During the email string I found myself wondering if you had a voltmeter in the system.
I have a Blue Seas 8235 voltmeter in my system, which has a max power consumption of 1 watt. Presumably most of that is to power the LCD display. 1 watt at 12v is about 0.1 amp – which is what my Link Light battery monitor shows when all the other power draws on the boat are turned off. If you have a Blue Seas voltmeter, you can reduce the draw by putting the meter in “sleep” mode manually. Rick Brass Washington, NC From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of David Knecht via CnC-List Sent: Friday, August 18, 2017 3:29 PM To: CnC CnC discussion list <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: David Knecht <davidakne...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Stus-List Battery/Wiring Problem? Thanks for the replies. I had already planned on moving the emergency bilge pump power to the hot side of the switch as Dennis suggested and did that today. So now I can leave the main switch off and not have the 100mA draw but still have the bilge pump safety switch. I do have a stereo (which I almost never use) but it is switched at the panel so should be off. I did some more testing and found a few bits of data: 1. I disconnected the ACR and the draw was the same. 2. I found that there were 3 circuits connected to the switched side of the main rotary switch that did not all go to circuit breakers in the panel. One turned out go to the voltmeter on the panel. One is a water tank gauge. Haven’t located what the other connects to. So the problem is effectively solved, but it would still be nice to know where that 100mA is going. At least I have learned a few new tidbits about the boat doing all this, I had no idea that there were level gauges in the water tanks because the labels on the panel were worn off. Dave On Aug 17, 2017, at 9:49 PM, Gary Russell via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com <mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: Hi David, A 100 ma drain will kill a 100 AH battery in about a thousand hours. Yeah, I know it's a little more complicated than that, but it's a reasonable approximation. Three batteries, 3,000 hours. So It's not a very significant drain, but it might be worth tracking it down. I have a similar drain on my boat, and am suspicious of the ACR relay as well. One of these days I'll look into it. Gary S/V Kaylarah '90 C&C 37+ East Greenwich, RI, USA ~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~ On Thu, Aug 17, 2017 at 9:32 AM, David Knecht via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com <mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: I had a suspicion of a power leak in my DC system so did some diagnostics yesterday. I have a solar panel running when not on the boat, so it has not been a high priority to solve (the batteries are always fully charged when I get to the boat), but I wanted to determine if it was real. I took all the negative leads off the batteries and then put my ammeter between the negative lead and the negative post of the house battery. I have a Blue Seas “add a battery” rotary switch which isolates the start battery from the house battery. I normally leave this switch on so that the emergency bilge pump switch and LED courtesy lights will operate. Those are the only things I know of that still work when the panel switches are all off. I measured a 100 mA with the rotary switch on and all panel switches off. I measured 0 mA with the switch off. I thought it might be the automatic bilge pump, but that is a mechanical float switch and disconnecting it had no effect. So either I am getting current through the panel with all circuit breakers off or this somehow relates to the battery isolation in the Blue Seas ACR system. Any thoughts from the geniuses on this list as to where to go next diagnosing this? Also, is 100 mA a significant drain? Thanks- Dave Aries 1990 C&C 34+ New London, CT <pastedGraphic.tiff> _______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated! _______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated! Aries 1990 C&C 34+ New London, CT
_______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
