.5 amp draw. All is off.

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Disconnect one at a time and see,

That's about it. Check anything coming directly off battery, first.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

That's about it. Check anything coming directly off battery, first.

If it is coming DIRECTLY off the battery, it shouldn't show up on the monitor, should it?

Jim

[Terra Nova]

Simply a procedural recommendation.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by bornyesterday

These are all just guesses - I'm reasonably familiar with my own system but not much marine experience outside that. I would definitely check with a multimeter on DC Amps first to confirm that the current drain is actually there.

A few things might be "always on" or "standby," have a quiescent current draw or may have been connected outside your main panels.

Bilge pump you already mentioned - is there also a bilge alarm? Gas alarm? CO? Smoke? VHF? Aerial splitter? Inverter? Radar on a quick-start setting? Bilge blower?

Don't rely on equipment switches, pull fuses where you can.
Good luck and let us know how it works out

+1, good advice.

Another item that is always "on" (even when switched off) is an Icom M802 HF.

[mariner36bob]

Thanks fellas. I know what I've got to do.
I'll find it and reply with results for what it's worth. Had some time to dig and it's got to be something else. These 4 combined should not add up to half an amp. I really don't care for puzzles, if you hear anyone cussing, it will be me.

[poiu]

I had about that draw with all off. Narrowed it down to the battery combiner and the engine fire cut off system. Both off sub busses to the maintained bus.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by mariner36bob

Installed a battery monitor today. I was wicked proud that the monitor is working as it should. Then I shut everything off and get ready to split when I see a draw of -0.5A on the monitor.

The cool thing was the monitor told me the new batteries could handle this for a couple hundred hours, but I’ve got to get to the bottom of it. Only three fixtures have always hot leads; a Johnson bilge pump (built in float), a stereo memory and the new monitor itself (Victron 602s).

Before I spend tomorrow evening pulling fuses and chasing my tail, do you think these three items could be pulling that kind of draw at "standby"? I was thinking I might have a ground not making contact somewhere.
Thank you.

Remove neg lead on bank and insert a DVM set to the amperage setting and see if they both agree.

[mariner36bob]

Roger Roger.
Thanks.

[CarlF]

Don't believe the manufacturer's specs for power draw for things like stereo's. Misprints and numbers from previous models can be copied without checking.

And I catch errors in amps to milliamp conversions (or labeling) all the time. The decimal point is often in the wrong place.

[Cuttyhunk]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

If it is coming DIRECTLY off the battery, it shouldn't show up on the monitor, should it?



Jim

The victron has a shunt on the negative lead to the house bank. It should read everything if the installer made sure that all negative leads feed into the shunt and then one lead goes from the shunt to the battery.

[hellosailor]

A car stereo's "memory" circuit might draw 5 to 50 mA, depending on the age of the radio. (Older ones tend to draw more than newer ones.) If you don't listen to the radio much and just use the CD, tape, whatever player? You can of course disconnect the memory lead.

An inexpensive $20 multimeter can be a good way to explore. Set it in 2A or 10A scale, then with everything turned off, use the meter to jump each switch (or breaker or fuse) until you find the circuit drawing the extra power. That also gives you a reality check on the installed ammeter.

[noelex 77]

As suggested a DMM is your best way to diagnose the problem.

Be careful what you switch on with the DMM in the circuit. They are limited to 10A, or sometimes 20A and even then for perhaps 30s or so.
Also be aware that it possible to generate a small spark when connecting the leads. Wear some eye protection.

A clamp on multimeter is an alternative. They will measure current without disconnecting the wire. It is a very useful tool to have on a boat.
The resolution is a little limited at very low currents, but it would still diagnose the problem in a very easy and safe way.

[exMaggieDrum]

The most common reason for this is some circuit that gets power from the batts that does not go to the circuit breaker panel. If there are any positive leads that bypass the circuit breakers then you could get a draw. You could also have a parasitic drawer from corroded wiring before the panel. Common items that don't go to the panel are bilge pumps and alarms which should be on a fuse or dedicated breaker.

Also high current devices such as windlasses would not go to a panel but they would normally be off. Often times people will wire radios and other electronics direct to the batteries because the manufacturer instructions say to do that (supposedly to avoid "noise" from other circuits). They might have a keep alive circuit even when off. Electric clocks are sometimes wired direct too but .5 amp would be a high number.

If you can parallel your start and house batteries, then un-parallel them and check again. Inverter chargers can produce a small draw as well so take them out of the circuit.

I would hope that your monitor is not +/- .5 amp but who knows. Check with an accurate ammeter.

[mariner36bob]

All good advice that will be followed. It's killing me that I can't get to it right now. Boat launching season on full throttle at work.

I'm going to start with the things I installed this and last year and work backwards to factory equipment; monitor, then ACR, then bilge pump and stereo.

These are the likely culprits in my mind as they all have an always hot lead. If nothing wrong there then; inverter chartplotter, radar AIS and gps antennae.
I bet I find the "leak" in one of my installs.

.

[sailorboy1]

I think my BM always says there is a small current. I think it is wrong as the battery voltage doesn't follow what would be the AH drain. I just changed my BM to ignore it.

But if it really bothered me as much as the OP I would check the BM against a good amp meter and there calibrate the BM.

Don't chase and worry about a "problem" until you know it really exists!