MINN KOTA ALTERNATOR CHARGER INSTALL---- HOW TO
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ค. 2020
- I installed a Minn Kota alternator charger on my open bow wakeboard boat. I wanted to be able to keep the batteries topped off while I am on the water for days even weeks at a time on camping trips and such.
This video covers straight from the mounting and hardware down to every connection including the remote wire.
Link to my complete install of a bow mount trolling motor on my open bow wakeboard boat!
• Trolling motor install...
#WakeNFish4Life #LakeLife - บันเทิง
absolutley great tutorial. cannot say how greatful I am. Thank you very much, dude!
was confused with the blue wire thanks for explaining
great video thanks
nice install
Thx for the video. I don’t have shore power at my dock. Do I need the onboard charger if I just want the alternator to charge the trolling motor batteries?
what is better battery charger precision or alternator from minn kota, do you need to have both chargers on your boat?
Great video! I learned a lot about the electrical connection. I am thinking of use the same set up, what model alternating charge you use? Is it good for Lifepo battery?
So you’re batteries are wired series for 24 volt trolling? 1)If they were 12v parallel do they both still need their own bank? 2) I also have one cranking and two trolling batteries; do I need a 3 bank since the cranking battery is charged by the motor anyways or can I just get a 2 bank?
You have a 60amp breaker for trolling do you have a breaker or fuse for amp in line, if so what amp
Like it! Good job. Just asking watt is the remote cable for? I buy my minn kota alternator and is a little confusing for my the function of the remote cable! Thanks!!
Does the Minn Kota on board charger have adaptor for 240 for use in australia
That is for mains power
Hey i just bought three bank one and how do i charge my batteries do i just hook one single bank up to starting battery and it transfers bolts to all three???
Thanks
I have a stratos boat with a 70hp evinrude. Will this work with my motor.
Great video. Is your the main battery a 12 v? It seems like your alternator that you installed converts it to a 24 v system.
How do you connect for 36 volt trolling motor
I watched this and the onboard charger install videos. Both are great! My questions are related to how the two devices work together. If you have the alternator, do you need the separate charger? Does the alternator charge the charger, as well as the batteries? Or, do you still need to plug the charger into AC after each trip? Thanks!!!
The on board charger is an AC powered smart charger that will not only charge any style of battery but it will maintain them if you have the ability to keep it plugged in. It has nothing to do with the alternator charger. Only works when plugged into AC.
The alternator charger will send a charge to your trolling batteries while you are under power(driving the boat around).
Note: it will only send a charge once your main battery has reached a certain level so it’s important to have a good main battery or ignition battery.
Hope this helps
Where did you buy that marine board?
Good video. Thanks for the info. How is the alternator treating you does it make a big difference after 8 hours or so on water?
Definitely makes a difference. Like I tell everyone don’t expect it to fully charge your batteries. If you run your boat a good amount like I do then you will see a good result. But if you don’t run around it’s not a huge difference. Also just a note. Make sure your starter battery is in good shape because it only sends charge to the trolling batteries after the starter battery is at a certain level. Hope this helped
Question... my engine battery is in the stern of the boat much like yours on the starboard side of the boat.. however the trolling batteries are on the port side. Was wondering if is possible to add extension wires to the alternator pack to be able to reach the other side of the boat? Assuming I use the correct size wire do you think the charger would perform the same?
Mine is the same configuration and yes I added extension wires I used 12 gauge
Excellent Video. Congratulations.
Thanks!
Very helpful video - particularly using the test light to locate the ignition circuit (on with key). Many install video would have just glossed over finding it after they had it spliced in with the amp circuit - great that you took the time to show us how to do it "the other way". Thanks for the report on how it worked... 10days fishing/camping no charge sounds good.
Quick question: I've wondered why you couldn't just install a three way (Perko style) marine battery switch and just manually flip charge to the trolling batteries? I'd read in Terrova manual that charging like that could damage the trolling motor - in that case you could just unplug the motor when you flipped the switch. I'm thinking it's just for convenience and for not worrying if your starter batt. isn't getting full charge first. Anyway, thoughts?
And, the hotwiring was cool... had to do that once in Baja with my dirtbike when the ignition wiring corroded away outside of La Paz, had a thousand miles to go with wires twisted together. Thanks again.
