What is killing my battery?

I have a 2005 150CC w/ a Yamaha 50HP 2 stroke. I purchased this boat in February 2006.

If I do not start the boat for a week to 10 days my battery goes dead. I tired tracing a short, but I am not too sure how to go about this. I removed all negative wires from my battery, turned my ohm meter on, and put the black probe on the negative wires, and the red probe on the positive terminal. It shows a draw of 0.35. Then I tried this with the bilge pump plug disconnected in the stern hatch. It then showed a 1.92 draw. The present reading at the terminals is 13.14

Since I got the boat, I added an hour meter and an AM/FM/CD player. I thought the radio memory was the draw, but I disconnected the radio and the draw is still there.

The depth finder, VHF, and AM/FM are all drawing their power from the Nav / Anchor light switch....apparently the way the previous owner did the wiring. Even with these wires disconnected, I am still drawing 0.35.

What can be causing this, and how can I go about fixing it....and will this amout of a draw cause the battery to die.

Thanks,

[special K]

I'm having the same problem. I have a previous post since I put in a radio over the Christmas Holiday, and have had the battery do the same thing. I have a 50 Johnson on my 170 cc. I have an appt with the dealership in a couple of weeks. I'm going to have them check this along with putting in a dual battery. Will keep you posted as to what the dealer finds or tells me along with my steering issue from previous post.
Tight Lines Brian K

[cagrove]

Instead of trying to rack your brains and spending extra $$ trying to track down a little gremlin just kill it when you're off the water. I installed a battery cut off switch just to prevent this from happening. It cost about $30 from Boaters World and installed in less than half an hour. When the boat is put away after a trip, hit the switch and all power is dead. Here is a picture of the switch:




Just something to consider.

Good luck.

[special K]

Cagrove, I had considered doing that, Actually I just disconnect my battery when I get home after flushing. I'm really more afraid of the battery going dead in the middle of the Gulf. Going to have dual battery put in for peace of mind. Thanks for the input though
Brian

[MolarBoater]

Did the same as Chuck with the 2 battery switch. Good for going out in the Gulf so you will always be using one battery and have a second one ready just in case at the flip of a switch. I alternated which battery I use on consecutive days.

That said, I thought the memory of the radio was doing it as well but it is not going to run a battery down that quick. I also thought but didn't investigate fully that the bilge pump may be the culprit.

Good Luck, Molar

[fridaysoff]

Just a note,
I've owned lots of boats. I bought my 2004 Triumph 170 CC new. I have yet to have a problem with inner hull drains, popped screws in the deck, corroded wiring, or anything else on my boat that can be solved by preventive maintenance. I could have paid several hundred dollars more and purchased a Wellcraft or a Boston Whaler and received better wiring,etc. I got what I paid for. Nothing more, nothing less. Dollar for dollar. I have purchased a boat that has performed beyond my expectations for what I paid for it and I have a lifetime warranty on the hull to boot.. Like others have stated.... N'uf said... let's move on.....
John D.

[yesndeed]

The problem is the automatically cycling bilge pump. the thing to do is as has been suggested, spend twenty bucks, put in a battery switch and it will not happen again...as long as you DONT HAVE TWO KIDS, A WIFE A JOB AND A MORTGAGE AND YOU ACTUALLY GET TO USE YOUR BOAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT TO!!! Sorry, but I had this samr prob and it took care of it
will

[Putershark]

Or you could install a 3 way bilge pump switch with the center of the switch being the off position

[MolarBoater]

Mine only works in cycle mode now.....not skinny enough to get down there and fix or replace so I just turn the battery selector off or the bilge pump to auto. (i keep a spare)

It's a boat.....no getting around working on stuff.

My radio stopped working last weekend. I rewired and replace fuses, tested with ohm tester, traced wires and emailed the company. Then I went out and put bulb grease on the speaker connections and it works perfectly. Life.

[ReelDive]

"I removed all negative wires from my battery, turned my ohm meter on, and put the black probe on the negative wires, and the red probe on the positive terminal. It shows a draw of 0.35. Then I tried this with the bilge pump plug disconnected in the stern hatch. It then showed a 1.92 draw. The present reading at the terminals is 13.14"

Tell me more about your switch settings and connection. I'm not shure what you were reading but it probably doesn't have any thing to do with the problem. what you want to measure is any current that might be flowing with everything shut OFF. the way to do that is to disconect the - terminal as you did, then put the meter in 10A and plug the test leads into the 10A sockets on the meter. connect the ground or black probe to the neg battery post and the red or 10A probe ot the black wire going to the boat. If you read nothing then move the red meter lead to the + socket on the meter and select the highest ma position on the meter switch. decrease this setting untill you get a reading. this is the number that you need to compute battery drain in the all off condition. You could then caculate this against the amp/hour rating for you battery and come up with discharge time.


OR install the switch. But then you will lose any memory in electronic devices with a volitile memory.