Connecting battery charger directly to battery....

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Currently my battery charger connects to my batteries via teh Isolater switch, meaning the switches must be ON before the battery will charge. I do not like this idea, as I like to have all electronics OFF when away from the boat. I presume there's no problem wiring the charger directly to the batteries so that they will always charge once battery charger is on. There are seperate wiring terminals for Battery1 and Battery2 so there's no fear of making a connection between the 2 batteries

Any suggestions?

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Is the Boat Safety Scheme ever likely to affect you?

 

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Is the Boat Safety Scheme ever likely to affect you?

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I don't even know what it is, so i'd doubt it. It wouldn't be hard to reverse my direct-connect anyhow as I won't be ripping out the old wires, just tucking them away safely and adding new ones, which could be removed with the turn of a bolt on the battery, and turn of a screw on the charger

 

[jfm]

AFAIK what you propose is fine. In principle it is fine to connect the DC side of the batt charger to the battery

(So long as you have an isolator switch to turn off the batt charger etc etc bla bla.)

The battery wont of course be truly isolated when you operate the isolator switch. It'll be connected to the charger innards. You could fit a true isolator, then a sub iosolator to switch off all your electronics but leave the charger connected

 

[seamaster30]

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There are seperate wiring terminals for Battery1 and Battery2 so there's no fear of making a connection between the 2 batteries

Any suggestions?

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Not quite sure what you mean here, but with the existing setup you can choose to charge batt1, batt2 or both, where with your new setup, you will only charge the battery the charger is connected to - I do not believe you can connect the charger to both batteries at once. - There may be someone else that can clarify this though.

 

[alt]

I am talking about the 240v charger, which has the ability to automatically charge both batteries seperately (there are 2 +'s and 2 -'s on the charger). At the moment each + is going to each individual battery isolater switch.

What I propose to do is to bypass the isolater switch, connecting directly to the batteries instead of going through the isolater switch, thus meaning that whenever i've the 240v charger turned on, the batteries will be charging, regardless whether or not the battery isolators are on or off

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There are seperate wiring terminals for Battery1 and Battery2 so there's no fear of making a connection between the 2 batteries

Any suggestions?

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Not quite sure what you mean here, but with the existing setup you can choose to charge batt1, batt2 or both, where with your new setup, you will only charge the battery the charger is connected to - I do not believe you can connect the charger to both batteries at once. - There may be someone else that can clarify this though.

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[seamaster30]

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I am talking about the 240v charger, which has the ability to automatically charge both batteries seperately (there are 2 +'s and 2 -'s on the charger). At the moment each + is going to each individual battery isolater switch.


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That shouldn't be a problem then /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif - Just a question, I take it the existing connections are to the disconnected side of the switch? - If they are on the connected side then you have nothing to do /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

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Now there's a man that's thought this through - I'd never thought about that. Guess i'll get the Multimeter out this evening and check if there's still a charge going to the batteries with the isolators switched off.

And even if they're not, provided I have an inco or so slack, I can just move the battery charging wire from 1 pole on the isolator to the other meaning I don't have to re-wire anything

Post of the month sir!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am talking about the 240v charger, which has the ability to automatically charge both batteries seperately (there are 2 +'s and 2 -'s on the charger). At the moment each + is going to each individual battery isolater switch.


[/ QUOTE ]

That shouldn't be a problem then /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif - Just a question, I take it the existing connections are to the disconnected side of the switch? - If they are on the connected side then you have nothing to do /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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[pampas]

leave things as they are and move the electronics to the isolated side of your master switch. That way its only one wire to extend. Your method could if not careful equilise both batterys when the charger if off, but would be ok if the charger has two outputs.

 

[Peanuts]

On my S28 the battery charger positive leads are connected to the battery side on the master switches, so it does not make any difference if they are in the on or off position. I would have thought this is how your S23 is wired but as always stand to be corrected. I am assuming the charger is the factory fitted one.
Hope this is of some help.

Steve

 

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A big thank you to you all, esp willson.

Today I went investigating and it turns out that the charging wires are connected to the battery side of the isolater to both banks of batteries, so no matter what way the isolators are switched, once the 220v charger is on then the batteries are getting a charge.

This is great news as it means I can sit back and relax. Infact this boat, so far NOTHING has gone wrong and the only mod i've wanted to do is add stereo (which i've done) - It's a bit weird as it's the first boat where i've had nothing to do (ie, nothing to keep me busy - I shouldn't be complaining)

pampas - The method which I suggested would have worked (had it been needed to be implimented) as there are 2 seperate outputs on the charger, hence no risk of equalisation

peanuts - Yup, you got it in one (Yes factory charger)