big battery, the folks at Pro Mariner said a 3 bank charger would still see 3 separate batteries. Don't ask me how this is done, and they may have just been blowing smoke up my ass, but that was said by other manufactures as well.

I eneded up going with the Pro Mariner 20+ Gen 2 http://www.pmariner.com/productFeatu...oductNum=42021

I was told I really needed a 30 amp charger to handle the amp/hour loads I had, but costs were dramatic and I never drain my house bank so I went with 20 amps instead. So far I've had zero issues and been running just under a year with that setup.

Here is the 30 amp charger I was looking at.
http://www.pmariner.com/productFeatu...m=51030&page=0

Hope this helps!

Actually most of your higher end fishing boats come with Dual pro brand chargers. Lund, Ranger, Skeeter, Crestliner to name a few. The 15 amp per bank will work great. What I have always like about their product is they don't require any air space as they run cool, plus they offer a great customer/repair service.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Jason, you're only using (2) of the (3) available charging leads though right? Since your house bank is wired in parallel. If so, I fail to understand why the 2-bank ProSport Gen 2 (not the 3-bank plus model) wouldn't work exactly the same. What am I missing? They're both 20A. Maybe I'll give them a call, but it seems like a waste of money to get the 3-bank version when the housebank is only seen as a single 12V battery.

Dave, I was heavily leaning towards the Dual Pro PS2, but am getting caught up on the Pro Sports "distributed on demand" marketing flub. If their claims are true, then once the starting battery is full (which should be very quickly) I'd be getting all ~20A to the housebank with the Pro Sport. It's nice to know the Dual Pro runs cool and there are very limited mounting restrictions. I guess I'm splitting hairs at this point, but would sure like to make the right choice.

Talked with Pro Mariner about the whole 2-bank/3-bank thing. It's making more sense to me now. They're recommending 3-bank for efficiency sake on 3 total batteries, but it's still just 20A total divided among 3 batteries. Even with distributed on-demand, you're still only going to get <10A per battery on the house bank because part of the charger is going to be maintaining the starting battery.

I was always under the false impression that 3-bank+ chargers were intended for multi-engine/multi-house bank environments, but it appears this is not the case and that there's nothing wrong with utilizing all 3 charging leads even with the house batteries are in parallel.

Bait, I checked out the MK MK 445PC charger and it looks nice. Have to see if it will fit and find out if there are mounting restrictions. Not really any reviews that I can see due it being so new, but it looks like a contender. So now based on total Ah I've narrowed it down to the Dual Port PS3 3x15 and the MK 445PC 3x15. Guess I have some more reading to do and will likely make a couple more calls. $350-425 is more than I wanted to spend, but independent 3x15A (45A total) seems ideal now that I understand it a little better.