Battery drain?

[dlandersson]

Went out for a really nice day yesterday. Usually the wind tends to die out around 1-2 pm

Yesterday it was about 10 kts (NNW, then NNE) all day. Just really nice.

I noticed that my battery ran out of juice after about 6 hours or sailing - I assume my Hummingbird Humminbird 787c2 Color GPS Fishing System was the culprit.

I switched the Perko to Batt #2 (fully charged and unused) and cranked up my iron genny.

Other than simply turning off the Humminbird (which really, I can do) is there something else I can do to extend my battery life?

[dxg4848]

Maybe your battery is going bad. I would replace mine in a heartbeat if GPS alone drains it in 6 hours. I run GPS, autopilot, stereo, lights for hours without draining battery.

[Tomfoolery]

How much life is actually left in that battery? I ask because I used to sail to Canada, 8 to 12 hours sailing time, running cold plate refrigeration, VHF radio (listening), autohelm, computer (plugged into inverter), wind, depth, and knotmeter, music, pressure water, and some other misc. stuff, on a pair of group 24 DC batts. And always had plenty of oomph to start the diesel, even after 12 hours of sailing, some of which included nav and interior lights.* The point being, of course, that one instrument shouldn't pull a DC battery down like that in 6 hours, I wouldn't think.

Perhaps you should cut your multimeter into the line and see what the current draw is.

*But I had a third battery in reserve, just for starting in case the house batts were too low. Never needed it, but nice to know it was there.

[grady]

The capacity of your battery is probably not good anymore or was not fully charged when you started.

You could add a solar panel to supplement usage or get a larger battery.

[Sea Wind]

The obvious question, was Batt#1 full at the beginning of the day? If you turn off the GPS it gives you a little more juice to crank the engine. I have noticed that the DF90 is more susceptible to this, I am not sure if it needs more juice or if my batteries are on their way out. Sometimes it does not start with either one but only when I put the Perko switch to “All”.

[Russ]

Maybe your battery is going bad. I would replace mine in a heartbeat if GPS alone drains it in 6 hours. I run GPS, autopilot, stereo, lights for hours without draining battery.

+1

I run GPS chartplotter and fridge all day without killing the battery.

Also as mentioned, maybe it wasn't charged up to begin with.

[wbpenney]

The first thing I would check would be my battery connections and clean them up if need be.

[Rumdirty]

As others stated. Check the battery. No way would I ever consider my gps alone draining a battery. Either it wasn't charged, something else has drained it, or it's dead.

[Highlander]

load test batt see what it calls for if needs recharged & rechecked do so, if it checks out bad replace if it checks out good then check to see what is drawing it down like a switch being left on for days slowly drawing it down or if it is connected to ur eng. for a start batt check to see if u have a bad alt. diode , easy check for that @ a quick glance is touch the alt. on a cold eng. if it,s warm or hot u most likely had a bad alt diode if u show a draw on it , then disconnect alt wire if draw goes away then check all alt. wiring for loose connections then test alt.

J. hope this helps u start somewhere check for loose cables or bad connections first though always look for the simple things first

[sailboatmike]

I know my Chartplotter draws around 15watts or about 1 amp, so over 6 hours continuous running it would pull around 6amps out a battery, which if your battery was in good condition and a reasonable size of around 75 amp/hrs shouldnt worry it in the slightest.

The first thing I did was get rid of all those incandescent lights and replace them with LED's, I can run all my lights now for less than the draw of 1 incandescent bulb of 20watts draw.

Next step is to replace the Nav light globes with LEDs, a bit expensive but 2 x 20 watt bulbs = 40Watts draw (they may be more) against 2 x 3Watts LEDs = 6 Watt Draw

I know not huge amounts of saving considering I have 2 x 105Amp/Hr batteries, but it all adds up

[dlandersson]

Bought them new at Wal-Mart in 2011. They are out of warranty. May be time to replace them.

Maybe your battery is going bad. I would replace mine in a heartbeat if GPS alone drains it in 6 hours. I run GPS, autopilot, stereo, lights for hours without draining battery.

[kadet]

Bought them new at Wal-Mart in 2011. They are out of warranty. May be time to replace them.

4 years out of El-chepo lead acid batteries in sail boat that I guess were not kept on a float charger all the time is not too bad actually

[dlandersson]

Yeah, they were 3-year warranty batteries. The new ones are 5-year.

I do have a charger (PO) and I noticed this year that the batteries don't seem to be holding a charge like they used to.

Bought them new at Wal-Mart in 2011. They are out of warranty. May be time to replace them.

4 years out of El-chepo lead acid batteries in sail boat that I guess were not kept on a float charger all the time is not too bad actually

[Catigale]

Pull the tops and check the water level. Make sure the plates are all covered.

[dlandersson]

Pretty sure they are sealed.

I will check, and play around with charging. But I've had 4 good years (and sorta this year) out of a 3 year battery.

I can't complain. When ah does, no ones listens.

Pull the tops and check the water level. Make sure the plates are all covered.