Battery charger wiring

[contact4]

I am new to sailing, just purchased a 26S, and am learning as fast as I can, so I can get out on the water and relax.

I installed a battery charger, and I am wondering if I can connect the charger to the positive and negative busses I installed, instead of directly to the battery.

I am asking because I tried it, and the charger lights did not come on. I am trying to understand all the possibilities before I start rewiring.

Thanks,
Scott

[baldbaby2000]

It should work fine. Are the busses connected directly to the battery or is there a switch involved?

[Boblee]

Some chargers only sense direct to the battery if there is any electronics in between they will not work.
Not quite correct but an easy way to describe it, as BB said if the buses are connected direct it will work, the only downside is a slower charge if there is voltage drop between where you connect and the battery.

[baldbaby2000]

It should be simple to trouble shoot. Does the charger work connected directly to the battery? If not the charger probably has a problem. Verify that the bus connections to the battery are good by checking that your electronics and lights work properly. An inexpensive multimeter is good to have to check voltages. Sometimes the voltage may read properly with no load but if there is a poor (resistive) connection somewhere, when a load is applied--for example, your running lights switched on--the voltage will drop significantly. Some voltage drop is normal but with a good battery and good wiring, more than a volt drop should make you suspicious.

[contact4]

I am going back tonight to wire it directly to the battery. It was a lot easier to work on the boat when it was in my driveway, 20 feet away.

The busses are connected directly to the battery. I tested the charger with standard house wiring before I installed it and it worked fine.

Thanks for your responses, it looks like I will wire direct as a test. The charger was a Guest 2610A, which I don't believe is a very high end charger, so it may not be getting the feedback it needs???

The reason I didn't just quickly test the direct connection is because the battery is in an awkward spot. I wanted to get advice and think things through first.

Thanks again.

[contact4]

After rewiring directly to the battery, my battery charger still was not lighting up.

I realized that my charger was receiving the AC power through my GFCI outlet. I pressed the reset button, and everything worked.

I won't forget to do that again... Regardless, I feel better about the charger going straight to the battery and not through the busses.

Thanks for everyones contribution.