Long story short, my dealer is adding a 5th house battery to my boat which is equipped with a 36V Ulterra, a 300HP V8 Verado, and a 15HP EFI Kicker. I have an MK460 Minn Kota digital on board charger, which puts out 15 amps on each of 4 banks.
What is the best way to charge the 5th battery:
1. Split one bank of the MK 460 so 7.5 amps is used to charge the starting battery and 7.5 amps is used to charge the house battery?
- This seems like the easiest way to keep both batteries charged, and 7.5 amps per bank is not too shabby. But what’s the right way to wire things to do this?
2. Add a second single bank on board charger and connect it to the back side of the existing charging plug so I still only have to run one cord to the boat to charge everything?
-More expensive and complicated, but will result in quicker charge times.
Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.