Batteries and Charging.

[Lowrider03]

I've read the owners manual for the 293, and also the directions for the Charles Industries 5000 series 15amp charger. I'm stumped on this battery selector switch and when to use what. So here is what I observed today:

Select Battery 1 on both switches - Battery condition in power panel shows like 9 volts
Select Battery 2 on both switches - Battery condition shows 12ish volts.

If I do the same above and use the lugs next to the battery selectors I believe I got same readings.

When I select 1 on Port and 2 on Starboard ... confusion ensued when I tried to check voltage using the lugs next to battery selectors.

At this point I have no idea if my batteries are charging at all with the charger, so I open the engine hatch and check voltages directly at the batteries and both are almost 13 volts. The C-Charger shows low amperage, which would mean batteries are almost fully charged.

What in the hell am I doing wrong trying to figure out this dual battery thing? Previously, I had a dual battery setup with one switch, which was super easy to understand. Use position 1 for starting, use position 2 for radio or as backup. But having 2 batteries and 2 switches is bending my mind for some reason.

[bruceb58]

If I were you, I would be tracing each battery cable to the battery switches and then the common from each battery switch to its destination.

[jhnmdahl]

I'm with Bruce on this - you really have to trace wires and draw out a schematic or circuit diagram to know what's going on. The owner's manual can be downloaded from Cobalt - look at the boat-specific pages at the end at page 293.5 for some insight from Cobalt. It appears the switches are engine-specific and not battery-specific...

https://cobaltboats.com/art/manuals/200 ... manual.pdf