Have an onboard charger. Seems that it doesn't make it to trickle stage so fried my trolling batteries last week. Anyone have this problem or know of a fix without a new charger. Do you guys keep a charger connected all the time for trickle charging. What is the prefered model for a 2 battery system either on board or carry style.

I have seen some of the previus posts about batteries. Don't think I can afford the gel batteries so will have to get "normal" batteries. Does anyone have a recommendation for which are best or are they about the same. Do they come in maintenance free or do you have to add water to all.

Tried the basin yesterday mid-day. They weren't jumping in the boat. Caught some decent fish on Senko's and dark worms on the Miami Canal.

Any help would be appreciated.

I INSTALLED A 2 BANK 15 AMP ONBOARD SYSTEM MADE BY SCHUMACHER ELETRIC OUT OF CHICAGO.
WORKS PERFECT. I CHARGE THEM WHEN I GET BACK AND PLUG IT IN AGAIN IN THE EVENING OF THE DAY BEFORE I GO OUT. NO NEED TO KEEP THEM ON TRICKLE CHARGE.
I BOUGHT MY BATTERIES FROM WALMART..2 YEARS AND NO PROBLEMS.
I THINK I PAID $65 EACH FOR THE BATTERIES AND THE CHARGER SELLS FOR AROUND $170.

Buy the DelCo Voyager maintenence free batteries, keep them charged and they will last for about 3 years. Not too expensive!!!

If your charger never switched over to trickle mode, it could be 2 things.

1) If you have a pair of "sense lines", that is, very small gage wires running to each battery in addition to the heavier charging lines, then check to see that these wires are not cut or eroded. These lines are used to check or "sense" the charge state of your battery. If they are cut or somehow disconnected, the charger keeps pumping maximum current into the battery. That would be the good news.

2) The bad news: If your system does not have "sense lines" going to the battery, then it's very likely that the charger itself is bad. Especially if it fried 2 batteries!