Battery Current Draw With Battery Switch Off

[Douglas Dorsi]

I was replacing the 2 batteries on my 2005 22C Aronow Edition and noticed that when I connected the battery leads to each battery a small spark was made. This occurred when connecting each of the two batteries. I Had the battery switch in the both off position and the ignition key was not in the ignition switch.

The boat has no clock and i do not know of anything that operates or requires power with ignition and battery switch off. Possibly the stereo does. I did not check this out. I am not sure if the stereo uses power to maintain stations or other settings. It may have a clock but I am not sure. I assume with no load that no spark should have occurred any idea's would help.The boats set up is completely as furnished by factory. No electrical add ons. I have not measured the current draw but will check it this weekend.

Forgive my ignorance on this one, just trying to insure I have everything in order here.

[jg480]

It could be the radio or the float switch on the bilge pump. Those are the only things that I know that are wired ahead of the disconnect.
Jim

[BUIZILLA]

does the radio have an amp?

the memory portion of the radio is in miliamps.. not a sparkable commodity..

[Douglas Dorsi]

Thanks for the tips.

There is no seperate amp for the radio.

If it was the float switch does the switch itself draw power? I thought (maybe incorrectly) that the switch just makes a mechanical electrical connection to supply power to the bidge pump which would then run & draw power. The bildge pump did not run when the battery was connected.

[BlownCrewCab]

The Float switch is probably a Mercury (Heavy Liquid Metal) and will only Flow power (not draw any) is the Bilge pump running full time, Like the switch is stuck On? if not, thats not it.

[Pismo]

Radios, etc, it sucks. Battery switches suck. They should shut of all power and they don't. You need a terminal switch which disconnects the battery mechanically to really do the job you want. Battery switches do their thing which i feel is not enough, your batteries will still go dead after sitting.

[Douglas Dorsi]

Terminal switch sounds like the best thing to install. Any particular brand of high quality?

[jg480]

I had the same problem on a 2004 boston whaler. If I recall it was after I had a Gps installed. The current draw was about 120ma with everything shut off. Like Buizilla said thats not enough to produce a spark.

[Tidbart]

Try looking at what is connected to the batteries that doesn't go through the switch. Then trace out that wire. If nothing is connected in this manner, take an ohmmeter to the battery switch and see if it is any good.
B

[Ghost]

Radios, etc, it sucks. Battery switches suck. They should shut of all power and they don't. You need a terminal switch which disconnects the battery mechanically to really do the job you want. Battery switches do their thing which i feel is not enough, your batteries will still go dead after sitting.

Not disputing anything, but trying to make sure I understand.

Are you saying that it is common to wire some things directly, such that the battery switch does not attempt to cut them off?

Or are you saying that a battery switch (like the usual Perko "On/Off" or "Batt1/Batt2/All/Off") will actually PASS CURRENT when the "Off" setting is selected??

Or both?

Mike

[mrfixxall]

Radios, etc, it sucks. Battery switches suck. They should shut of all power and they don't. You need a terminal switch which disconnects the battery mechanically to really do the job you want. Battery switches do their thing which i feel is not enough, your batteries will still go dead after sitting.


Mine cuts everything off! my batterys are 10 yrs old and i probably had a charger on them a hand full of times in 10 years..

[zelatore]

Not disputing anything, but trying to make sure I understand.

Are you saying that it is common to wire some things directly, such that the battery switch does not attempt to cut them off?

Or are you saying that a battery switch (like the usual Perko "On/Off" or "Batt1/Batt2/All/Off") will actually PASS CURRENT when the "Off" setting is selected??

Or both?

Mike

Yes and no.

I've never seen a Perko (or similar) style battery switch pass current in the off position. I've seen them overheat from excess current draw and not pass enough current in the on position (that can be a bear to troubleshoot the first time), but it's uncommon for anything like this to fail in such a way that it passes current. Typically they 'burn out' and create an open, not a closed circuit.

On the other hand, it is common to wire some things to the battery bypassing the switch. These things should be protected with their own fuse or circuit breaker near the battery, and typically include items like the bilge pump, stereo memory, and CO detectors (on boats with cabins) - basically things you want to stay on all the time for safety or convenience.

[brwn234]

On my 22zx I've got a Perko battery selector under the engine hatch and a On/Off switch under the rear seat near the breakers. I can select both batteries off on the selector and leave the breaker switch on and my bilge pump and Mercathode system stay on. Dumb question but maybe there's another switch?

[Pismo]

Not disputing anything, but trying to make sure I understand.

Are you saying that it is common to wire some things directly, such that the battery switch does not attempt to cut them off?

Or are you saying that a battery switch (like the usual Perko "On/Off" or "Batt1/Batt2/All/Off") will actually PASS CURRENT when the "Off" setting is selected??

Or both?

Mike

Yeah, other things bypass the switch.

[joseph m. hahnl]

The battery always has power in it unless it is dead:bonk: . It runs power up to the selector switch:lightning, It is there that the power is cut :yes:. you would need a volt meter to see if the current is flowing beyond the switch:shocking:,when it is in the off position. I also believe that the alternator wire will always be in contact with the battery to maintain the charge in both batteries regardless of the selector switch .The voltage input to the batteries is controlled by the voltage regulator so it doesn't over charge. Also the bilge pump should always be hot even when both batteries are off. You wouldn't want your boat to sink would you:blub:

[Douglas Dorsi]

I disconnected the jack to the stereo and I did not have any more current draw. Looks like the stereo bypasses the battery switch. I do not need to maintain station memory since I only use the CD player. For a sure fire fix just in case something else is drawing power I am going to install a Hella 1000 AMP battery cutoff switch (picture attached) directly to each negative terminal on the two new Optima batteries ahead of the Perko switch. I may be going a little overboard but I do not want any current draw, and I want my batteries in top shape at all times. Been burnt once and dont intend on any more issues if I can help it.

I installed a Guest 10Amp per battery dual battery charger. I operate in salt water and the boat is stored at a marina so after each use I have the marina put it in a wash rack and I wash the whole boat down and flush the engine with Salt Away. Since I restart the boat and run it for a short time to do that, it does not provide enough time to top off the batteries. For this I use the Guest on board charger after flushing while I dry off the boat and clean the interior which I do every outing (gives me a chance meet new people at the marina and have a beer or two).
I have noticed that these batteries if fully charged and then left uncharged for about four weeks when fully disconnected only take about 10 min for the Guest charger to top them off. They do not leak down as quickly as the conventional Interstate battries I had for three years.