John E3
Active Member
Post winter haul both battery banks are going stone dead within about 2 weeks. All 4 batteries are about 18mo old. Because we were going to be away when it got hauled I disconnected shore power, then it was almost 2 weeks till they hauled it. No issues with starting, so they seemed fine then.
About 3 weeks after hauling I went over to winterize and stb was 6.5v and port was 10.5. I drug out 200ft of cord and connected line 1for the charger. Meter slapped hard to 40a+ and back to zero maybe 10 times, then settled at 30, the full rating. I went back the next day, charger at 0, stbd at 12.6, port still 10.5. Loaded stbd side and the charger still sat at zero. This is the original 1999 charger. I suspected it may have been on the way out and causing the drain.
I had a spare Xantrex multi stage 3 bank from another boat so I installed it and all was well. Yard does not allow unattended plug in, so power off, and 2 or 3 weeks later, both are dead again. I was not turning off the mains, but every panel switch was off.
Stbd bank feeds pumps, stereo memory and 12v distro panel. Port bank feeds other pumps and helm/electronics. Mains only cut power to distro panel and helm. Pumps, blowers, stereo and system monitor are not switched. I did turn off the mains when I unplugged a few days ago so that will eliminate a lot of potential loads, but every switch in the panel and at the helm is off, so there should be no chance of a load regardless of the mains. If they go dead again it's got to be TWO unswitched loads as there is no connection between them.
Once the Temps get back above 30 I'll be back over to start testing. I have a shunt based amp meter that goes on the battery posts to take measurements. Of the unswitched loads the system monitor, stereo and bilge blower modules (one on each bank) are the only devices that could be a drain, all the pumps are float switches and the bilge was bone dry at haul, and sumps verified when I winterized them. The pump below the aft sump was cycled due to draining the waterheater. That pump and float are new this past season cause they were missing. Others have been tested for peace of mind, since they never run.
So the key question for the crowd here is, can you manually trip the DC circuit breakers, short of.. uh.. a short? That would allow me to track down a load, if I find there is one. Every unswitched load has its own breaker.
I have little doubt new batteries could be the issue. 1 is from WM and the other 3 are NAPA brand, and 100% identical, probably off the same mfg line.
John
About 3 weeks after hauling I went over to winterize and stb was 6.5v and port was 10.5. I drug out 200ft of cord and connected line 1for the charger. Meter slapped hard to 40a+ and back to zero maybe 10 times, then settled at 30, the full rating. I went back the next day, charger at 0, stbd at 12.6, port still 10.5. Loaded stbd side and the charger still sat at zero. This is the original 1999 charger. I suspected it may have been on the way out and causing the drain.
I had a spare Xantrex multi stage 3 bank from another boat so I installed it and all was well. Yard does not allow unattended plug in, so power off, and 2 or 3 weeks later, both are dead again. I was not turning off the mains, but every panel switch was off.
Stbd bank feeds pumps, stereo memory and 12v distro panel. Port bank feeds other pumps and helm/electronics. Mains only cut power to distro panel and helm. Pumps, blowers, stereo and system monitor are not switched. I did turn off the mains when I unplugged a few days ago so that will eliminate a lot of potential loads, but every switch in the panel and at the helm is off, so there should be no chance of a load regardless of the mains. If they go dead again it's got to be TWO unswitched loads as there is no connection between them.
Once the Temps get back above 30 I'll be back over to start testing. I have a shunt based amp meter that goes on the battery posts to take measurements. Of the unswitched loads the system monitor, stereo and bilge blower modules (one on each bank) are the only devices that could be a drain, all the pumps are float switches and the bilge was bone dry at haul, and sumps verified when I winterized them. The pump below the aft sump was cycled due to draining the waterheater. That pump and float are new this past season cause they were missing. Others have been tested for peace of mind, since they never run.
So the key question for the crowd here is, can you manually trip the DC circuit breakers, short of.. uh.. a short? That would allow me to track down a load, if I find there is one. Every unswitched load has its own breaker.
I have little doubt new batteries could be the issue. 1 is from WM and the other 3 are NAPA brand, and 100% identical, probably off the same mfg line.
John
