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gibson1525 
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Joined: November-01-2011 Location: Lake Lanier, GA Status: Offline Points: 84 |
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 Topic: Battery drainPosted: May-12-2024 at 1:54pm |
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I think I’ve got a battery drain somewhere in my 2004 Air. The battery is dead after leaving the switch in the all off position.
After removing a battery cable and testing with a multimeter from the battery terminal to the disconnected cable I get 12v with both the switch in the All On and All Off positions. Shouldn’t it go to 0 in the All Off position? |
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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KENO
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Joined: June-06-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11115 |
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Posted: May-12-2024 at 4:46pm |
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Not really knowing what wires you're checking and where, if I wanted to know if the switch worked I'd probably do something easy like hook up the wire(s) that were disconnected so everything is back to normal, then:
Put the switch in the all on position Turn something on like the bilge blower Turn the switch to all off See if the blower turns off or stays running Post results
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gibson1525
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Joined: November-01-2011 Location: Lake Lanier, GA Status: Offline Points: 84 |
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Posted: May-12-2024 at 7:34pm |
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More background:
I bought a new battery two years ago, this spring it was dead, wouldn’t hold a charge. I bought a new one, worked one day then was dead a week later when I went to start it. I assumed something was sucking power from somewhere. I took the battery back to be tested today, they thought it was bad. I hooked up the replacement today. I’ll test it tomorrow to see if the battery is fully charged. The switch seems to work as it should with a full battery. Here’s hoping I just bought a bad battery! |
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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MrMcD
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Joined: January-28-2014 Location: Folsom, CA Status: Offline Points: 3750 |
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Posted: May-13-2024 at 1:40am |
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Every Boat owner should also own a good battery charger. Minimum of 10 AMP charger, new chargers are fully automated to keep you from over charging your battery. A must have tool.
When I park my boat for the winter I do that with the battery cable disconnected so nothing can drain the battery. Radio's can give you a constant low voltage or mil volt drain that over 3 mos time will drain a battery. It sounds like you have a parasitic drain, follow Kens advice above. Get a Multi Tester and start checking each wire run from the fuse to the battery, One is draining your battery you just need to find out which one. A hot wire is hitting a partial ground, a full ground would allow the wire to melt. As fast as yours is draining you might find it with a temperature check on your wires with everything off and the battery fully charged and Hooked up I am thinking one wire is going to be warmer than the others where your drain is located. The Multi Meter will also allow you to do an AMP drain or Voltage Drop test on each circuit to help find the issue. Hope it is obvious and found quickly.
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KENO
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Joined: June-06-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11115 |
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Posted: May-13-2024 at 6:53am |
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So the switch works like it should and isolates all the stuff that it should.
Maybe you had a bad battery, you'll know soon There are other loads that the switch won't isolate, but they can wait on your overnight results.
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fanofccfan
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Joined: December-13-2009 Location: North Bend NE Status: Offline Points: 1781 |
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Posted: May-13-2024 at 8:50am |
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I am trying to remember what I did to fix that issue on my 2004 ski. It had something to do with the stereo at the time. I know that I ran a new wire to for something......I will try to look tonight. It was such a big issue that I became know as "Dead Battery Bill"!!
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2004 196 LE Ski 1969 Marauder 19 1978 Ski
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gibson1525
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Joined: November-01-2011 Location: Lake Lanier, GA Status: Offline Points: 84 |
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Posted: May-13-2024 at 9:04am |
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The battery went from 12.4 to 11.4v overnight with the switch in the All Off position. That seems like a big drop for just overnight
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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KENO
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Joined: June-06-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11115 |
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Posted: May-13-2024 at 9:44am |
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Well, so much for the easy fix That rules out the battery. It should have stayed right about at the 12.4 that you started with.
Not sure if/what you have a radio or where it might be wired into, but downstream of the switch would kill some radio power with the switch OFF. Upstream would always be a draw. Generally newer radio's have a small amount of draw due to keep alive power that's still on to retain settings, time function etc. when the radio is turned off. So 2 separate power supplies. The keep alive power would be upstream of the switch and always alive. A kinda easy check to see if the alternator might be the problem (bad diodes) would be to unplug the connector on the alternator and remove the output wire from the output terminal. Tape the end of the wire so it can't short on anything because there is battery voltage there all the time Charge the battery again. leave the alternator wires off overnight and see what happens to voltage or kill the radio power supplies and see what happens to voltage overnight. Do either the alternator or radio but not both so that you'll only be changing one thing at a time..
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gibson1525
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Joined: November-01-2011 Location: Lake Lanier, GA Status: Offline Points: 84 |
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Posted: May-13-2024 at 11:18am |
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I’m not sure about where the radio is wired into. Although I’ve had the boat 5 years ands never had a problem until now so I’m thinking the radio probably isn’t the issue.
I’ll charge the battery today and try your alternator suggestion tonight |
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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fanofccfan
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Joined: December-13-2009 Location: North Bend NE Status: Offline Points: 1781 |
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Posted: May-14-2024 at 8:25am |
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I looked at mine last night and it was the amp for the stereo that was not wired through the master switch. Probably not your issue but it did fix mine.
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2004 196 LE Ski 1969 Marauder 19 1978 Ski
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gibson1525
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Joined: November-01-2011 Location: Lake Lanier, GA Status: Offline Points: 84 |
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Posted: May-14-2024 at 12:56pm |
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Well, there was a 4v drop in the battery yesterday with just the alternator unplugged. Dang, I was hoping that was the cause.
