CTC flier this week

[rob v]

in this week's flier there's two things I"m somewhat interested in.

 

1) Nautilus "intelligent batter charger" - supposed to charge twice as fast - 15/10/2 amp - anybody have any experience with one of these units ?

 

 

 

2) All of the boats/motors I've owned in the past had pull starts (or electric start with a pull start on them also) but the boat I'm using now has a 115 hp motor on it that I wouldn't either know how to pull start or wouldn't be able to physically do it anyway. I get a bit worried about being out on the lake with a dead cranking battery. Do most of you with units like this carry a pair of booster cables (boost from the deep cycle or from someone you flag down) or would one of the units advertised this week at ctc be a better option to carry around ? For $29.99 - 300 crank assist amps - mobile power pack. I know the booster cables might be easier to store in the boat but this thing doesn't look too big either. Any thoughts / inputs from people with experience ?

 

Thanks for the input.

 

Rob V

Edited May 13, 2008 by Rob V

[huntervasili]

I have a similar nautilus charger and it works great, light and easy to use!

[Want]

I own a Nautilus 10/2 auto charger. Has worked just fine for the past 3 or so years.

[Guest lundboy]

Yes good unit, I've had one for about 4 years. It's made by Schumacher, one of the best chargers on the market:

 

http://store.schumachermart.com/ssc-1500a.html

 

Just be sure that you use a heavy gauge extension (if you need one) eg. 50'=12guage, 100'=10guage or you could fry the charger.

Edited May 13, 2008 by lundboy

[moose72]

CTC sells a Nautilus deep cycle power pack/booster with nav lights. It was on sale 2 weeks ago but is regularily priced at $160. Good investment if you are thinking of running a trolling motor.

[cranks bait]

I have that exact charger. Got it last year. It works great. Used at least once a week if not more. It does charge fairly fast. I do put the 2 on for a nice long slow charge once in a while though. My batteries have never failed me. Except when I got the boat and trusted the shop to say they were charged

 

Both of my batteries are at the back of the boat and easy to get to. If needed I could just unhook the motor from the one and attach it to the other, no boosters needed. Hopefully it will never come to that though.

[wallyboss]

I think that the motor if you take the cover off there should be a notch in the flywheel. Just amke sure you have a rope with a knot at the end and then you can turn the rope aroun and then crank. Not sure if all are like that but some are.

[rob v]

Thanks guys - is the charger in question an automatic unit, i.e. shuts itself off ?

[cranks bait]

It does not shut itself off. When the battery is charged it will run a load to stabalize it. It only shuts off if you unplug it.

[sfgibson1]

I actually bought the charger on the weekend - my battery showed it was only used 75% and charged the remaining 25% in under 3 hours. It does not shut off itself BUT it does stop overcharging so you can leave it on and attached to the battery for some time after it reaches 100% without any problems.

 

One question - I was reading the manual for it and it said you should connect a 2 ft peice of 6 Ga wire to the negative terminal and then conect the charger clamp to this - does anyone do this or does anyone know why you just can't connect the negative clamp directly to the battery?

[Golfisher]

Thanks for the heads-up! Just went out and grabbed the charger; sweet deal!

[Golfisher]

One question - I was reading the manual for it and it said you should connect a 2 ft peice of 6 Ga wire to the negative terminal and then conect the charger clamp to this - does anyone do this or does anyone know why you just can't connect the negative clamp directly to the battery?

 

Yeah, I'd also appreciate an answer to this question.

[wallyboss]

One question - I was reading the manual for it and it said you should connect a 2 ft peice of 6 Ga wire to the negative terminal and then conect the charger clamp to this - does anyone do this or does anyone know why you just can't connect the negative clamp directly to the battery?

 

I did like they said in the book, just because they said it in the book. I think it's so when you hook up the charger to it that it doesn't spark close to the battery. I might be out in left field on this one but!!!!!!

[Golfisher]

Thanks wallyboss for the answer. I wish they had disclosed it in the package, rather than hiding in the manual. Now I gotta to make another run to CT.

[wallyboss]

What I used was a 3 ft piece of booster cables with clamp on 1 end and the charger clip to the other end.

[mdej]

I have one of these chargers. Bought it 2 years ago. The charger seems to work fine however I have had an issue with mine.

 

It appears that the fan in mine is spinning out of control. It revs so fast it sounds like its taking off. I'm planning this year to open it up and replace the fan (or see if its possible anyway).

 

Other then that the charger seems to work fine. I don't know the time it takes I just let it do its thing. I used the deep cycle 10amp mode. The charge continues to apply a trickel charge once it thinks the battery is charged. Only thing I'm not sure about is how smart the sensors are... is my battery really 80% then charge to 100%. I put my faith in that it is doing what it suppose too.

[misfish]

Rob if I may suggest,why not have a spare 12 volt cranker. I did this,and it saved my bacon a couple of times.Not sure of your set up,but I had 2 fuel tacks at the back of the boat and the two deep cells and the crank. I was not to impressed about trying to boost my battery with gas fumes in the area.

 

JMO on this.

[Garry2Rs]

I carry jumper cables so that I can boost from the trolling motor batteries in an emergency.

I also run two cranking batteries wired together because the live wells etc all run off the cranking side.

If you have the room, that's what I would suggest.

My 120 OMC and my 150 Mercury both came with a rope inside the cowel, but Misfish is the only guy I know who is hardy enough to pull start those big suckers...HAHAHA.

Yes connecting to an extra lead attached to the negative side of the battery is a safety thing. A spark could ignite fumes around the battery.

I will also bet that very few people actually do it.

[misfish]

My 120 OMC and my 150 Mercury both came with a rope inside the cowel, but Misfish is the only guy I know who is hardy enough to pull start those big suckers...HAHAHA.

Dont remind me. But it was worth it, as I caught my first and second ever musky with you.

[rob v]

Thanks - I might just take your advise and get a second cranking battery. Perhaps put the new one on the motor and use the existing/old one as a spare - I'll just have to remember to keep it charged.

[Guest lundboy]

I have one of these chargers. Bought it 2 years ago. The charger seems to work fine however I have had an issue with mine.

 

It appears that the fan in mine is spinning out of control. It revs so fast it sounds like its taking off. I'm planning this year to open it up and replace the fan (or see if its possible anyway).

 

Other then that the charger seems to work fine. I don't know the time it takes I just let it do its thing. I used the deep cycle 10amp mode. The charge continues to apply a trickel charge once it thinks the battery is charged. Only thing I'm not sure about is how smart the sensors are... is my battery really 80% then charge to 100%. I put my faith in that it is doing what it suppose too.

 

Take it back to CT, it has a 5 year warranty. The fan speed is controlled by the circuit board inside. Ifthe circuit board is malfunctioning, one of the simptoms is the fan goes to fast.

[mdej]

Thanks for the heads up the fan being controlled by the board.

 

I did not know the warranty, I will have see if the he MRS can find the receipt, take it in and see what they say.

 

 

Thanks!

[pikehunter]

I and others on this board had the same charger from CT, well not this one but the intelligent charger, different colour case but made by the same company, looks the same with the same features. Many of us had problems with them and returned them to CT. I looked all over the house and garage for my receipt after there was a warning about these chargers on OFC and mine started to screw up. Then luckily I finally came across the receipt by accident back in March and got my $ back.

 

Mdej if you can't locate the receipt take it back for an exchange. Before I found my receipt the guy working at CT told me to bring it back regardless as yes it had a 5 year warranty and they haven't sold them for that long so the length of ownership period can be proven by that fact.

 

So a warning, KEEP YOUR RECEIPT! Tape it to the charger, tape it to the box, tape it to your forehead! Tape it somewhere where you can find it!

Edited May 14, 2008 by pikehunter

[big guy]

I have the same unit, it works great, no problems so far. I like the fact that you can charge at a high rate, but when it gets close to being charged it automatically lowers the amp rate.

 

It also very compact and light compared to most chargers.

 

Buy it.