# Advice on Batteries/Onboard charger



## sjwano (Sep 13, 2018)

Purchased a 2008 Stratos 386xf two years ago and it’s been pretty maintenance free up until my last trip. Four batteries, two deep cycle in serial connected to a 24v trolling motor and two starter battery’s connected in parallel to the motor and electronics and lights. The onboard charger is a minn kota 330 3 bank charger 10 amp each, I believe it was an early model between 2008-2012. Got a bad connection light on one of the trolling motor batteries. Through a series of tests is looks like I have one bad bank on the charger and one bad deep cycle battery. The deep cycles where purchased in early 2021 and the starters in 2020. 

I’ve been thinking about upgrading the charger to a minn kota or noca 4 bank. It makes more sense to me to have one bank per battery. But I’m frankly confused that the prior owner used two starters in parallel as the starter and house battery. Ive read it would be better to have another deep cycle for lights and electronics and the motor on the starter. But maybe I’m missing something?

I’d also like a setup so that the big motor running can charge the other deep cycles when not in use.

Would you recommend changing the setup and simplifying by reserving the starter for the motor and getting s deep cycle for the house battery? Two starters in parallel I would think offer more capacity which is good but not sure it makes sense to have the electronics then connected to that?

thanks for any advice!


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## joekacz (Sep 11, 2013)

I changed all of my battery related doings to NOCO … 2 bank onboard…multi purpose charger in the garage…and a carry along portable jumper…the multi charger is a NOCO GENIUS 10 amp and it does 12v and 6v and the different types…have no complaints…also thought the pricing was reasonable …as for the hookups I would keep it as simple as possible in case you have any problems later and then trying to decipher everything…good luck


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## firemanmike2127 (Mar 17, 2013)

I'd definitely switch to separate cranking & house batteries. This will provide a clean/uninterrupted supply of current to your graphs. When purchasing your new charger I'd probably opt for a unit that is lithium capable if you think that's a future upgrade you might pursue. MinnKota or Blue Seas has a charge on the run option that are less costly than the Powerpole charge. Mike


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

firemanmike2127 said:


> I'd definitely switch to separate cranking & house batteries. This will provide a clean/uninterrupted supply of current to your graphs. When purchasing your new charger I'd probably opt for a unit that is lithium capable if you think that's a future upgrade you might pursue. MinnKota or Blue Seas has a charge on the run option that are less costly than the Powerpole charge. Mike


Agree with Mike.
Always liked both a dedicated mtr battery as well as a seperate dedicated house battery.


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## flounder (May 15, 2004)

If you are running AGM or lead acid this works well for charge on the run. I bought one in middle of the season and it kept the TM batteries topped off (2 lead acid batteries). 



https://minnkotamotors.johnsonoutdoors.com/battery-chargers/board-alternator


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## sjwano (Sep 13, 2018)

Thanks all. 

I went with the Min Kota Precision Charger MK-460 PCL 4 Bank x 15 AMP LI Optimized Charger. Found a good deal that was just a few bucks more than the 4 bank Noco. Plus 15 amp (vs 10) and support for Lithium in the future.

I have also upgraded the two trolling motor batteries to group 31 AGMs. Also a decent deal with 4 year replacement warranty from batteries plus. I like the idea of lithium but the price iand long term reliability were still questions for me. 

For now I am keeping the existing two group 24 starter batteries that were in use for starting and the house battery. I don’t think it’s ideal to use a starter type as the house but I’ve also never had a problem with it and both batteries appear in good condition and 19 months old. Being connected in parallel I assume is working to keep both charged with the big motor when in use. And I am still using the original electronics which are smaller screens and likely to draw less power thsn todays big screen mega And livescope electronics.

my instinct was to replace one starter with a dual starter/deep cycle and keep the current installation so I can benefit from the backup starter capability. But I’d like to see how things work before spending more to replace what-seems to be working.


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