onboard chargers?

[Pudd]

need some info. on a charger and some recommended brands. I have one 12v crank battery, one 12v bait tank battery, two 12v trolling batteries(24v), I'd like an onboard charger that will charge all of these at once with the outboard motor or to plug it into an outlet to charge.

[Texan_Til_I_Die]

I think you'll need 2 or more different devices if you want to charge from both the AC outlet and from your outboard's alternator.

Any 4 bank onboard charger will work to charge all 4 batteries from an AC source. I've used Dual Pro, Minn Kota and Bass Pro Shop brands and all worked great. Check the output current (usually somewhere around 5 to 10 amperes per bank). The higher the current, the faster it will recharge. If you don't need a quick recharge, go with the lower 5 ampere charger and save some money.

To charge batteries other than the cranking battery from the outboard's alternator, you'll need a battery isolator (Bass Pro Shop has one they call a "Phase Charger"). It sends current to other batteries from the alternator after the cranking battery is fully charged. The catch is that it's only designed to work with one additional battery, besides the cranking battery. I've never seen anyone try to set up multiples off of an isolator. Electrically, it's feasible as long as all of the batteries on the output side of the isolator are in parallel. The only question is whether or not there would be enough output from the alternator to have any meaningful effect on the 3 additional batteries???

[Pudd]

thanks for the info. I'll still need to do some more checking into on these, might not use the charger for the bait tank after all