misterxman Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Hello my Bass fishing friends. I have a couple questions about my Minn Cota on board battery charger I am hoping someone can help me with. I have a 1993 Bass Tracker if that helps out? 1. After reading the directions it states that...... Mount charger vertically, flush on a bulkhead in a protected area away from rain and spray. Do not mount the charger in a confined space because of the gasses. Where the heck can I mount it on a Bass boat? All confined spaces and the other areas are exposed to the rain and spray????? 2. The out put cords are six feet long make sure they reach the batteries, duh! (the boat is 17 foot with the cranking battery in the back and the trolling in the front basic math comes to 12 foot not including fishing the wires here and there!) Attempting to lenghten or shorten the output wires could damage the temp sensor and affect the charger. then below that it says....... If the leads are too short they should be brought to a terminal block and extended from the terminal block with 12 gauge wire Is there a easy way to do this? I hate messing with the electronic wires (bad experience as a kid I think?) I have no idea how to do this and I would like to know if anyone has any pointers? Thanks in advance for any help. Semper Fi Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Mount the sucker somewhere in the battery area that you can find a hole it will fit in. The mounting vertical is for convection cooling but the only place your probably going to find to mount it like that is the bulkhead inside the battery area thats toward the front of the boat. Usually there's livewells or gas tanks on the other side of that one so don't think you'll find an area to mount verticaly. Depending on the size, it's probably heavy enough if you don't mount it in a substantial way, it will tear itself loose over time. When you charge your batteries, use a stick to prop the compartment cover open so any gases and excess heat can exscape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mferris Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 i have a nitro 640 and mine was installed by the dealer...they put it in the battery compartment..between the 2 batteries..mine is also a minn kota ..as far as mounting it .it says in my instructions that as far as bass boats go mounting it vertical is not practical and mounting it horizontal will suffice...of course i sent mine back last week because it crapped out...1 1/2 yrs old... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mferris Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 i didn't realize your other battery was up front.seems that the easiest thing to do would be move your trolling motor battery to the back of the boat if you have room and lengthen the power leads to the trolling motor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterxman Posted September 13, 2005 Author Share Posted September 13, 2005 Thanks for your input guys however I am still confused. mferris said to move the trolling motor battery close to the other and lengthen the power leads to the trolling motor, that does not sound like the fix I would like to take? I have the battery in the front and in the back to even the weight out so I would guess I am going to make the charger leads longer. Do I still need to conect them to a termina block? and how do I do that? Please let me know if you have any help. Thanks Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Don, I think your boat would perform better if the battery was in the rear battery compartment. If Tracker designed it to be up front, I would leaver it there, they have already made compensations for weight distrabution and balance issues. If you put if up there thinking you helping yourself, probably all you're doing is making the boat ride with more of the bow in the water that it should have. THis increases steering torque and kills a lot off speed. If you were having problems with proposing that a lot of Trackers, it does help that but again the boat would probably run better with it in the back. As for connecting to the battery in the front. Use 10 guage fine stranded wire, crimp and solder terminals on both ends. Bolt on end to the charger cable, don't cut the cable off and try to splice more wire onto it. Tape those joints up good, with plenty of tape, connect the other end to your battery. As long as you use 10 guage wire, it's not going to bother a thing. If your charger is only a 5 - 7 amp per bank, you could use 12 guage wire but, I would use the 10 just for good measures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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