Bought a used boat and it didn't have a charger installed. Wondering where the factory chargers were mounted and if it would be okay to mount it on the wall behind the livewells? My previous boat had it mounted on the port side wall, but my batteries are all the way against the wall. I could move them, but looking for suggestions.
Boat is a 1998 Cobra 201d.
Last edited by Mgfan58; 03-30-2022 at 11:03 AM. Reason: Add model info.
I have a 1998 188D. Mine is mounted on the removable panel on the floor where you remove it to get to the pumps. It is all the way in the back as far as possible. The chords run through a hole and came out where the battery wires run through the wall behind the livewells. Keeps the wires hidden and out the way.
Last edited by Steve from Dallas; 03-30-2022 at 07:29 PM.
Plate is missing on my boat. Moved my trolling motor batteries tonight and I’m going to mount it on the port side outer wall. I’m going to make a plate for the floor, but I may install power pole pumps there.
Appreciate the reply though. Haven’t taken the boat out yet, as there were some electrical issues to clean up, but I’ll be trying it out this weekend. Got my graphs mounted today and installed blinker switches for the jackplate and trim. What a pain in the butt dealing with boat wiring.
interior lights come on when the panel power is turned on. Wires don’t even go to that switch. Going to unplug them until I can see what has them turned on. Not a single switch on the boat had any affect on the light. Previous owner had taken the bulbs out, or it never had bulbs installed.
Good luck. I did that last fall. Installed new charger, ran dedicated power to new fuse box under dash for all graphs, 360 and livescope. Cleaned out the twenty years of bad wiring jobs. I still need to replace the old lights but have not located a good replacement yet. FYI, the floor plate was the same thickness as the plate behind the livewells. I think 1/4" plywood painted with two screws.
I had some 1/2" HDPE left over, from a project on my Phoenix, so I made a plate out of it. I did a lot of rewiring in the battery compartment tonight. Like how it's going so far and I figured out why my jackplate wouldn't go up. Previous owner said the switch locked in up and killed the battery. He ran it down and took the fuse out to stop it from happening again. I replaced the bad JP control with twin blinker trim and found out the up relay he had installed was bad. He had no breaker between the battery and jackplate. Just the fuse for the control wiring. Ordered new relays, a breaker, and some other stuff from Bob's.
Replaced the live well lights, with LED's, but they still don't work. More wiring to trace. Still stumped on the interior light wiring. Can't figure out where they're getting power from. Also got my jackplate gauge moved and wired, and my console graph and transducer cable run. Still lot's to do, but I put a big dent in it today.
This is mine. I reworked everything to have 2 size 24 and 2 size 31 batteries, charger and oil tank with plenty of space left over. 20220331_191506.jpg20220331_191533.jpg
That's great. I still have the 20 years of bad wiring in mine. LOL When you coming to my house to do mine?Originally Posted by Steve from Dallas
Tom
I got my factory one if your interested I'm it. It was mounted on the left hand side behind the trolling motor batteries. I went to lithium batteries and had to buy a new charger
IScreenshot_20220402-085207_Gallery.jpg
JEFF
TALBOTT,TN
VIPER COBRA 201
Mercury pro xs
Already purchased a NOCO, but thanks.
I mounted mine to the board on the back of the livewells.
Looks GREAT! I might have to move my batteries around to give me more room. I like the looks of that
I mounted mine where the stern/bow lights brackets were. I just keep my lights in a rod locker. I have 36v TM so 4 batteries, I didn’t want those lights to fall and hit the battery post just right and have an issue.
with the hoses behind the removable wall be careful. I can remove batteries without having to remove the charger.
27E0E1E0-5CBF-4E68-A2BB-0B8700B5986C.jpeg
How are your batteries organized?
On the starboard side I purchased two size 24 battery trays. They were slightly too wide to fit side by side so I ran them through the table saw and took off just enough so both trays would fit running parallel to the center of the boat. They fit all the way back against the transom. You turn the trays so the cut side is placed outwards where the starboard flotation wall acts as one side and the transom brace acts as the other. The uncut side is in the center. The straps are put in place as normal and the trays are screwed down. The oil tank sits in front running perpendicular.
Couple of notes: It is a bit of a puzzle to get them in there. When you are putting it together the wing nuts are too tall to get started once the batteries are in place. Either use nuts or put the back posts on before you slide them in. It took me about 10 tries before I got everything connected and put into place. There is a lot of feeling your way through it because you can't see under the back cap. I took the deck lid off so I could lay flat and work with both hands free.
I am running the two 24's in parallel connected to a cutoff switch for the outboard and to power the electronics. Electronics are on a dedicated size 10 wire running to a separate fuse panel. Why run them in parallel? I was too cheap to purchase a four bank charger since I had purchased a new three bank last year. I didn't have an issue until I added all of the new electronics (three graphs, livescope and 360) then I needed the extra power to crank the Ficht at the end of the day. I chose the Duracell 24MSHO due to high output. 27's would probably fit as well but would need to be measured. I could only find the high output in the 24's at the time.
On the port side I am running two 31 size batteries. The first one is placed all the way back against the transom running perpendicular to center. The second sits in front also running perpendicular. With this setup you could probably add a third 31 in the center, with some thicker wood, in order to run 36 volts (for us non-lithium converts). I am running a 24v Ultrex.
Hope this helps.
steve
"I mounted mine to the board on the back of the livewells."
That is probably a better place for it in order to get it out of the way and higher. I might have to move mine in the future.
I put mine in the starboard rod locker
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