Can you hook up a 2 bank charger to only 1 battery? I currently have 1 battery in my small boat but plan to add another one in the future! Can I just tape off the 2nd set of leads that are supposed to go to the 2nd battery, for now? Don’t want to have to buy another charger when I do add the other battery!
Sure you can.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Thanks Cracker! I figured as much, but wanted some confirmation!
I think you just put both terminals on the same battery. Don’t tape them off. It will double the charging amps.
This could vary by the charger manufacturer. I have a Guest charger and If I remember, that’s what it said to do.
Mako 1901 Inshore-Honda 130
1975 13’ Boston Whaler
1977 23 Mako-project
10% of the people catch 90% of the fish.
This
quote:
Originally posted by SSFieroI think you just put both terminals on the same battery. Don’t tape them off. It will double the charging amps.
This could vary by the charger manufacturer. I have a Guest charger and If I remember, that’s what it said to do.
Mako 1901 Inshore-Honda 130
1975 13’ Boston Whaler
1977 23 Mako-project
10% of the people catch 90% of the fish.
I hate guessing with a man’s boat, or giving bad information, so I did some follow up. I just installed 2 - 2 bank Dual Pro chargers and have the installation manual in front of me. It doesn’t mention this situation so I call technical support and asked them.
The tech said that either way was fine, you could leave one set disconnected, or you could connect both leads to one battery. He said this would make it charge faster (at twice the current) but either way was perfectly acceptable.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Thanks Cracker! At this point I’m not wanting a super fast charge. I more want to maintain it. Think I’ll go with the 1 side!
I wouldn’t want the faster charge rate either, I’d just use 1 set of leads.
I work on a lot of different boats, spending other peoples money, and I’ve learned never to guess. Assumptions often lead to trouble. When in doubt, I call tech support and get the real answers 
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Thanks for that extra! I do appreciate it Cracker.
To add to this… If you have two deep cell batteries tied to each other on a parrell circuit, I suspect you would only hook one charging terminal to the two batteries? in theory the charger would power up both at the same time?
22pioneer
I have done that and it works! Had a cheap Walmart charger/maintainer on 2 Walmart batteries and they lasted for darned near 6 years. This time I want to do it right.