Where is the electrical leak? 1984 61MY

[scottinsydney]

Batteries were fully charged last Sunday when I left the boat. Today the monitors said 31.5 volts with 1.5 amp continuous discharge showing on clamp meter on port battery bank terminal. Unfortunately I did not have any time to investigate further.

Tomorrow I will head down early to the boat to analyse. Apart from turning off all DC circuits and any other items attached directly to the batteries, I am wondering what parasitic devices might be drawing current? Or does a Hatt 61 simply draw this much when turned off? Surely not.

Somebody else must have had this issue. 1.5amps at 32 volts is almost equal to 4 amps at 12 volts so it must be something significant.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

[miboatnutz]

Under steady state conditions with no DC powered devices running I see between 0.1-0.3 Amps current draw on my port bank. I have voltage and amperage read outs on my charger and I leave it switched to port bank so I can monitor house load.

The current draw I'm getting is the LED lights that stay running on my toilet flush controls. If I shut off the toilets current draw goes to zero.

At 1.5 amps you have something drawing on the system. It's easiest with two people but I'd turn off each DC circuit and then take a measurement until you find the culprit. If you've checked all the circuits and still get the current draw then I'd shut off the main disconnect for that bank and work from the batteries forward.

I actually use the read out on the charger to tell me if I've left something DC powered running on the boat when I'm packing up and leaving. Usually on my boat 1.5 amps is a light left on somewhere.

Good luck.

[KPTIM]

Do you have red indicator lights on the DC panels?

If you do and they are the original setups they will be old school incandescent filament type light bulbs. These draw far more current then LED type lamps.

Also if your boat is a 32 volt system you need to know if any of the DC/DC converters run all the time. The ones for the dash instruments only come on with the ignition switch but others may run all the time.

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Bilge pumps?

[oscarvan]

Smoke detectors/CO detectors ?

[SEVEN]

I pulled all the red indicator light bulbs out and mine draws zero now. Make sure to pull the ones in the engine rooms as well.

[SKYCHENEY]

As stated, the most likely culprits are DC/DC converters. Also the 12pt systems monitor which is on the stbd bank will draw a small amount.

[doc g]

Is there not an onboard battery charger that is left on when the boat is unattended ?

[scottinsydney]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I edited my original text and fixed the typo. Boat is 32 volts. Draw when off is 1.5 amps at 32 volts or about 4 amps at 12 volts.

The boat is kept on a swing mooring.

[doc g]

Could be time to invest in some solar panels to keep the batteries charged up .........Pat