My trolling motor and ignition batteries are in the stern of my fishing boat, in hooking up the blue cable/remote wire I'm struggling with how I would connect that to the system since the fuse panel / ignition / all my other wiring is up by the steering wheel which is closer to the bow. Is it a matter then of running that blue wire up to the front? (boat is 19ft long - so possibly extending as well)
Yes extend the wire if you need to. Run it up front to your ignition circuit. Just make sure you use the same or slightly heavier gauge wire. Hope this helped
How has the alternator been working? How long do you have to run your boat to get a good charge on your trolling motor batteries? I'm thinking of getting one for my boat.
Its great for me because i go to a lot of different lakes that have a lot of shoreline so i tool around a lot. I dont see much help from it when i go to lakes like castaic. They are just too small. The best thing for me is that when i go camping at lake shasta or some other huge lake. I leave my boat in the water for 10 days plus and the amount of driving i do on lakes like that help keep it going the entire time im there and i fish a lot. Morning and evening fishing sessions every day.
I have questions regarding the purple/blue wire. It's supposed to tap into the ignition wire? When you connected the alternator to your cranking battery, does the engine automatically charges the alternator once its fully charged the cranking battery? Sorry, I'm a little confused with the purple/blue wire. Is it necessary to tap it to the ignition wire?
Yes
Are you using an "interstate" deep cycle battery for your starting battery? Your alternator feeds it directly.
Yes I have an interstate deep cycle as my starting battery it also powers my sound system. It’s probably 4 years old. Time for a replacement soon.
What would you do if you wanted to charge the green cranking battery while at the house or something? Just add one of them NOCO chargers or something similar or is there a way to do it w/that minn kota onboard charger?
You would need a separate charger or a 3-banks onboard charger. In my case, I added a small "tender" style battery charger to maintain my cranking battery that I plug along with my onboard trolling batteries charger at home. Note that the cranking battery will always be priority number one to charge/top up even when the alternator charger is added - the alternator charger will only start sending charge to the trolling/secondary batteries after the main cranking battery is fully charged.
Was wondering how well did it work thinking about getting one for my trolling motor batteries when I go to Canada since we go where there no power
I went to lake Shasta for 10 days and fished for about 6 hours per day and the batteries were on their last legs at the end of it. I never got the batteries back up to full charge. It just kept them alive. I wouldn’t expect it to charge your batteries fully. All of my batteries were new on that trip including my main starter battery. As long as your main starter battery is in good shape it works well. If not it won’t even send a charge to the trolling bats.
I was looking into some solar charger options for going off grid like you are talking about. Maybe check that out too.
That blue wiring going to the amp is not an ignition circuit. If you shut your audio system down, that blue wire looses power. That blue wire is to turn on the amp when your audio system turns on and comes from the back side of the radio.
How to know when MK 2 DC alternator is changing bank of Batteries?
There's an indicator light that shows it's charging.
Hi sir, I was wondering at 25:25, that purple wire (from the alternator) connects to your boat main power switch (+)?
Hi, the purple wire connects to the ignition circuit. So that when you turn the key on the charger will also turn on. So it’s not constantly draining power. I tapped into my stereo amps 12v feed from the ignition circuit because it was conveniently located. Hope this helps.
Hello friend i have Yamaha 150 hp 4 time , im instal the alternator Min kota and not charge , I measured the output current of the two banks and there is no current output, can you think of something that could be, could it be that the outboard motor does not give enough voltage? 14.3v current arrives at the minn kota alternator, it even turns on the lights, but it does not draw power, I already fixed the fuses and none of them are burned
Check the amperage that your alternator puts out. It may not be enough. Here is the amp output specs that your alternator needs to put out for the charger to work.
Mk-1-DC: 12 amps
MK-2-DC: 25 amps
MK-3-DC: 35 amps
These are the minimum input requirements from your alternator.
Also you mentioned you had lights come on but you didn’t mention the color. A green light should turn on when you turn on your ignition and a yellow light when the batteries are actually receiving a charge.
If you have any red lights. You have connected something wrong or reverse. But you said you didn’t blow any fuses so not sure if this is your problem.
Check the amps output on your model alternator
Hope this helps
what battery are you running your graphs/other electronics off of? is the green battery your house battery? I'm assuming you have a cranking battery - i thought the DC alternator charger is supposed to connect to cranking battery?
yes you are suppose to hook it up to your cranking battery as it is the battery that receives the charge from your engines alternator. The green battery is the cranking/stereo/accessory battery. I use a pelilife lithium block battery for my electronics so I am not drawing off of my ignition battery for now. I haven't really committed to the location of my electronics yet, as of right now i can move them around which is kinda cool but once I dial it in I will likely add a more permanent power solution for that. the pelilife battery by PSC is pricey but very lightweight and powerful. I also just happened to have a couple of them so I am just utilizing what I have. I had to put the proper connectors on the end of the electronics cables but not a big deal to adapt.
