battery charger amps for two banks

[David Vaughn]

Nick - It's a NOCO Genius GenPro 10x4. Bought it back in May. Not sure how long they have been available. We have 3 100Ah LiFePo for our house bank and an AGM starter battery, so being able to charge them individually was the main reason we went with it.

Our solar/alternator charging is set up similar to what you have: 2x175w panels feeding a Renogy MPPT/DC-DC charger that charges the starter battery first, then switches to charge the house batteries. It controls charging from the alternator the same way. When all batteries are fully charged it shuts down for a while then wakes back up to see if anything needs charging.

 

[Loren Beach]

We have a multi-bank charger and while it is only a max of 10amp to any one battery, I haven't noticed a downside. Especially since it has individual profiles for each battery, so my LiFePo house batteries and AGM starter battery have the charge profile each needs. It has a profile for flooded lead acid as well.

Wow! I would like to have a charger that can charge different chemistries! You mention NoCo, but I have not heard of them.
Is there an impartial review of them posted on line?

 

[David Vaughn]

All the usual disclaimers apply: I have no financial or other interest..., don't believe (any/most/some) of what's on the internet, YMMV, etc.

There are reviews out there. Some very good, some so-so, some horrible. Impartial, I don't know. They seem to be popular in the fishing community, though.
I rolled the dice because it advertised separate charge profiles and also claimed to be waterproof. So far the one I bought has performed as advertised. The lithium profile charges to about 14.4 (tested with multimeter at the batteries and monitored with Victron SmartShunt) which is within Battleborn's charging specs.
But as I mentioned above, since solar is now installed the NOCO get very little use. Solar, and the occasional use of the engine, has kept us topped off since we left our home port over a month ago.

While I was looking for a charger, I ran across an ad for Minn-Kota. They have a new line of chargers with selectable banks as well. So there are some out there. Maybe it's a new thing?

 

[HerbertFriedman]

All the usual disclaimers apply: I have no financial or other interest..., don't believe (any/most/some) of what's on the internet, YMMV, etc.

There are reviews out there. Some very good, some so-so, some horrible. Impartial, I don't know. They seem to be popular in the fishing community, though.
I rolled the dice because it advertised separate charge profiles and also claimed to be waterproof. So far the one I bought has performed as advertised. The lithium profile charges to about 14.4 (tested with multimeter at the batteries and monitored with Victron SmartShunt) which is within Battleborn's charging specs.
But as I mentioned above, since solar is now installed the NOCO get very little use. Solar, and the occasional use of the engine, has kept us topped off since we left our home port over a month ago.

While I was looking for a charger, I ran across an ad for Minn-Kota. They have a new line of chargers with selectable banks as well. So there are some out there. Maybe it's a new thing?

sounds like there are several charger brands that advertise different battery types of each bank, my 10yr old Promariner certainly does not. I have an electronics guy at the boat yard who will look at the problem, he is a Victron guy,so I will see what he finds out.

 

[Kenneth K]

Ref: NOCO Genius GenPro 10x4.

Must be new technology. When Mainesail did his big write-up about chargers a few years ago, he repeatedly made the point that even "smart" chargers can only operate on a single charge profile at a time, across all banks. He went on to explain that this is what makes ACRs useful. I.E., there is very little difference between charging two (like-chemistry) banks in parallel (using an ACR), and charging them through separate outputs of a multi-bank charger, because:

1. The charger is providing the same profile to both banks anyway, and​

2. Due to the physics of batteries, electricity will flow easiest to the most-discharged bank anyway, even without "smart" effects from the charger.​

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I suppose that since Noco advertises this as a 4 X10A rather than a 40A, mulit-bank charger, they are stressing that it acts like four independent chargers. This could be great for people with different battery chemistries on board. It would be a drawback for others though, because, it limits the max charging of any bank to 10A. And, it would be a poor choice for anyone who regularly uses an ACR.

 

[David Vaughn]

No disagreement from me.
I knew the amp limitation going in, but also knew solar would be our primary charging source. So the trade-off of amps vs chemistry, and the ability to individually balance the house batteries periodically was worth it to us. Others have different needs and should build their systems for those needs.