Battery drain
Submitted: Friday, Feb 03, 2012 at 10:48
ThreadID:
91635
Views:
2998
Replies:
3
FollowUps:
0
This Thread has been Archived
Qldrrr
Morning all,
I have a duel battery system isolated by a redarc. I have just tossed a 105a/h deep cycle battery that last just over 12 months. I put this down in part to never properly charging the battery - until now I have never had a proper battery charger and relied on the redarc and a small solar system - obviously never properly charged the battery and terminally damaged it in the process. Anyway I have put in a new century marine 100a/h battery and now have a CTEK charger to ensure it is fully charged after a work out - all works
well and all good. To preserve the life of the battery I thought I'd disconnect the redarc, figuring that months of around town travel with short bursts of charge can be no good for the battery. So I've just disconnected the redarc from the starting battery so the duel battery is 'isolated' but still connected to the redarc. I fully charged the duel battery the other day but I'm confused with some battery drain. It was at 12.80 the other day and is now down to 12.66 - averaging about 00.04 v loss a day approx I'd guess. Connected to the duel battery I have two separate 8 b&s gauge leads to anderson plugs (front and rear but not connected to anything), a 8 b&s lead to the rear for the fridge (fridge not plugged in) and a 8 b&s lead to a permanently mounted 300 w inverter & UHF in the cabin (both turned off) and the 8 b&s lead to the redarc. Sorry for the rambling but basically are these things still draining the battery even if they are not connected to anything or accessories turned off??? I guess I need to simply disconnect everything at the battery but just curious, thanks and have a good w'end all. Qldrrr
Reply By: ABR - SIDEWINDER - Friday, Feb 03, 2012 at 11:31
Friday, Feb 03, 2012 at 11:31
Using the amp function on your multimeter disconnect the Redarc, inverter and uhf one at a time to see which one is drawing power.
Note: Battery temperature will also affect terminal voltage so was the battery voltage checked at he the same temperature.
Regards
Derek from ABR
AnswerID:
476758
Reply By: LeighW - Friday, Feb 03, 2012 at 12:45
Friday, Feb 03, 2012 at 12:45
Most likely the invertor will draw a standby current.
I would leave the battery connected myself, a battery will not sulfate as long as it is either being charged or discharged and as long as your charge voltage is not excessive it should be fine.
Cheers
LeighW
AnswerID:
476766
Reply By: Member - Walter H (WA) - Friday, Feb 03, 2012 at 19:23
Friday, Feb 03, 2012 at 19:23
G'day Qldrrr
Last year I also suffered from my Battery's being constantly run down even though there wasn't anything drawing power except for the clock and radio memory's. After much testing and checking, it turned out to be one of my winch solenoids that was open and drawing a small amount of power,which in turn would switch on the low voltage buzzer after a week on being garaged.
But anyway in the end i replaced the solenoid and have had no flat batterys since.
Anyway just a thought
Happy motoring
AnswerID:
476782