CAn you connnect the alternator directly to your battery? Thanks
@@wake-n-fish2545 Thanks!
hello very good, I can ask you what function that blue cable fulfills, sorry but I don't understand English, maybe you explained it but can you write it to me?
He starts explaining it at 25:25. Basically you need to find a wire that it powered only when the ignition switch is on and splice into that. He uses a test light on the back of the ignition switch to find out which ones are powered when the key is in the on position. I hope that helps.
wich bank went where or does it matter
Okay so I've been curious as to how these work. Your video solved most of that. I understand how it defers power from your cranking battery once it's charged, to your trolling motor battery Bank. But where does the onboard charger alternator get its power from to first put voltage into your cranking battery? That is what I cannot find an answer for it no matter how much I searched. In other words how does it charge while you're out on the water
Hi, the onboard charger does not charge the ignition battery.
On my boat the engine has an alternator that send voltage to the ignition battery. Once that battery reaches a certain voltage the minnkota charger senses that and and begins to pull current and distro it to the trolling batteries. That’s how it works. And that’s why it’s not a fast charger. It’s more of a trickle to keep things topped off. It won’t charge your bats from totally drained to full again. You have to be driving around. Hope that helped.
@@wake-n-fish2545 yeah I mean I knew it wouldn't charge them from a dead battery. But that answers the question thank you that was all I wanted to know was where does it get power to charge from. Thank you very much
Thank you for your Video. My question is. How to check if a DC Charger is Working when starter bank is Full? Any indicator or light?
Yes it has an indicator light.
@@chachi5975 thank you, but I never see the light on. Why? I connected a cable from start Batteries to Minn kota DC and the the 3 cables to the trolling Batteries.
@@PetClipdog did you connect the purple wire to a power source that is only on when the ignition switch is on as he described starting at 25:25? If so check and make sure it's a good connection.
Yes, I connected the purple wire. The Minn Kota 3D main green light is On when open the key but When is running the Yami 250/70 amp the 3D banks charging green light Not. Indicate the Alternator is Charging.
@@PetClipdog I talked to Minn Kota today and they said it needs at least 13.6v and 35amps for the 3 bank charger. So it prioritizes the starter battery and then will get powered when those conditions are met. I wonder if the battery they are connected to is old or not charging properly so you aren't getting enough power to meet the conditions it needs to power up. Perhaps Minn Kota can help troubleshooting. 1-800-227-6433. Good luck 🤞🎣😊
Are those 2 blue batteries deep cycle lithium battery that runs a Spot lock electric motor?
How does an alternator charger work? Does it charge your spot lock motor while boat engine is accelerating? What does your onboard charger do?
I'm asking because my spotlock battery only last half day and im trying to find a way to charge it longer while I'm out fishing.
Cheers bro ill give it a cracking!!! Appreciate your help! Greetings from Australia!!! 🤙
The four mounting holes on the unit are 5/16” so 1/4” bolts work nicely.
The LOW battery is the battery that has the negative go to the trolling motor the HIGH battery would be the one that the positive goes to the trolling motor
Hı l got the same charger , l want to ask where can l Connect the purple wire? I didnt Find it
Watch from 25:25, he explains it pretty well.
@@chachi5975 ok ıts done, successful connections now its working good
I have the same exact setup right now and considering the Alternator. The only confusing part was that you made a relay from bank 1 to 2 with your own wire? Did you just choose to do it that way since you want them to fully charge in a certain order? I was planning on simply connecting the kit without that.
Thanks again!
Gotcha.. I actually installed the same system today and I saw the jumper from 1 to 2. Quick Question: Does it matter which of 2 trolling motor batteries you connect to alternator bank 1 & 2? Would there be an issue if you connect bank 2 wiring from the alternator to bank 1 battery and so forth?
How'd it work?
Works awesome for me!! I go on long trips. Just got back from Havasu for 11 days. My bats lasted me the entire trip and I used my motor a lot. I do however drive my boat around a lot, wakeboarding tubing etc. so that helps me out