battery charger

[jimmsch]

The boat I bought has the stock factory dual battery charger in it. There is no electric at my dock, but do take the boat our of the water every couple of weeks to clean the bottom at which time I would like yo easily plug in the charger and let the batteries charge on the trailer for an afternoon.

Would having the charger connected to the batteries without being plugged in to an electric outlet cause drain on the batteries when at the dock? 99% of the time I remember to turn the selector switch to "OFF". I never had a battery die in the water on me, but I would like to keep the charger connected to make it easier to plug in when I trailer the boat home for cleaning.

Thanks
-Jim

[BrentC5Z]

Leave it. No worries.


Unless! It has some fancy battery condition indicator that could draw.

[MJHSupra]

The boat I bought has the stock factory dual battery charger in it. There is no electric at my dock, but do take the boat our of the water every couple of weeks to clean the bottom at which time I would like yo easily plug in the charger and let the batteries charge on the trailer for an afternoon.

Would having the charger connected to the batteries without being plugged in to an electric outlet cause drain on the batteries when at the dock? 99% of the time I remember to turn the selector switch to "OFF". I never had a battery die in the water on me, but I would like to keep the charger connected to make it easier to plug in when I trailer the boat home for cleaning.

Thanks
-Jim

Depending on how the boat is wired, it's always a good habit to turn the switch to OFF. That is how it would get charged if you had it plugged in.

You should not have a drain on the batteries without electric plugged if you are using the SC standard charger.
As the post mentioned above, leave it. Good option to have on the boat.

I have an aftermarket charger with a small LED display on it. The power 'draw' is very small and would take a long time to drain a battery.

[jimmsch]

So I left it disconnected as it did have the little LED lights showing battery condition.
Now I just wish the battery box covers fit better with the cables coming out of it. I had to stand on it to get the strap caught and it still is nowhere near as secure as I would like it

[MLA]

Would having the charger connected to the batteries without being plugged in to an electric outlet cause drain on the batteries when at the dock?

No

99% of the time I remember to turn the selector switch to "OFF".

This is the proper switch position when the boat is not in use

[BrentC5Z]

So I left it disconnected as it did have the little LED lights showing battery condition.
Now I just wish the battery box covers fit better with the cables coming out of it. I had to stand on it to get the strap caught and it still is nowhere near as secure as I would like it

I've trimmed most of my battery lids to allow the cables to not have excessive pressure on them.