From Batteries on to a Charger????

[MJO21]

2013 z3
I am currently only running 2 Interstate batteries. Do I really need a third?


What Chargers do you recommend?

[Brianrzr]

I’ve only ever had two.

[sandm]

only charger I'd ever use is the promariner prosport 20. been in all 4 boats I have owned and never an issue.

our current boat only has 2. our last 3 boats had 3. we don't plan on any party cove use with this boat so never did the 3rd. the 2nd boat spent a TON of time at the sandbar and never had an issue with stereo run time nor batteries so I ASSUME the 3rd helped that.
if we were planning on sandbar trips regularly I'd add the 3rd deep cycle to our current boat as it's only 2 bills to do but since we won't be regulars and chill time won't be as frequent we're sticking with 2 on this boat.

[chpthril]

Ill put it this way. if you plan to spend a number of hours at anchor consuming amperage, more amp-hours is better then less. More Ah means the battery(s) will see a more shallow discharge cycle. This is better for the battery overall. So look at the Ah capacity of your current house bank, and how long you plan to draw X amperage. Then you get an idea of if you need more Ah or not. more Ah can come in the form of an additional battery or a larger battery.

Proper sized for the job charger. Too small and it works too hard to recharge a large and depleted bank.

[MJO21]

Ill put it this way. if you plan to spend a number of hours at anchor consuming amperage, more amp-hours is better then less. More Ah means the battery(s) will see a more shallow discharge cycle. This is better for the battery overall. So look at the Ah capacity of your current house bank, and how long you plan to draw X amperage. Then you get an idea of if you need more Ah or not. more Ah can come in the form of an additional battery or a larger battery.

Proper sized for the job charger. Too small and it works too hard to recharge a large and depleted bank.

I have been confused for clarification??? the HOUSE battery is the deep cell? I should only be using the Deep Cell when I am not running the engine?
or run both all the time? or???

[chpthril]

Your 2013 should have an OFF/ON/COMBINE switch, so it has a dedicated house bank and a dedicated starting bank. So ideally, you should have a deep cycle on the house side and cranking on the starting bank. So with the switch ON, you are using both banks, but they are isolated from each other's draws.

[MJO21]

Lots of options for the ProSport.
The 20 is 20amps....

Is the 20amp what I should get or is the 12amp sufficient??

Also????
ProSport HD
or
ProSport Global
or
ProSport Gen 3

[MJO21]

and, can I get a 3 bank if I only have 2 batteries...just in case I add a third battery later?

[sandm]

fwiw I have always used the prosport 20 2 bank. when we added a 3rd battery to the last 2 boats we piggybacked another deep cycle off the original deep cycle(replaced in a pair so they matched). a 2 bank will still charge 3 this way. iirc mine is the gen3 currently. picked it up off fleabay for right at 100bux brand new. we stayed away from the 12amp but can't remember why.

[okiepilgrim]

I recently put a NoCo Genius in mine and am perfectly happy with it so far. Seems extremely well made, good features, good warranty.
I don't see any reason you couldn't get the 3 bank if you think you might add a battery. In fact, if I knew that was a possibility, I definitely would. The banks are all separate/individual (in my experience) so, you can charge, 1, 2, or 3 at a time with a 3 bank. No issues I'm aware of with not having the 3rd bank hooked up.

[MJO21]

Does anyone have any pictures of where and how they mounted goes? The battery area of my Z3 seems kind of crowded.

[sandm]

attached to the door that opens up to the battery compartment in our last z3. stupidest location ever.
our old 22ve I mounted on the opposite side corner where the taps pump was. it was tight to get the cables to the batteries but worked.
r23(z3) has it mounted against the rear seat back in front of the engine. up out of the way but hard to get to. took a minute to mount.

[sandm]

Location of the charger.

[MJO21]

Location of the charger.

Is that mounted in the engine compartment? That is about the only place I can see to mount mine. It would have to be on one of the removable side panels???

[sandm]

it's mounted on the front wall behind the rear bench seat in front of the engine. my z3 was mounted on the door to the battery compartment. that was the stupidest place ever. if you pony up the costs for the extended leads you could mount it behind the panel in the rear locker on the drivers side. that's where I mounted it in my 22ve but it was a tight stretch to reach the batteries. don't think the z3 would have made it that far without extensions. the 22ve was close....