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Battery Charger


wakesetterDD

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Can I connect a battery charger (plugged into the wall in the garage) while my batteries are still connected to all the engine/control wires in the boat?  Or do I have to remove the terminals?  Anyone know?

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Been plugging mine into my Pro Sport 12 charger for years, year round with no issues. Matter of fact, my original 2010 batteries went with the boat when I sold it in January of this year.

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24 minutes ago, wakesetterDD said:

Can I connect a battery charger (plugged into the wall in the garage) while my batteries are still connected to all the engine/control wires in the boat?  Or do I have to remove the terminals?  Anyone know?

Yes.  Just make sure that if you have multiple batteries that are charged off separate leads that your 1/2/both switch is not in both.  The smart charger won't be able to correctly figure out the state of each battery/charge circuit.

If you have an ACR I don't know what the heck you are supposed to do ;)

Edited by oldjeep
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ahopkins22LSV
12 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Yes.  Just make sure that if you have multiple batteries that are charged off separate leads that your 1/2/both switch is not in both.  The smart charger won't be able to correctly figure out the state of each battery/charge circuit.

If you have an ACR I don't know what the heck you are supposed to do ;)

Best to have the switch off right? Charge one battery then charge the other?

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5 minutes ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Best to have the switch off right? Charge one battery then charge the other?

If you don't have a prewired 2 or 3 bank charger, then I would switch it off before you hook them up to be safe.

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ahopkins22LSV
6 minutes ago, wdr said:

If you don't have a prewired 2 or 3 bank charger, then I would switch it off before you hook them up to be safe.

Nope, just a single battery charger. I’m kicking myself on not getting the onboard charger from the factory.

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49 minutes ago, wakesetterDD said:

while my batteries are still connected to all the engine/control wires in the boat?

This really depends on the charger's potential output. Some chargers can put out a some pretty high voltage. Event then, I would suggest turning the main battery switch to off, if there is one. If in doubt, yes, disconnect the ground cables from the battery(s) 

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1 hour ago, oldjeep said:

If you have an ACR I don't know what the heck you are supposed to do ;)

Nothing.  That's the beauty of the ACR.  You don't have to make any decisions or switch any switches or wires.  In the midst of a fun (or stressful) day of various activities on the boat it is nice to know the chargers/batteries are managed by a machine - not by me and my human logic/memories.  I have enough to think about.  My dual battery (stereo/starter) setup with ACR has been 100% reliable for 5 years - with all original parts (no battery replacement).

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ahopkins22LSV
31 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

No idea - not a fan of ACR setups.  I like physical disconnects that I control.

I don’t have an acr. I have battery option 2 which comes with the switch that is off, 1, 2, 1+2. 

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1 minute ago, minnmarker said:

Nothing.  That's the beauty of the ACR.  You don't have to make any decisions or switch any switches or wires.  In the midst of a fun (or stressful) day of various activities on the boat it is nice to know the chargers/batteries are managed by a machine - not by me and my human logic/memories.  I have enough to think about.  My dual battery (stereo/starter) setup with ACR has been 100% reliable for 5 years - with all original parts (no battery replacement).

The question was - what has to be done if you are using a dual bank charger in an acr system.  As for the rest - no thanks.  I believe in having a completely manual disconnect available that guarantees that the batteries are isolated from each other and the load when needed.

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1 minute ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

I don’t have an acr. I have battery option 2 which comes with the switch that is off, 1, 2, 1+2. 

In your case if you are using an external single bank charger then you would put switch in off and then charge each battery at separate times.

A prosport 12 dual bank is pretty cheap.  That is what I run in my boat and I have the same battery setup as you. 

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ahopkins22LSV
6 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

In your case if you are using an external single bank charger then you would put switch in off and then charge each battery at separate times.

A prosport 12 dual bank is pretty cheap.  That is what I run in my boat and I have the same battery setup as you. 

I plan on adding that at some point. Just haven’t gotten around to it 

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3 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

The question was - what has to be done if you are using a dual bank charger in an acr system.

Sorry, I did not look that far back in the thread.

I use a single bank charger connected to the stereo battery with an ACR and no switch.  Just a breaker between the batteries if for some reason I wanted to disconnect them.  Never used it.  Why connect the charger to the stereo the stereo battery?  There is no reason the starter battery would be low.  If, for some reason it was, then it would get charged through the ACR.  Still love my ACRs and have never had an issue with a dead starter battery nor replaced a battery as long as I've used them.  I admit, I'm an ACR fan.  Disclosure, I am not on Blue Sea's payroll :no:

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14 minutes ago, minnmarker said:

Sorry, I did not look that far back in the thread.

I use a single bank charger connected to the stereo battery with an ACR and no switch.  Just a breaker between the batteries if for some reason I wanted to disconnect them.  Never used it.  Why connect the charger to the stereo the stereo battery?  There is no reason the starter battery would be low.  If, for some reason it was, then it would get charged through the ACR.  Still love my ACRs and have never had an issue with a dead starter battery nor replaced a battery as long as I've used them.  I admit, I'm an ACR fan.  Disclosure, I am not on Blue Sea's payroll :no:

The reason for connecting to the starter battery is that sometimes (like in the spring) it is nice to make sure everything is fully charged or just leave it on the charger/maintainer all winter long.  A smart charger/maintainer needs to have exclusive connection to a single battery for it to work.

My fondness of physical disconnects comes from the offroading world.  I always ran Marine battery switches in the jeeps after watching a couple frenzied attempts at disconnecting smoking batteries with a wrench ;)

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I've always used a Prosport two bank charger and the factory ACR. My battery switch is Off, On, Combine. I always charge with the battery switch in the OFF position. Never had to run the batteries in the Combine position.

 

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13 minutes ago, minnmarker said:

Sorry, I did not look that far back in the thread.

I use a single bank charger connected to the stereo battery with an ACR and no switch.  Just a breaker between the batteries if for some reason I wanted to disconnect them.  Never used it.  Why connect the charger to the stereo the stereo battery?  There is no reason the starter battery would be low.  If, for some reason it was, then it would get charged through the ACR.  Still love my ACRs and have never had an issue with a dead starter battery nor replaced a battery as long as I've used them.  I admit, I'm an ACR fan.  Disclosure, I am not on Blue Sea's payroll :no:

doing it your way, if you hook the charger to either battery, the ACR gonna cause the batteries to combine and the charge it as one big battery.  That means your not depleted starting battery is going to discharge to the depleted stereo battery till they are in equilibrium, and then your charger is charging a combined double size battery (make sure charger is rated to do that).  If it's a smart charger, as @oldjeep notes, you are also failing to take full advantage of its smarts by combining the two batteries first.

If I were you, I'd pull the ground wire on the ACR and charge one at a time. 

Or wire it the right way with an off-on-combine switch and charge each battery independently while the switch is in the off position.

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Just now, Ronnie said:

I've always used a Prosport two bank charger and the factory ACR. My battery switch is Off, On, Combine. I always charge with it in the OFF position.

still worth double checking that when the prosport is plugged in and your switch is off that the ACR light doesn't come on.  If it does come on, your off-on-combine switch is wired incorrectly for the charger (a common problem, unfortunately, because it's consistent with the blue sea instructions)

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3 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

I've always used a Prosport two bank charger and the factory ACR. My battery switch is Off, On, Combine. I always charge with it in the OFF position.

Which is pretty safe - but the ACR is still connected to both batteries regardless of the switch position (relay is likely not energized but you have no way to control it)

 

2015-2batt_1eng_2.png

Edited by oldjeep
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Just now, oldjeep said:

Which is pretty safe - but the ACR is still connected to both batteries regardless of the switch position (relay is likely not energized but you have no way to control it)

not if you wire the ACR to the switch correctly

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Just now, shawndoggy said:

still worth double checking that when the prosport is plugged in and your switch is off that the ACR light doesn't come on.  If it does come on, your off-on-combine switch is wired incorrectly for the charger (a common problem, unfortunately, because it's consistent with the blue sea instructions)

I'll check it. The Factory has done things incorrectly before...

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1 minute ago, shawndoggy said:

not if you wire the ACR to the switch correctly

What would be the correct way?  This diagram is the proper way to wire an ACR with a combine switch  as far as I know.

 

2015-2batt_1eng_2.png

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6 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

doing it your way, if you hook the charger to either battery, the ACR gonna cause the batteries to combine and the charge it as one big battery.  

Not if the ACR is NOT wired to the batteries. 

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2 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

What would be the correct way?  This diagram is the proper way to wire an ACR with a combine switch  as far as I know.

 

2015-2batt_1eng_2.png

It is a way to wire the setup, but the ideal way IMO, especially when there is a charger in the mix

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