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I've been noticing that the main battery in my boat is slowly being drained. I'll check it every few days and the voltage is always lower. When I put a new battery in the boat recently I noticed a spark when I touched one of the leads to the battery. All power was turned off but I noticed that the radio would come on every time I disconnect and reconnect the battery. My guess is that some how my radio is wired to the on position any time the power is disconnected but I think there is also some drain coming for somewhere, likely the radio. My question to you is this, how is your boat radio wired, do you have a separate switch for turning it on and off? Has anyone else had this kind of problem, battery drain, from their radio or other item connected to their battery?
WH2
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Many moons ago, I purchased a Perko switch from BearLakeMack. I am able to switch the power off to everything, with a couple clicks of one knob, after I get off the water. Makes me feel a lot better not having to worry about something draining the batteries.
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I've heard about those switches maybe from you. Do all the wires connect to the switch or just the positive wires?
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I'm not sure, I had it wired in for me. I just looked at it and I'm not sure what I am seeing.
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Sounds like you could have a short somewhere. Boat stereos are basically the same as any other car stereo other than water resistant. Wires are negative, positive( powered all the time ), and ignition which turns the stereo from standby to on or ready. If yo do not have a dedicated switch for the stereo or accessory, the positive and ignition can be wired together. This would make the stereo in "ready" mode all the time but is not "on" and uses very very little power.
The battery s witch is just that. Wired inline on the positive between the battery and the fuse block. There are many variations of these from Perko, BEP and others. On-off, bat1-bat2-off, VSR(voltage sensing relay) and so on.
If you decide your in the market for a switch, I have two Perko's left over from my boat build that I could make you a great deal on(I went with BEP, smaller).
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Unless I missed it, my boat does not have a fuse block, it does have push reset buttons for every item on the dash but not for my marine radio and AM/FM radio. How much do you want for a Perko switch and if you could, would you post a pic of it, thanks.
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Sounds like all thereset buttons are a fuse block and whomever wiredthe radio bypassed it.
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Yea, that is exactly what happened, I need to figure out which wire is drawing the voltage. It is a low draw, I took a voltage reading over several day and it dropped like this, 12.70v, 12.64v, 12.62v, 12.59v.
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Try and follow the wires for the radio and unhook that wire and retest. If it's not that set of wires then check each accessory individually. A pain I know but the only way I know.
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I tried earlier this week to disconnect the negative wires going to the battery, then I connected them one at a time. I expected to see a spark from the wire drawing the voltage but none of them sparked when I touched them back to the battery. I'm going to try the positive side next to see what happens. Once I figure out which wire is drawing the voltage, it should be an easy matter to tell what they go to. I'll just leave it disconnected and see what doesn't work.
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Sorry it took so long to get back to you, I was fishing/working in California.
I'll get you you a pic of the switch tomorrow, how's $20 sound?
Do you have a meter that will read DC Amps? If so that's the easiest way to find what is drawing current.
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Yes, I have a volt meter, that is how I got the voltage readings above. I'm not sure if I will need your switch because over the weekend I did some more checking and found out the wire that is drawing the power does connect to my radio. I've got some more checking to do but if it turns out that it is just the radio and not something else, I think all I will need is a simple toggle switch. I would still like to see a pic of your switch, just in case I need it.
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Splurge and get the Perko switch, and never have to worry about the fish finder being left on, the ignition switch being left on, or anything similar. Worth it to not have a ruined battery or a ruined fishing trip.
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Here is the switch. like Kentofnsl said, it's peace of mind. I went a little overboard according to some(my wife) but in my industry its all about redundancy and keeping things running if something fails. I have two switches, "house", "engine" VSR(voltage sensing relay) switches charging to house battery after engine battery is at 13.7V. Separate fuse blocks for each, two bilge pumps also separated. all LED lights, red and white interior, hatch lights in each hatch(no more flash light in my mouth).
If you want the switch but don't want to spend the money. I would be willing to trade the switch for some fishing knowledge. I've always been a trout/koke guy with limited time spent on other species.
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Just the positive wires are connected to the Perko switch. I had the same problem with a low-level drain. The Perko switches are worth their weight in gold. I have 2 batteries and I can switch A, or B, or A & B together. It allows your main engine to charge them separately while you are running too. Probably not a huge issue unless you are down at Powell for several days and don't have any power source to charge your batteries. You can literally run the deep cycle battery for your trolling motors totally dead and then switch your switch to the second battery and always have the piece of mind that you know you have power to start your main engine.
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Sent you a PM but were you planning on posting a pic of the switch?
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[quote kentofnsl]Splurge and get the Perko switch, and never have to worry about the fish finder being left on, the ignition switch being left on, or anything similar. Worth it to not have a ruined battery or a ruined fishing trip.[/quote]
LOL, but the Perko switch only works when you turn it on, right? So if you forget to turn your other switches off, I guess you could also forget to turn the Perko switch on[  ]. I'm not worried about that so much as I'm concerned about the battery drain.
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[quote wiperhunter2]
LOL, but the Perko switch only works when you turn it on, right? So if you forget to turn your other switches off, I guess you could also forget to turn the Perko switch on[ ]. I'm not worried about that so much as I'm concerned about the battery drain.
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True, but for the times you remember to switch your Perko switch to the "off" position you are protected.
"I'm not worried about that so much as I'm concerned about the battery drain." That is the purpose of the Perko switch, it cuts the power off near the battery, so if something goes wrong beyond the switch you are protected.
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Another benefit of a Perko switch is that you can install or repair an electrical accessory without the worry of shorting it or something else out while you are working on it or having to disconnect a wire or a battery cable.
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Sorry, I guess I missed the upload button.
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