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On Board Battery Charger?


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I have a Pro-Sport on board battery charger that was factory installed by Axis.  It doesn't seem to be charging my batteries as they are dead after only 3 years.  I faithfully plug in during storage and the proper LED lights activate telling me my power source is good.  I always shut my battery switch to off.  When I shut off my batteries to the off position will this isolate my batteries from my battery charger?   

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Trace out the wires from your charger if the go directly to the batteries then no your switch is not isolating your charger.if your wires from the charger are going to the switch before the batteries then it’s a possibility . Use a volt meter to check your charger to see if it’s working properly. 

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How long do we expect lead acid batteries to last in one of these boats?  Our other boat and home generator get changed every two years.  We have a Sequoia that gets changed on about the same timeline.  

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Check the inline fuses for the battery charger.  They may be near the battery posts or near the battery switch.  Check the voltage at the battery posts after the charger has been plugged in for at least 10 minutes. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Boat shop just diagnosed my issue.  Failed battery charger.  Needs to be replaced.  Dealer no longer uses this brand (Mariner Pro Sport). They are going to replace it with a Powermania battery charger.  Anyone else have this one?  Also, appears my old charger was connected to my battery switch rather than directly to the batteries.  Anyone else have their's connected this way?

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I see no reason why it needs to be wired directly to the battery, the switch could be just fine if done correctly (but mine are wired directly.) 

If you happen to have 2 batteries, just make sure that if it is a multi-bank charger that when the switch is OFF that the charger voltage cannot activate the relay/ACR to combine the banks.

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If in fact I continue to secure the wires directly to the battery switch would I need to leave the battery switch on "both" batteries while in storage?  If if I turn the battery with off wouldn't this kill the power leading to the dual batteries?  

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8 hours ago, PopsA22 said:

If in fact I continue to secure the wires directly to the battery switch would I need to leave the battery switch on "both" batteries while in storage?  If if I turn the battery with off wouldn't this kill the power leading to the dual batteries?  

Just reroute the Charger leads like the instructions call for. Direct to batteries. Unless your leads are too short, it should be an easy job.

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32 minutes ago, dalt1 said:

Just reroute the Charger leads like the instructions call for. Direct to batteries. Unless your leads are too short, it should be an easy job.

Sounds like a good plan.  Question I have about your LSV.  Where is your extension cord plug for your charger located in your boat?  Mind is under a seat in an awkward location.  I'm thinking about mounting new connection in the walkthrough to the bow area near the battery switch.  Curious where they put this on the Malibu's.  

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8 hours ago, PopsA22 said:

If in fact I continue to secure the wires directly to the battery switch would I need to leave the battery switch on "both" batteries while in storage?  If if I turn the battery with off wouldn't this kill the power leading to the dual batteries?  

Battery switches have posts where leads to and from different sources are mounted.  Generally speaking, you don't want to "stack" leads from other sources on the posts that the battery leads are mounted to (except on purpose).  That's so the switch will work.  When the switch is "on", contact is made between the post that the battery lead is mounted to and the post to the other leads (charging from the alternator, and load leads to the house loads, stereo, etc) are connected to.

If you mounted the leads from the battery charger to the switch, I'd stack them, on purpose, on top of the battery posts.  Then you have contact between the positive battery leads and the charger at all times.  With the switch "off" the batteries would be disconnected from one another, and from the other boat loads, but would be connected to the charger.  This is especially important with a dual bank charger, where you want the charger to treat each battery bank separately.  If the switch is "on" (and particularly if it's set to the "1+2" setting on an OFF 1-2-1+2 switch) the batteries could be combined into "one big battery" which defeats the whole point of charging the two banks separately.

image.thumb.png.2c14e7c913f90224f4b4498da2575f18.png

That said, my strong preference, as @dalt1 suggests, would be to just mount the charger leads to the batteries.  Real estate on the battery switch posts, especially since Malibu has gone to the "mini" battery switches, is exceedingly tight.  That makes it hard to get all of the right cables connected to the right post and get wires routed.  Battery chargers are meant to be wired direct to the batteries in the first place, so why not leave a little room around the switch?  Plus it's 100% consistent with the instructions for every onboard battery charger I've ever studied.  Plus you'd still need to mount up the ground leads too, and the ground buss bar under the observer's seat is usually pretty full too.

Edited by shawndoggy
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3 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

Battery switches have posts where leads to and from different sources are mounted.  Generally speaking, you don't want to "stack" leads from other sources on the posts that the battery leads are mounted to (except on purpose).  That's so the switch will work.  When the switch is "on", contact is made between the post that the battery lead is mounted to and the post to the other leads (charging from the alternator, and load leads to the house loads, stereo, etc) are connected to.

