Cobaltchat.com

Howdy from Lake Conroe, Texas!

Quick question on a 2006 262: Does anyone know if I can hook up my battery trickle charger to the two posts that are under the rear seat? I assume those are for jump starting so they must work for a trickle charger, right? I'm pretty sure but need to confirm.

I know I can avoid the issue by opening the engine hatch and clipping directly onto the battery, but that's a PITA, much easier to use the posts.

I'll appreciate any ideas for if this works or if there's a better way to do it.

Thanks!

Looks like you are correct that these posts are for jump starting.

I had not been aware that some Cobalts had these jump studs, but then again my boat doesn’t have an electrically operated engine cover where these jump studs would be necessary.

https://cobaltboats.com/art/manuals/2006_262_OM.pdf

Thanks - what I thought but good to be sure. I appreciate the response!

No problem.

I think my preference would be to install a permanent harness for the trickle charger directly onto the batteries, and then route the charger harness somewhere so that it would be convenient to plug into.

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Hey groberts4. So glad you found us.

Those terminals are primarily for opening and closing the engine hatch when the batteries are pulled.
We also use them for inflating and deflating tubes.

I don’t believe a Trickle charger will work on them.

Any pics? That’s a great model Cobalt. We owned a 2002.

And welcome aboard mate!

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Thanks AsLan7, and Titaniumboy as well. So I've been using these terminals as a connection for my trickle charger since I got the boat in 2008. It was tough to tell if it was working, but as of this afternoon I think it does. I have a new battery charger and it has LEDs that indicate charging status. When I first clipped it to those posts a few days ago no lights came on, so I sent out this inquiry to see if I was doing something wrong. I checked on it a few minutes ago and now both lights are on - Red for Charging and Green for Ready. So I guess those posts do work after all.
Do I have pictures? Probably too many...

EDIT: A while back I posted that the jumper studs on my 2006 262 were connected to the battery even when the power switch was off. I based this on having kept a trickle charger hooked to those studs with the switch off and never having a dead battery. Well, I was wrong. I put a multi-tester on those jump studs and they're deader than a door nail when the power switch is off. I guess I've just been really lucky with my batteries. My sincere apologies for the misinformation.

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Beautiful lines. Love that model.

I think the trickle charger could work with the basic Perko switch. Is this what you have?

We have a Blue Sea ACR and turn our battery Switch off when not in use.

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yep - the terminals in your 2nd picture are where I have my charger connected. Works fine!

EDIT - see viewtopic.php?p=113509#p113509

groberts4 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 9:38 am yep - the terminals in your 2nd picture are where I have my charger connected. Works fine!

Does that mean you have to leave your battery switch on?

nope - charges when switch is off

EDIT - see viewtopic.php?p=113509#p113509

groberts4 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 10:44 pm nope - charges when switch is off

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Wow, surprising. That’s a nice little tid-bit of information that’s good to know especially if you don’t remove your batteries in the winter.

I imagine this would only work for a single battery configuration as you wouldn't jump both batteries, if you needed to, just your starter battery, right? So i'm guessing these terminals would only be wired to the starter battery, and the house battery is independent.

VTENGR wrote: ↑Fri Jul 29, 2022 11:47 am I imagine this would only work for a single battery configuration as you wouldn't jump both batteries, if you needed to, just your starter battery, right? So i'm guessing these terminals would only be wired to the starter battery, and the house battery is independent.

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Yes that’s how I see it too

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I have some additional information regarding the use of a trickle battery charger and the jump start studs in my 2013 Cobalt 273.

I have an internal battery charger, but it is not working for some reason. Instead of trying to figure out how to fix the internal charger, I hooked up a portable trickle charger to the jump start studs, as it was much more convenient than opening the engine hatch and connecting to the batteries directly. At first I tried it with the battery switch off, as was mentioned as working in this post. A got a blinking red (or orange light on some chargers), indicating the charger was not charging. I turned the battery switch to position one, single battery, and got a solid light, indication the charger was indeed charging the battery.

This seems to make sense to me since I don't believe these jump studs would be "live" with the battery switch turned off and they should only be connected to the position one, single, starting battery. I believe I am now charging the starting battery and that is what I wanted to archive during the time the boat is in winter storage.

Can anyone verify that this is the correct way to use the jump studs for charging the starting battery?

Thanks for your help!

groberts4 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 10:44 pm nope - charges when switch is off

My experience was that I had to have the battery switch on (position 1, single battery) for charging with a trickle charger connected to the jump start studs. I assume it depends on how the system is wired, but it makes sense to me that the studs wouldn't be "live" if the switch was in the off position.