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I have a 2024 CS23 purchased new last fall. I have only about 8 hours on it this summer and started having problems with the main battery discharging when running with the battery switch in the run position. I can now only run reliably in the combined position. Upon searching for the problem, I found that the ACR ground wire connector is not plugged into anything as shown in the photo. In researching the Blue Sea ACR, it seems as though the ground wire needs to be connected to fucntion correctly. Is it possible the factory just screwed up and didn't run the ground? Can anyone with a similar setup confirm that the gray ground connector is actually connected?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Sorry, here is the photo.

Yes..it needs a ground and that ground needs to be fused.

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So glad you found us Gdr58.

We had a blue sea ACR and yes, it was grounded. Thanks for posting a pic. Any of your Cobalt CS23?

And welcome aboard mate.

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The ACR uses the ground to detect whether there's charging voltage present, and thereby determine whether to open or close the ACR relay. You're likely never charging at least one of your batteries with a relay that stays open, which is what's causing your problem.

Cobalt's wiring harness from the factory should include the ground lead (they tend to build the same, complete wiring harness for each boat that includes wires even for features not installed rather than customize), so you might poke around a bit and see if it's already there somewhere but just not connected.

Note some people also put the ACR on the switched side of the system so the batteries don't drain while switched off - see

viewtopic.php?p=75833#p75833
and
viewtopic.php?t=4533

for a discussion.

Had the same issue with my 2024 CS23, except it was the house battery. Ended up being a bad ground.

Thanks everyone for the help! I installed a fused ground wire as suggested and it now works as intended. Disappointing that the factory would miss this but everything is now good.

Thanks for the follow up!