Joe et.al
Quote: "The stereo is a likely suspect. The one in my pontoon can kill a healthy battery in a couple weeks if I don't use the boat." You may want to re-asses your wiring and draw in your pontoon boat if that's the case. The current draw, from a stereo for memory and clock, is comparable, in scale, to that of was a wrist watch or at the least very small. My stereo's memory does NOT even register on my Xantrex XBM battery monitor that's how low it is! I think the guys with draw issues should look further into the actual cause. While it is possible that some stereos may draw more current than others the draw is still in the tenths of an amp per hour category and a battery should power a stereos memory for a very long time even with stand by or shelf life loss of the battery... For example I used to store my wifes convertible all winter long with the battery connected because I did not want to loose the performance settings from the computer or her pre-sets. Each spring the car fired right up after sitting from October to April. While I know this is not proper storage technique I never had that battery fail or had to replace it. That car had more draw than just the stereo! Another draw may be an "electronic bilge switch" as opposed to a mercury bilge switch. Many of the new bilges switches are electronic and also have small draws.. I would start with load testing your batteries as these constant drains to empty have probably done a good job at killing them.. If you have a One/Two/Off/Both switch make sure you have identical batteries purchased at the same time before using the "Both" setting and you will increase your batteries life span.!
Quote: "The stereo is a likely suspect. The one in my pontoon can kill a healthy battery in a couple weeks if I don't use the boat." You may want to re-asses your wiring and draw in your pontoon boat if that's the case. The current draw, from a stereo for memory and clock, is comparable, in scale, to that of was a wrist watch or at the least very small. My stereo's memory does NOT even register on my Xantrex XBM battery monitor that's how low it is! I think the guys with draw issues should look further into the actual cause. While it is possible that some stereos may draw more current than others the draw is still in the tenths of an amp per hour category and a battery should power a stereos memory for a very long time even with stand by or shelf life loss of the battery... For example I used to store my wifes convertible all winter long with the battery connected because I did not want to loose the performance settings from the computer or her pre-sets. Each spring the car fired right up after sitting from October to April. While I know this is not proper storage technique I never had that battery fail or had to replace it. That car had more draw than just the stereo! Another draw may be an "electronic bilge switch" as opposed to a mercury bilge switch. Many of the new bilges switches are electronic and also have small draws.. I would start with load testing your batteries as these constant drains to empty have probably done a good job at killing them.. If you have a One/Two/Off/Both switch make sure you have identical batteries purchased at the same time before using the "Both" setting and you will increase your batteries life span.!
