Question on Charging batteries with Dual Battery and Voltage Sensing Relay

[04OUTBACK]

only had a one battery setup in past.. new boat has the VSR with perko and Dual batteries.

How do I run a charger on these... say for winter trickle?
Open perko to both and charge one, or should I alternate charging batteries?
Any concerns or issues?
Thanks
BW

[rsinger]

I'm in a similar situation. Got 2 batteries, 1 from camper, 1 from boat. I'm going to wire them in parallel. Put a trickle charger on them. Hook the trickle charger to a timer. I just haven't figured out what to set the timer to. My son is an electrical engineer in training. Going to ask him to do the math. Problem is we don't see eye to eye, so I'll probably wing it and on 12 off 12.

Or there is the internet.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/batterychgcalc.html

[you da man]

usually with a perko the perko is in the "off" position when charging

[kaneboats]

Uh, just me but I think you need to fully charge both batteries first. Then you can put the trickle charger on and charge "both", right?

[zabooda]

You can "maintain" both batteries at once with the trickle charger but once the charger is removed then you need to isolate the batteries again. The key is the trickle charger is low amperage so the batteries should have a good charge to start with especially combining batteries together before the trickle charge is applied. Unless you need the charger for another application, I would recommend leaving it connected up and running the whole time. If you remove the charging source then there is a possibility that a weak or bad battery will act as a load more than a battery and drain your other battery down

[bergermaister]

I just watched Harbor Freight for deals - bought two trickle chargers, one for each battery. $20 total. Turn the switch off, charge them independently. No problems and my batteries are both old...

[cab13367]

only had a one battery setup in past.. new boat has the VSR with perko and Dual batteries.

How do I run a charger on these... say for winter trickle?
Open perko to both and charge one, or should I alternate charging batteries?
Any concerns or issues?

Thanks
BW

Brad,

If you have a vsr, you should be able to connect the trickle charger to one battery and when the vsr senses the current from the charger, it will combine the two batteries so they will both get charged.

[DOCDRS]

where are you storing your boat? is it a warm location? if not why not just pull the batts and keep them toasty warm in your basement and throw the maintainer on them once a month. just curious

[04OUTBACK]

Doc. It's in garage for now. Not a bad idea. But first I was curious about charging in boat. It was a bit weak when I got the speakers wired up the amps wouldn't come on.

If I keep in garage all winter ( my hope) I would rather be able to sit in boat and jam some.

[jmvotto]

Brad, i did what Al said just charge one battery and leave the vsr set to one or two.

which vsr do you have the Bep or the blue seas?