Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

  • 0

On-board charger questions


Dahitman44

Question

MinnKota --

Do you guys like the Kota brand on-board charger? I got the Dual Pro from "Skeels" last year and it was a great one.

Now I have to get a new one because of the whole new-boat thing.

Which one do you guys use and why?

Some say to stay away from the 20 amp per cell trickle because it will kill your battery.

What are your thoughts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

I have had 2 Minkotas and they both did what they were supposed to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Great. Do you remember what rate the trickle was? Can you go too high and hurt your batteries?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I would say that 20 amps per battery is far more than you need. Just as running a battery down can lead to a shortened life span, charging too fast can be harmful as well (too much heat). For most people, a 6 amp per bank onboard smart charger is plenty. There have been only a couple of times in the last 4 years where my 6 amp per bank charger did not charge my batteries completely overnight (I’m running the group 31 Trojan’s).

A lot of us grew up with the old 10 or 20 amp chargers that we bought at Sears. These old technology chargers would taper off the current going into the battery as the battery voltage climbed. So at 14 volts or so, the charger might have been only putting out 2 or 3 amps. The smart chargers put out their full amperage all the way to a certain voltage, and then they go into the absorption stage before going to the trickle charge. I would have to check the charger specs but the trickle current is probably around one amp or less. In most cases the 6 amp smart charger is going to charge a battery faster and better than the old style 10 amp charger.

Hope this helps

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I think it does help.

The salesperson is trying to sell me the Minn Kota over the other brands. I did have good luck last year with the Other one.

Are they just trying to get me to buy the one that they make the most on or has the best spiff or is MinnKota that good?

Any thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

my $.02 ! i had a dual pro on my bass boat ( that i sold) and was very happy with it. when the charger goes out on my current ranger, it will be a dual pro going in it. grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I’ve been using the Cabela’s ProSport and have had no problems. I’m sure the Minn Kota is good but not worth more than anything else out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

That is my thought. It is hard to get out of something when you know it works and is good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

ditto on the cabelas prosport version.

i have the 3 battery charger model.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.