Battery Drain

[Elwood22]

Something is draining the battery on my 200TXRR. I didn't have my multimeter, so I couldn't so I couldn't check circuit by circuit. I'll do that the next time I am down there. I am not sure exactly how long it takes, but overnight is long enough to drain it to a point where it won't crank. I read on another forum that a sticky trim relay could be the culprit. Is that plausible? Thanks.

[99yam40]

if the relay was sticking the T&T motor would be turning

need to measure current draw with everything turned off, then start pulling fuses to see when it drops to 0

bad battery, bilge pump/switch, or live well pump/switch, or light switch would be my guesses

[Elwood22]

Yep - that was my thinking. The post I was looking at said "It is possible for a relay to trip and remain tripped and permit a draw of amps and yet not function the T/T." So I thought I would ask. I found very good You Tube video on the process for isolating the draw. I'll be back there next week. Hopefully it won't take too long. Thanks.

[rodbolt17]

I can trip a relay and the device wont work.
what a crock O sheetz. you need to find a better site. be careful with the you tubes as well, most are crock O's.
finding a draw is as simple as placing your amp meter between the negative cables and the negative battery terminal and then start eliminating devices until you see no current.

[DennisG01]

Just to eliminate a variable, pull the battery and charge it fully. Then get it load tested. Even if the battery is newer this is a good idea (how old is the battery?). Unless, of course, you see a big draw right away when you do the amp draw test.

[Elwood22]

The batteries are both about 2 years hold and have been strong until now, so I think they're good. I'll make sure they're charged up. Thanks.

[boscoe99]

finding a draw is as simple as placing your amp meter between the negative cables and the negative battery terminal and then start eliminating devices until you see no current.

It really is this easy. Stupidly simply test procedure.

Now if the current draw procedure does not indicate current flow make sure the battery is fully charged. Make sure it is disconnected. If you come back a day, a week, or two later and the battery is not at or near nominal fully charged voltage (~12.7 volts) the battery is kaput. It simply fails to hold a charge. Age is irrelevant. A brand new battery has been known to fail in this regard.

[DennisG01]

If you have two batteries, you likely have a battery selector switch? Does it still drain if the switch is set to OFF? What sort of house draws do you have on your boat? Typically, the only things wired around a battery switch (or should be, anyways), are things like an auto bilge pump and stereo memory. I'm not sure in the case of the Yamaha, but in the stern drive world, the computer memory is often also always on. BUT - any of those three things draw an extremely miniscule amount of power and will not drain a (healthy) battery overnight... not even in a few weeks.

[pstephens46]

I chased this ghost 3 years ago. Assumed some sort of parasitic draw also. Turned out to be massive resistance in the battery cable run to motor. Enough to waste the batteries in short order. Main issue was the power pole connections in the bilge. Where the battery cables connect to the black Yamaha engine side power runs. Voltage drop testing may also be indicated here.

[pstephens46]

The batteries are both about 2 years hold and have been strong until now, so I think they're good. I'll make sure they're charged up. Thanks.

And start with the battery testing first. You already paid for those....

[Elwood22]

All good info. Thanks. The batteries don't drain with the switch off, so I guess what is tied directly is not the issue.

[DennisG01]

Are you positive you haven't left something on? Being a 200HP, I'm guessing this is not a bigger boat, so there shouldn't be too many systems to check?

[Elwood22]

It's possible, but naturally that's the first thing I checked. I may have missed it. It's a GW Tournament 223, so yes it's not a bigger boat. Only so many things it could be. It's actually an opportunity to give the electrical a good going over. Maybe check the bilge pump, clean the bilge, tidy things up, etc. I've done a lot of work on the boat since I got it 2 years ago, but I haven't gotten to the electrical yet. At least not in a systematic way. Could be enjoyable except I'd rather be fishing.

[DennisG01]

When I bought my Offshore about 5 years ago, electrical was one of the first things I did... along with rebuilding parts of the stringers, bulkheads and the entire cokpit floor... With "who knows how many" previous owners, the electrical stuff was a complete rat's nest. It's not perfect yet, but it's a WHOLE lot better. Moral to the story... it's sometimes easier to just start fresh and run new wires. Grady provides good rigging tubes.

FYI... I had to spell "cokpit" the way I did otherwise the forum computer software didn't allow it.

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I had to spell "cokpit" the way I did otherwise the forum computer software didn't allow it.

Spell out the above bolded using a ZERO digit, "C0ckpit"