On board charger question.

[dspar00a]

I have purchased a used boat and It has an onboard charger that I am unsure how to use. The model is a dualpro 10x2 Marine battery charger. My question is I was under the perception that with an onboard charger you could just plug it into the wall instead of having to use other chargers to charge the batteries. The newer models of this charger has the plug to just plug into the wall but I'm not seeing this on my charger. I am wondering if anyone has this model or has ever used this and can give me some info on how it actually works.

Sorry to ask such a newbie question.

Thanks,
Daniel

This is a pic of my charger...

 

[craze1cars]

Re: On board charger question.

Indeed it plugs into the wall somehow/some way...you just haven't found the plug yet...

Follow all the wires from the charger. One pair should lead to Battery 1, 2nd pair should lead to Battery 2. And the 3rd wire should lead you to an A/C plug that will look very familiar to you and can plug into the wall. It MIGHT lead to a hard-wired A/C plug somewhere, where you just open a little door and you'll see where you need to plug in the end of your extension cord...some boats are hard-wired like this. Might look something sorta like this?
http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-products/plugconnect.html

Crawl around and explore some more, following wires, and you'll find out where/how to plug this charger in.

 

[Splat]

Re: On board charger question.

Are you sure there isn't a plug somewhere? Perhaps it's been remotely located somewhere on the boat? Mine is located on my front casting deck, looks like a trolling motor plug until you take the cap off then you can see where a extension cord plugs in.

 

[Splat]

Re: On board charger question.

Craze types faster than I do, agreed I think maybe just some more exploring is in order

 

[Silvertip]

Re: On board charger question.

Look at the picture. The loop of cable under the charger looks like it may be the AC power cord. It is very common to have the power cable terminated at a recessed plug within reach of that cord (about 3 feet from the charger). If that's the case, you simply plug an extension cord into that recessed connection and the other end into a wall outlet.

 

[dspar00a]

Re: On board charger question.

Thanks for all the input. I think the previous owner may have hard wired it somewhere. It does have 2 wires that run directly to each of the trolling batteries but the 3rd wire runs up around the side of the top cap and I cant see where it leads off too. There is a plug up in the front of the boat where the trolling motor would have been connected too but the previous owner hard wired the trolling motor. I think I am just gonna have to give him a shout and see if he can answer my questions.

Thanks again guys. You helped me answer my main question as to whether it is indead one that should plug into an a/c outlet.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: On board charger question.

The other end of that ac cord is a male three prong plug. It should not be hard to identify.

 

[dspar00a]

Re: On board charger question.

I looked again this morning to see if I was missing something. It looks like he has cut that third cable to run it somewhere through the top cap towards the front of the boat. I just am not sure where or to what. I can't tell..

 

[Splat]

Re: On board charger question.

Start pulling covers on plugs and exploring.... Look around the helm, or up near a casting deck if you have one. If it were me, and I wired it, I would have put the plug somewhere easily accessible from the driveway so I could plug it in easily at night without having to crawl into the boat. It possible it's just terminated into a three prong plug that's laying in a locker somewhere too.

 

[agallant80]

Re: On board charger question.

Do you have shore power? Mine charges through the 30A shore power plug.

 

[Grub54891]

Re: On board charger question.

Do you have shore power? Mine charges through the 30A shore power plug.

At the main panel,there will be a charger breaker,or somtimes its called an inverter depending on the size of the boat,and what type of systym it has.

 

[dspar00a]

Re: On board charger question.

At the main panel,there will be a charger breaker,or somtimes its called an inverter depending on the size of the boat,and what type of systym it has.

I think this is how he has wired it. I am at work currently so I can't go look, but there is a strange looking plug in adapter up on the front casting deck. I thought it was probably some type of plug where the trolling motor would have plugged into originally before he hard wired it but I just googled shore power plug and it shows that same style of plug in thats up on my front deck. It almost looks like a smaller scaled down style that a dryer would need.

 

[dspar00a]

Re: On board charger question.

Something somewhat like this..

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: On board charger question.

any plug that is used to power the charger has to have the male end on the boat. If you look inside and its not showing the pins then it is not for the charger.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: On board charger question.

Don't make this so difficult. Look at the male three pri.g plug on any electrical device you own. The power cord for the charger has the same plug.