I have 2022 lund with a 24v trolling motor setup on a 3 bank charger. I was wondering if I could run the charger off a generator while the main engine was running? I am not sure what would happen if the on board charger and the engine were both charging the crank battery at the same time.
Somewhat related, but I have a DC Alternator Charger on my boat that charges the trolling motor batteries from the outboard. I have used the trolling motor and the outboard at the same time and no issues. The fuses should protect you I would think.
I have 2022 lund with a 24v trolling motor setup on a 3 bank charger. I was wondering if I could run the charger off a generator while the main engine was running? I am not sure what would happen if the on board charger and the engine were both charging the crank battery at the same time.
Why would you need to do this?
Why would you need to do this?
It is an odd scenario for sure.
The onboard charger might shut off since it notices more amperage going into the cranking battery than it’s putting in.
Interesting scenario. But here’s what I know, along with some questions.
What size motor, and what is your alternator rated at?
Lets talk in terms of a 70 amp alternator. At idle, it’s probably only putting out say 10 amps. At WOT, it’s putting out it’s full 70 amps. This depends on what type of alternator it is. I’ve heard of some alternators that will put out the full 70 amps all the time. But I don’t know what those are and how that works.
I wouldn’t run both. You could wind up putting too many amps into the battery, and ruin or blow up the battery. Add a quick connect to the onboard charger port that goes to the cranking battery. Then if you decide to run a generator on the boat while running the motor you can just disconnect the cranking battery easily and still charge the other 2 batteries.
You could also put a switch inline on the positive cable and flip it off to stop it from charging the cranking battery.
Hope that makes sense.
I am pretty sure my 150 Suzuki kicks out its max amps at idle or dang close but I know that is not typical.
Should be fine. Both the charger and alternator have charging controls that reduce voltage and amps.
You could pull the fuse from the starting battery line coming out of the charger so only the outboard is charging that battery.
Thanks for all the replies, I know it sounds like a odd situation so I will explain. I have to store the boat at a storage unit so I cannot plug it in to charge. I fish Flathead lake in Montana for lake trout so its a very large lake and I primarily vertical jig so I am on spot lock a lot. the storage unit is only a few minutes from he launch so if I run the generator between the storage unit and the launch it wont get much time. The run from the launch to various fishing spots in any where from 10-30 minutes so that is my best bet to get some charge on the trolling motor batteries. I looked into the charging systems that will run off the main engine but at least in 2021 when I bought the boat they were all a few years out on back order for what ever reason. I just figure getting a generator and running it when I can will keep the batteries mostly charged.
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