Carver Owners Forum

Recently purchased a 1985 Riviera and the batteries are not staying charged while on shore power. I am suspecting a bad battery charger, but cannot find it. I see on the specs it was optional equipment, but I am hoping it is there somewhere. Where would the battery charger be located? And does anyone know what model it would have been?

Thank you in advance!!

I have an 83 model (but not a Riviera) and a charger was optional on that model too. If it wasn't ordered from the factory, someone could have added one and it may not be the same type or in the same location as Carver would have put it.

I would look at the batteries first and see if there are any additional connections on them. The charger could be connected there or could be connected on a 1-2-all switch if the boat is equipped with that.

Do you have a breaker for a charger on your 120v electric panel?
If you have one, most likely it will be fairly close to the batteries. Just follow all the cables

Do you have access to handheld volt meter? Or a fellow dock friend. If not i would suggest buying one anyway they are several models that are inexpensive and come in very handy on a boat or at home. Checking voltage,fuses, switches, continuity in wiring etc

Welcome to the forum....there could be a few things can cause batteries not to hold charge.....but in this case you really will have to find the charger, if there is one.......if you got a survey, see if there is mention of it there.....

There is a 1-2-all switch located next to the batteries. The batteries are under the step leading into the rear berth (2 batteries). Each battery has the main thick wire attached, and an additional thinner wire which I was thinking/hoping is to the charger. The thin wire disappears into the body of the boat and it is not readily apparent where it leads. There is not a breaker for a charger on the 120v electric panel. I do have a multimeter. Is there a way I could check at the batteries to see if they are being charged by a charger? I was hoping someone could tell me where to look without having to try to trace the wire. I have looked under the rear berths and all over the engine compartment and not found a charger but I dont want to start pulling things apart; I am not that familiar with boats lol. At that point I would probably have to hire someone and am trying to avoid that as well. Thanks again!

If you haven't found it you most likely don't have a charger. With you meter set to DC volts you should see about 14vdc at the battery terminals if you have a charger and it is on. If the thinner wire is very thin, it is most likely the feed to your volt meters.

Post a good picture of your DC breaker panel. I would bet that those two small wires go to feed specific breakers, like ones for your voltmeter (as noted above) and possible for the auto bilge pump.

The chargers are almost always in the engine compartment. If you've looked all over and have ID'd everything in there and don't see one, then you probably don't have one. You probably don't have a dedicated AC breaker for a charger... mine didn't. A previous owner just tapped into one of the lines to connect the charger and (in pencil) wrote "battery charger" with an arrow to my second breaker.

It's been a long time since we had our 2807, but I believe the charger was on the forward or aft bulkhead of the engine compartment. Lift up the center engine cover. It's right there. No separate breaker. Our original was one of those blue Ferro chargers.

Could be the battery charger, but there are so many things that can make the battery not charge. Have you tried another battery first?