Flat battery

[pauldlf]

Hi All,

I have an Avon Adventure 400 with a Suzuki DV25. I went to use it this weekend but the battery was flat. The battery is a 60ah leisure battery from Halfords and is only a couple of weeks old. The battery has only been used to start the engine once and (presumably) is being charged when the engine is running. There's also a Navman fishfinder connected to the electrics, which was fitted by the dealer when the boat was new. There is no battery isolator switch, and so I am wondering whether it's possible for the battery charge to slowly drain away when the boat isn't being used?

Any ideas/suggestions much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Paul

[marinesafety]

Battery drain is entirely possible although it sounds like it's drained rather quickly. Try attaching a multimeter up to the circuit (disconnect the negative lead on the battery and put the multimeter between the lead and the negative terminal on the battery) to test if it is draining much. If no might be a duff battery, or perhaps your engine isn't charging correctly.

Even if it's not draining much, it's well worth installing an isolator - always good to switch it off when the boat's not being used, plus if you ever need to isolate the power in an emergency etc you can without having to worry about getting the spanners out!

PS. I think you mean DF25 :-)

[jwalker]

If you use a multimeter make sure to set it to current and on a high enough range, you may need to reposition the leads on the multimeter because they often use a shunt inside for the current range.

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by pauldlf

... fitted by the dealer when the boat was new. There is no battery isolator switch.

A battery isolator is a very good idea, for a few reasons.

[ribber]

No automatic bilge pump connected and running unbeknown to you.