Dead Battery

[nemalibu]

Hello All:

My battery went completely dead (down to 3.6 V) in two weeks and the boat was sitting on the trailer at the time (no bilge).

Is this normal?

Should I be looking to put in a battery shut off switch? Is there an easy way to add that and still have the automatic bilge pump work?

[nemalibu]

Hello All:

My battery went completely dead (down to 3.6 V) in two weeks and the boat was sitting on the trailer at the time (no bilge).

Is this normal?

Should I be looking to put in a battery shut off switch? Is there an easy way to add that and still have the automatic bilge pump work?

Forgot to mention: battery is 1.5 years old.

[electricjohn]

Not normal. Charge the battery and try again, double checking all loads are off.

[nemalibu]

Not normal. Charge the battery and try again, double checking all loads are off.

Charging battery now. I did a quick charge to 11.7 V and looked for a draw. I measured a 200 mA continuous draw. Does that sound correct?

[electricjohn]

Sounds normal. The 200 mA should drop off to less than 50 after 10 minutes or so when the ECM goes into sleep mode. Every time you turn the key or reconnect the battery the ECM wakes back up.

Edited May 12, 2008 by electricjohn

[Chef23]

Must have been something in the air. My battery was dead today also. I suspect mine may be old and ready to be replaced though.

[jcaksume]

The best solution is to take your batteries to a local auto parts store and have them do a load test on them. When my batteries start acting up thats my first step. Most of the time there are problems with the batteries and so far they still have the manufacturers warranty so I havent had to pay anything to swap them out with new ones. If the batteries check out good, make sure you find whats causing the draw on the batteries.

Jamie

[nemalibu]

It was definately the stereo. I checked with the dealer (ECFC) and they said that the JVC stereo/CD player I have does draw 200 mA all the time.

At this point I have unplugged the wire from the back of the breaker but I plan to rewire the stereo to work off of one of the accessory switches. Once I do this the radio will "forget" the station presets whenever I turn it off but my battery won't go dead.

The guy at ECFC mentioned that I could buy one of those solar panel battery chargers to make up for the 200 mA. Has anyone used one? Does it work? Where is a good place to get one? What does one cost?

[RTS]

The 'clock' feature of your JVC stereo should NOT draw .2 Amps (200mA). Your dealer is wrong. Either your JVC is malfunctioning, or you have another parasitic draw in your system, if your battey is OK and draining that fast.

I would suspect a bad cell in the battery.

My boat sits for 2-3 months at a time over the winter, with the clock feature of the stereo drawing, and the boat starts right up.

Have you had the battery tested? It would certainly be worth the trip to the local auto supply store to have this done.

Edited May 17, 2008 by rts

[nemalibu]

The 'clock' feature of your JVC stereo should NOT draw .2 Amps (200mA). Your dealer is wrong. Either your JVC is malfunctioning, or you have another parasitic draw in your system, if your battey is OK and draining that fast.

I would suspect a bad cell in the battery.

My boat sits for 2-3 months at a time over the winter, with the clock feature of the stereo drawing, and the boat starts right up.

Have you had the battery tested? It would certainly be worth the trip to the local auto supply store to have this done.

Battery tested out ok. The claim is that the combination of the memory for the station presets and the "simmer" function of the cd player, gives the 200 mA. Also seems high to me. Now that I have the stereo disconnected the battery seems to be holding charge fine. At this point I am planning to connect the stereo to one of the accessory switches to avoid the problem but I am a bit puzzled.

[Air Force 1]

Install a trickle charger and keep it plugged in....... Problem solved

AF1

[SCOTTDOMINE]

Better yet, a Perko switch to shut off all electrical systems to your Bu when it's off. No more need to worry. It would work similar to wiring your stereo to an accy switch, but you could add another battery at some time too and have the ability to switch power between the two of them. Just an idea

[nemalibu]

Better yet, a Perko switch to shut off all electrical systems to your Bu when it's off. No more need to worry. It would work similar to wiring your stereo to an accy switch, but you could add another battery at some time too and have the ability to switch power between the two of them. Just an idea

I have added a second battery and a selector switch. I do not want to switch it off because I moor the boat and I want to make sure the auto bilge can work.

[LS-One]

200 mA is 50mA less than a 1/4 amp draw. Your battery is probably rated at about 230 amp hours which is a good average but hard to figure out because most batteries are rated in CCA cold cranking amps.

Anyway using rough figures, and a 230 amp hour rating which once again would be in the ballpark, your battery would go dead in roughly 80 hours + or - a few hours with that kind of draw. The stereo memory shouldn't be that much.

Edited May 31, 2008 by LS-One