On board battery charger concerns

Walleye 9 · **Joined:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:05 pm **Posts:** 1985

I bought a Minn Kota MK 220PC charger a few months ago and it works perfect. I have not mounted it to my boat yet so I just lay it on the deck while charging, and disconnect when not in use. I did notice that the bottom of the charger gets EXTREMELY HOT after just a couple hours of use. The next time I charged my batteries I sat the charger on top of a milk crate to allow for 100% ventilation of the unit. Same thing, I could not even touch the bottom of the unit cause it was so hot.
My concern is that when I decide to mount the charger, there will be no ventilation at all to the bottom of the charger as it will be tight to surface (carpet, wood)
I'm worried about starting a fire, melting the carpet, damaging the unit etc.... Has anybody ever had any issues with their chargers in the past??

steve-hamilton · **Joined:** Fri Apr 25, 2003 7:40 am **Posts:** 1776

it "may" be that your batteries have an issue, and the charger is working harder than it should.....

Walleye 9 · **Joined:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:05 pm **Posts:** 1985

Both batteries are brand new. Bought the same day as the charger. I called Minn Kota and they had a lot of "I don't know" answers. They did say however if the charger was going to overheat there would be lights blinking and the unit would shutoff. I'm still concerned about leaving it unattended for any length of time though.

steve-hamilton · **Joined:** Fri Apr 25, 2003 7:40 am **Posts:** 1776

So I have a Genius 3 bank charger.

It doesn't heat up at all....

I would be concerned if I were you as well.

KHynes · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:53 pm

Hi

I put some extra spacers under my Minnkota to allow for more ventilation, seemed to do the trick. I had a Pro-Mariner that would heat up pretty good, probably the reason it only lasted one year!

Walleye 9 · **Joined:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:05 pm **Posts:** 1985

Well, I decided to go back to Sail Oshawa where I bought it to see what they would say. They could not do an exchange because it had been past the 30 or 60 day return policy. However they said they would call Minn Kota and see what they could do. Minn Kota told Sail to give me a new charger and the 2 of them would deal with the issue. Hats off to Sail and Minn Kota for some great customer service. I'm curious to see if this charger is going to do the same thing.

D-wayne · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2016 4:33 pm

Great to hear that they took care of you properly.
A Note for Later
Under no sircomstances should any piece of electronics become too hot to touch. If it becomes more than you can comfortably handle there is a serious problem and the insulation coating is melting which results in a catastrophic failure of one type or another.
This would be why the MinnKota rep was eager to get the component replaced. Just imagine if it was in the bilge near a fuel line.
Once again glad to hear that you were taken care of by MinnKota.

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On board battery charger concerns

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