If you mounted the leads from the battery charger to the switch, I'd stack them, on purpose, on top of the battery posts.  Then you have contact between the battery leads and the charger at all times.  With the switch "off" the batteries would be disconnected from one another, and from the other boat loads, but would be connected to the charger.  This is especially important with a dual bank charger, where you want the charger to treat each battery bank separately.  If the switch is "on" (and particularly if it's set to the "1+2" setting on an OFF 1-2-1+2 switch) the batteries could be combined into "one big battery" which defeats the whole point of charging the two banks separately.

That said, my strong preference, as @dalt1 suggests, would be to just mount the charger leads to the batteries.  Real estate on the battery switch posts, especially since Malibu has gone to the "mini" battery switches, is exceedingly tight.  That makes it hard to get all of the right cables connected to the right post and get wires routed.  Battery chargers are meant to be wired direct to the batteries in the first place, so why not leave a little room around the switch?  Plus it's 100% consistent with the instructions for every onboard battery charger I've ever studied.

Thanks for the response.  I'm definitely going to connect directly to the batteries.  Although my dealer will not confirm I believe this connection might be why my battery charger failed after only 3 years.  Malibu is replacing with Powermania.  Curious what charger you have and where is your extension cord connection on your boat.  

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16 minutes ago, PopsA22 said:

Thanks for the response.  I'm definitely going to connect directly to the batteries.  Although my dealer will not confirm I believe this connection might be why my battery charger failed after only 3 years.  Malibu is replacing with Powermania.  Curious what charger you have and where is your extension cord connection on your boat.  

Last boat was promariner prosport 20, this boat I went with the Noco genpro 2x10.

image.thumb.png.8c356efe5f54022736532c3ab2389fd0.png

I've mounted my battery plug on the front wall of the rear port locker, so that when I get home we can just plug the boat in from the swim platform.  There's a short  extension cord between that plug and the charger, which is mounted near the amps in the observers compartment.

image.thumb.png.2e7dc4c58404f52eeb8f0c2b30045d36.png

Edited by shawndoggy
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  • 7 months later...
On 7/2/2022 at 6:19 AM, shawndoggy said:

Last boat was promariner prosport 20, this boat I went with the Noco genpro 2x10.

image.thumb.png.8c356efe5f54022736532c3ab2389fd0.png

I've mounted my battery plug on the front wall of the rear port locker, so that when I get home we can just plug the boat in from the swim platform.  There's a short  extension cord between that plug and the charger, which is mounted near the amps in the observers compartment.

image.thumb.png.2e7dc4c58404f52eeb8f0c2b30045d36.png

Do you happen to have a picture of where you installed the power socket?  I was interested in doing something similar.

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9 hours ago, jkearns6 said:

Do you happen to have a picture of where you installed the power socket?  I was interested in doing something similar.

I'm sorry, I don't.  I put it on the locker wall near the surfgate breakers.

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1 hour ago, COOP said:

Man I wish Malibu would fix the glove box drain hose placement! Every boat its hanging there looking like a**.

If it annoys you just remove it. I can't imagine how anyone could ever get water into glove box anyway. Child pouring a drink into it? 

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1 hour ago, COOP said:

Man I wish Malibu would fix the glove box drain hose placement! Every boat its hanging there looking like a**.

Same on the engine tray cover :)  Seems like a better solution could be made.  

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I've seen a number of posts/threads about on board battery chargers.  I don't understand why they are necessary.  I had a 22' Malibu that spent the winter in cold, but dry storage and now have a 23' Malibu that spends its winters in cold storage.  I've never had an issue with any of the batteries.  I had the 2017 for 3 seasons, never had an issue in the spring and I live in Wyoming where it's common to have -30F temps for weeks on end.  What is the benefit of having on board battery chargers?  I'm obviously missing something here that I should know about but I'm totally ignorant on the subject.  

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1 hour ago, Shea said:

I've seen a number of posts/threads about on board battery chargers.  I don't understand why they are necessary.  I had a 22' Malibu that spent the winter in cold, but dry storage and now have a 23' Malibu that spends its winters in cold storage.  I've never had an issue with any of the batteries.  I had the 2017 for 3 seasons, never had an issue in the spring and I live in Wyoming where it's common to have -30F temps for weeks on end.  What is the benefit of having on board battery chargers?  I'm obviously missing something here that I should know about but I'm totally ignorant on the subject.  

Mostly for those running heavy draw items such as stereo, heated seats, lights, etc with the engine off and not allowing the batteries to charge enough afterwards. Also the boats with thrusters and fast fill draw a ton of power and if they don’t have the larger alternator the draw vs charge isn’t great. Batteries are totally fine to leave over the winter.

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