There’s several things plugged directly into the battery, I’m not which are upstream and which are downstream of the battery switch though. Honestly in not even sure what they all are. I guess I’m in for deep dive into it to get it figured out. Any suggestions as to how to start are appreciated. |
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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fanofccfan
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Posted: May-14-2024 at 1:36pm |
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Is there a spark when you hook up your battery? Hook up one wire on the positive side at a time to try to isolate the cause. If you can figure out which of them cause the spark that is more than likely the circuit that is causing your issue.
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2004 196 LE Ski 1969 Marauder 19 1978 Ski
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KENO
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Posted: May-14-2024 at 5:25pm |
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I think I'd ask "dead battery Bill" how many wires/cables are on his positive battery terminal for comparison purposes. I'd guess it'll be one of those several things. I'd shotgun it and unhook everything that doesn't look factory and do the overnight test again |
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gibson1525
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Posted: May-14-2024 at 7:01pm |
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I’ve got about 5 things hooked to the positive terminal. I’ll start testing them one at a time. I took the amps off today, we’ll see what happens.
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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gibson1525
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Posted: May-14-2024 at 7:04pm |
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I noticed a spark when they were all hooked up together, I’ll try and separate them and see if I can isolate one of them that sparks |
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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gibson1525
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Joined: November-01-2011 Location: Lake Lanier, GA Status: Offline Points: 84 |
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Posted: May-15-2024 at 7:50am |
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Went from 12 to 11.7 overnight with the stereo amp unplugged. I’m not sure what to make of that though.
While it’s much better than the 4v loss with it plugged in, it still seems like enough loss to be a battery drain |
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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gibson1525
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Posted: May-15-2024 at 7:51am |
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I’ll leave it another day or two and see what happens. Maybe I’ve got two drains?
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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fanofccfan
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Joined: December-13-2009 Location: North Bend NE Status: Offline Points: 1781 |
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Posted: May-15-2024 at 8:09am |
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If you are still getting a spark hooking up any of the wires you still have a drain. I had one auxiliary wire hooked to the positive side of the battery besides the master red cable. If you have five then unhook all until you see a spark and yes you may have more than one. Have you ever tried letting the battery overnight with nothing hooked up to it? It should not lose any voltage overnight.
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2004 196 LE Ski 1969 Marauder 19 1978 Ski
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Mpost
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Joined: July-05-2018 Location: Monticello, MN Status: Offline Points: 329 |
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Posted: May-15-2024 at 9:34am |
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If you have a VOM you can do a current check with it to determine if there is any current draw on each wire. There is usually a 10 amp and a MA (milliamp) connection on most VOMs. connect the lead to the 10Amp to the Positive battery terminal and the COM (ground) to the wire you want to test and check the reading. If nothing shows up on the 10Amp plug try the MA plug.
I have used this many times to find a small drain in vehicles and boats. If it is a significant drain a test light may even show the wire at fault.
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84 SN Sold 98 SN Lund Pro V 1975 Alumacraft
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63 Skier
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Joined: October-06-2006 Location: Concord, NH Status: Offline Points: 4269 |
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Posted: May-15-2024 at 9:46am |
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CC/Nautique tended to wire bilge pumps so that the main breaker and certainly a battery switch would turn them off. Some people that leave their boats in the water re-wire bilge pumps to be always powered, for obvious reasons. I wonder if one of those direct wires is to the pumps, and if you have one that is drawing the current. You could disconnect them at the pumps (think it is a plug connector, can't remember though) and see if that makes a difference overnight.
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'63 American Skier - '98 Sport Nautique
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KENO
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Posted: May-15-2024 at 1:31pm |
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One thing you should figure out is that you don't really want to make statements like the above one from earlier in the thread.....they come back to bite ya'
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gibson1525
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Posted: May-15-2024 at 8:59pm |
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Hahaha, oh so true. Well said |
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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fanofccfan
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Posted: May-16-2024 at 7:53am |
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So.....was it the radio or amp? Or is it still a mystery?
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2004 196 LE Ski 1969 Marauder 19 1978 Ski
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gibson1525
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Posted: May-16-2024 at 10:22am |
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No voltage drop overnight, that’s now 48hr with the amp unplugged and no lost voltage. Looks like I found the source.
Next question is what exactly am I looking for? Pull the wires and inspect for frayed wiring? If that looks ok, do I assume it’s somewhere inside the amp and just replace the amp? |
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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gibson1525
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Posted: May-16-2024 at 10:28am |
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I tried this but must be doing something wrong. With the power switch in the ‘all off position’, When I pull the main battery cable terminal and check it I get 12v. When I individually check the other 5 wires connected to the battery I get a range from 5mA to 9A. |
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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fanofccfan
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Posted: May-16-2024 at 12:46pm |
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I rewired the amp power through the master switch.
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2004 196 LE Ski 1969 Marauder 19 1978 Ski
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KENO
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Posted: May-16-2024 at 1:28pm |
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Remember your statement about the radio not being the problem because everything was just fine for 5 years.
Well............something changed with the amp to start causing the problem this year I suppose you could do like DBB ( that's short for Dead Battery Bill) said or figure out the amp issue that just popped up.. Good thing you listened to DBB, and I'd still figure out what all the other wires go to that are live all the time.
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gibson1525
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Posted: May-30-2024 at 1:16am |
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8 days between uses and no drop once the amp was off the battery, success! Warm weather is here so I’ve decided to table any further investigation until winter. The tower speakers aren’t working properly anyway so I guess I’ll just fix both at the same time. Thanks for all the help!
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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gibson1525
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Posted: May-30-2024 at 1:19am |
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Yes I definitely need to do that. Perfect winter project. The previous owner put in the radio, amps and sub. I’ll buck up and figure out how everything is wired once ski season is over
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1988 SN 2001
2004 216 |
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MrMcD
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Posted: May-30-2024 at 12:09pm |
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Good Plan, at least you have it running now.
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gibson1525 wrote: