Rocksteadee
Active member
As you check wiring draw it all, it will help with checking and be a useful reference for future problems
Service battery being drained whilst switched off
- Thread starter ste7ve
- Start date
PaulRainbow
Well-known member
You are not being very helpful, most of the above is just muddying the water.
So what if the battery monitor is on, it's common to have it always on, that won't make a difference to a 20a current draw.
A dead battery won't cause a 20a current draw though the shunt.
He may well "have a GRP hull with earth cables to external anodes" every new boat that has been built over the last few years has one, it's a regulation, lots of older boats have one too.
CLB
Well-known member
A 20A parasitic current draw is huge, a running bilge pump will only draw around 5A to give you an example. I think you need someone who understands electrics to look at the boat ASAP, if electrics are not your forte. I would start with a Clamp meter on all the different circuits to confirm that current draw and track it down. I would not leave the boat in that condition. Disconnect batteries at source when you leave the boat until the problem is fixed. I don't want to sound alarmist, but 20A escaping without any evidence is more than enough to start a fire.
Boater Sam
Well-known member
Does the Victron read down to mAs?
Boater Sam
Well-known member
PaulRainbow
Well-known member
No.
PaulRainbow
Well-known member
PaulRainbow
Well-known member
The Victron monitor doesn't show mA
Vyv is correct, the monitor needs to be ruled out first, by using a mulitimeter which can display DC current or a DC clamp ammeter, i'd buy a reasonable multimeter.
Then, as has already been said, check each circuit with the ammeter to see where the current is going.
20a on a small boat is a lot of current, not many things that will usually draw that.
Vyv is correct, the monitor needs to be ruled out first, by using a mulitimeter which can display DC current or a DC clamp ammeter, i'd buy a reasonable multimeter.
Then, as has already been said, check each circuit with the ammeter to see where the current is going.
20a on a small boat is a lot of current, not many things that will usually draw that.
penberth3
Well-known member
Ok, I'm an old dinosaur but I would only believe what I'd checked on the boat with a meter. Other posts have already suggested you check the scale, are you sure its 20A?
PaulRainbow
Well-known member
There are no scales to check. The monitor only displays amps in the format xxx.xxA
No mA
No .20A, it'd show 0.20A
No 2.0A, it would be 2.00A
etc
Does need checking with a meter though.
Boater Sam
Well-known member
penberth3
Well-known member
Thank you, I was assuming it showed a graph.
PaulRainbow
Well-known member
The app' does show a graph, but still the same scales, won't go lower than 0.0A
LadyInBed
Well-known member
A point to note, most multimeters only read upto 10 amps DC, so if something is truly sucking 20 amps, buy a packet of replacement fuses for the multimeter before you start using it to fault find!
MarkCX
Active member
With everything isolated except the battery monitor, have you calibrated the monitor in the Victron app?
PaulRainbow
Well-known member
How ?
Catalina36
N/A
If this lot really is losing 20 AH then in the time it's been debated the batteries must be completely flat by now, they only started with 240 AH. Are they OP?
ste7ve
Member
I had just realised this myself. So when next at the boat I will disconnect the Victron battery monitor and then do a new setup procedure on it so that it calibrates itself. The manual, which is quite difficult to understand, says nothing about doing this when changing batteries, only for a new install. Fingers crossed...
MarkCX
Active member
ste7ve
Member
Thanks. I imagine it might be sensible to do a factory reset using the buttons on the monitor before doing the calibration...?
