Geoff Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 My boat has not been used for about 4 weeks , went to lift the motor a few days ago only to find the battery , which is only 12 months old ,was nearly flat. The only item that I know of that is drawing power is the iluminated clock in the AM/FM radio. Using a multimeter , can someone advise what I should set the dial to & at what point do I test , can it be done at the battery or does it need to be tested at the radio. Hopefully it it can be tested at the battery as this will indicate the total amps being drawn. Perhaps there is something else consuming power Here is a pic of the multimeter Tks Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazin1978 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 (edited) My boat has not been used for about 4 weeks , went to lift the motor a few days ago only to find the battery , which is only 12 months old ,was nearly flat. The only item that I know of that is drawing power is the iluminated clock in the AM/FM radio. Using a multimeter , can someone advise what I should set the dial to & at what point do I test , can it be done at the battery or does it need to be tested at the radio. Hopefully it it can be tested at the battery as this will indicate the total amps being drawn. Perhaps there is something else consuming power Here is a pic of the multimeter Tks Geoff Take the red lead from the multimeter and plug it in the 10amp DC section, put the multimeter on the 10amp setting aswell. Go to your battery and leave the positive lead connected, remove the negative lead the put the positive of the multimeter on the negative of the battery, the negative of the multimeter on a good earth. This should give you a amp reading. For a radio it will be around 0.10 amps. To see that the clock is using the power take out the power to it or the fuse and the amps should drop, if it doesnt drop by much keep unplugging accessories until you find the culprit. EDIT: 0.10 amps is probably abit to high for the radio when its off, should be around 0.02 amps, which explains why my battery is draining after a week, damn lucas electrics :ranting2: Just done a similar thing on my car as something was draining the battery, easiest way is to pull out fuses until the amps drop, if your boat has any. Hope that made sense Edited February 11, 2012 by livo4life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 Tks for your reply. Can I just check one point. Go to your battery and leave the positive lead connected, remove the negative lead the put the positive of the multimeter on the negative of the battery, the negative of the multimeter on a good earth. : To clarify your comments , if the negative battery lead is disconnected then there will be no power to the radio or any other item. Am I then correct in saying that when the multimeter is connected , as per your instructions , along with a combination of the setting (10A)& the battery in the multimeter it can detect the amount of amps being drawn by the radio clock even though there is no actual power going to the radio Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike82 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 (edited) Tks for your reply. Can I just check one point. To clarify your comments , if the negative battery lead is disconnected then there will be no power to the radio or any other item. Am I then correct in saying that when the multimeter is connected , as per your instructions , along with a combination of the setting (10A)& the battery in the multimeter it can detect the amount of amps being drawn by the radio clock even though there is no actual power going to the radio Geoff The above is correct with the red lead swapped (to the 10A position), the multimeter set to 10A then put in series with the red lead (of the multimeter) on the terminal post and the black to the (removed) battery cable. This creates the circuit as it runs through the multimeter. If the battery in the boat is flat, you will get a slightly lower multimeter reading than with a fully charged battery. Don't attempt to start the engine with the meter in as its internals are only rated to about 10A. Hope this helps. Edited February 11, 2012 by aquaman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeoB Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 G'day My recommendation is cut your cable and put a switch in! If you can't disconnect your battery you NEED to isolate it. Even the resistance of the cable is slowly draining your battery. This isn't a problem on cars as most are started most days but is 100% unacceptable for any battery which isn't kept charged. Give me a pm if you've got any questions, I'm a sparky. Cheers Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 G'day My recommendation is cut your cable and put a switch in! If you can't disconnect your battery you NEED to isolate it. Even the resistance of the cable is slowly draining your battery. Cheers Leo Tks guys for your replies Leo. Inserting a switch is an option I have considered & is still on the table , so to speak. It's a bit of a "Catch 22 " as the radio is from a car & if I turn the power off then each time I want to use the radio the pin No. needs to be coded in & the push button settings reprogramed. I guess the choice I'm looking at is to fit a switch or connect the battery charger every week or so. Having said that , I still need to do the multimeter test to see how many amps are being drawn then disconnect the radio to see if something else is consuming power as the problem has not occured previously , it'a near new battery & had a good charge when I last used the boat in early January. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeoB Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I'll post a pic when I get home. Cheers Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooker435 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I agree with the Switch idea also. as I have hooked up a volt guage to my Boat so i can see if its charging or not and the charging system on the outboards charges but does not charge much, so unless you use your boat on a regular basis the battery will lose its charge because you might start it from time to time, lift up the motor etc and dont re-charge the battery, so isolating it will help as the radio might take a little bit but over time adds up and then when you go to start a cold engine that has not been run in a while it will take alot of effort to get it going. some people just charge their batteries before use but its up to the individual, I normally start it up at home make sure everything's sweet usually the batteries will get a good charge once I am on the water but if it needs a little jump start its alot easier to do it all at home and find out if the battery is good before heading out and having a trouble free day... sorry to go off the topic but just thought Id share. Regards, Nathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Should be around 0.02 amps, Have just tested as per instructions & the reading was .02 Amp. Charged the battery a few days ago & it's been holding around 13.0V for the past 2 days. As far as the flat battery , perhaps the charge was not as high as I thought (assumed) after the last outing so will be paying closer attention in the future. Thanks again for all for their comments & assistance Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get The Net Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Easy Fix make your son in law take you out for a fish. That way the battery all charge up. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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