Battery drain

[Stratosman]

Okay,

I can't figure out where the drain is, but my cranking battery loses charge from something that is hooked to it that is drawing juice. I know it's not the battery since I recently replaced it.

The power is turned off. I have lights, graphs, livewell, bilge, int. lights, radio, ect all hooked to the cranking. I have gone through these and still have yet to locate the source of the draw (as far as I know anyway).

Has anyone run into something similar or has any additional info or advice that I might not have thought of? Get's kind of frustrating.

[Ole1855]

Stratos,

My buddy is having the same exact problem on his Warrior, if the thing sits in the garage for 7-10 days the battery is completely dead. He has checked everything back and forth and can't find the problem, if you figure it out, please let me know, maybe it will help lead us to figure out his problem. Of course, if we figure it out I'll let you know as well.

Ole

[Northlander]

Do you have a main power switch? Does it happen even when you have that turned off?

[Stratosman]

Have main power switch and it's alway's off. I can run the graphs without the power turned on but everything else runs through the main switch. I don't get it.

[ChuckN]

I don't know how many wires connect to your starting battery, but have you tried to isolate the problem by disconnecting the motor cables from the battery, and test over time? Remove the accessories cable(s) and test?

I have various tools to test the battery's charge, but nothing to exactly pinpoint something that a current draw.

Also try removing individual fuses (fuse panel) for some electronics and test battery over time? If it's draining that hard, you'd think it wouldn't be too hard to locate.

[Satchmo]

If these boats are equipped with digital face stereos there will be a seperate power wire for the stereo memory that bypasses the master power switch. This is put in to maintain your radio station presets and the clock. This power wire is supposed to have a constant draw of around .01 to .02 amps per hour. In my experience most have considerably more draw than that. The only way to eliminate this is to cut the memory power wire or install an ON/OFF switch on your accessory wires near the battery. This combined with natural passive drain could very well be your problem. Worth looking in to. Greg

[hoggs222]

I had the same problem with my radio. I just installed an in-line toggle switch for the radio. If you want the radio on, flip the switch. It's tucked in the dash/glove box area.

[Ret-ro]

With all of your power switches turned off, remove the positive battery cable, then gently scratch it accross the battery post. If there is something drawing power you will see a small arc or flash(helps if it is slightly dark). If this test yields a draw, you will need to continue to isolate each item that draws power by the process of elimination until you find the culprit. Old mechanic trick I learned.

[Dave]

Quote:

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If there is something drawing power you will see a small arc or flash

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My older Minnkota Autopilot does this when I connect it to the deepcycle! It's something I was going to check into but never did.

[hooksetter]

Some boats have an automatic bilge pump that draws power even with the master power switch turned off.

[GoodToGo]

I have the same thing, leave the radio hooked up, kill the battery. I don't know how it manages to drain the battery so fast with an LED display and a clock, but it does. I have a removable faceplate, which when removed solves the problem. As I write this I realize that I left the faceplate on Sunday, so I better get the boat on the charger tonight.

[Surface Tension]

Those are all very good ideas, if none of the suggestions solve your problem check for a drain from you outboard.

[Stratosman]

My radio also has a removable faceplate which is always removed. I guess I might have to systimatically remove wires till I find the drain, only problem is I have a set of 3-4 wires (not sure where from) hooking into one with a short stop, so I might have to put some thought into the best approach.

Thanks for all the help so far too!!

[wayner]

If you have a digital multimeter you can set it to dc amps. Then unhook all your hot leads from the battery and place the meter leads in series with each individual hot lead until you can isolate which one is drawing down the battery. In my old boat I had the same problem and found it was the pos radio that came with it that was drawing juice all the time so I just disconnected it because it didn't work anyway.