Where to site a battery charger on a 2001 ciera 2455-gctid357251

[Guest]

Hi at the moment there is a chargermaintainer sited above the batteries on the forward wall in the engine bay and it is plugged into a doble main ac outlet(the other outlet going to a type of heater thermostat for the engine bay).

Now the outlet side of this is connected to a cheap junction box and the two cables are split into 4 (2 negatives,2 positives)to the 2 batteries with inline fuses.

so question is where should the charger be sited and then how to connect it up the right way

Thanks

Robert

[2850Bounty]

Robert, I'd be removing the "cheap" power outlet and not use anything that is not aproved. Your insurance company would not like seeing anything like that, and your boat will like you much better.

I prefer to see battery chargers mounted outside of the engine bay. There's no need for one to be mounted there, IMO.

However, there are chargers that are suited for this location.

As for connecting it, I'd hard wire it into your A/C panel, making it a permanent installation. The breaker that is dedicated to this will be your ON/OFF.

Take the charge leads to the rear of your MBSS, terminals #1 and #2. (this is schematically identical to a direct battery connection)

Take the Negative connection to a system negative common.... (I.E., engine block)

This makes these permanent connections, and avoids direct battery connections.

.

[Guest]

That sounds like the factory installation. Is that "cheap" box the same one that's over by the AC water pump? That's Bayliner's standard and perfectly acceptable. If the wires are joined properly then you just need any generic box to enclose and protect the junction. That is the best place on the 2455 for the charger, there's no room elsewhere unless you go all the way to the cabinet that the fridge is in.