Electrical Issue - need help

[duckz]

I have had an electrical issue with my high tide for a week now and cannot figure it out. I’ll make this as simple as possible.
A week ago I took the boat out to prep for fishing that day. Battery was dead so I put it on the charger. It was charged that evening 100%.
Next morning it was dead
Put it on the charger that morning and at night it was 100% and the motor cranked and ran
I disconnected all my radio, bildge and nav lights.
Next day dead again.
Repeated charge again and disconnected the depth finder
Next day, dead.

I took it in, they load tested the battery and said it was fine, showed it had factory cranking amps and it is only about 6 months old.

The guy at the shop said there could be a blown fuse on the motor, but I see no blown fuses although I could be looking at the wrong one. Yes the key is out every time and connections are tight. I had the boat in the garage two months sitting and it’s worked every time for the past 6mp this I’ve had it, nothing has changed.

[Jtemp71]

It could be tough to track down, I had a relay that was sticking one time and that was my problem, I’d install a perko switch and be done with it

[cajunwannabe]

Something from the motor is obviously drawing it down while it sits. Disconnect the battery from the motor after each use. Cajun engineering 101

[Duck cutter]

You can do a parasitic drain test with a meter, starting tracking down from there.

[DRDUCK]

If you got a TACH I would start with it. I been there.

[duckz]

Something from the motor is obviously drawing it down while it sits. Disconnect the battery from the motor after each use. Cajun engineering 101

So this brings up a thought. Say I charge up all night, motor starts fine tomorrow morning. If I decide to take the boat out tomorrow for maybe 4 hours, how likely is it that I will get stranded?
I know it doesn’t help fix the problem.. but all my in-laws are over tomorrow and.. well you know

[Duck cutter]

Do you really want to get stranded on the lake with your in-laws on thanksgiving???

[duckz]

No No No.. in-laws will be at the house. If I have to row back it only adds to the time away.
If it gets down to it and it’s about carving time, I’ll call seatow, cause I wont miss that turkey

But seriously.. 4 hours can’t drain it that fast if I’m starting and stopping at different spots right?

[Duck cutter]

No No No.. in-laws will be at the house. If I have to row back it only adds to the time away.
If it gets down to it and it’s about carving time, I’ll call seatow, cause I wont miss that turkey

But seriously.. 4 hours can’t drain it that fast if I’m starting and stopping at different spots right?

Would depend on the amperage of what’s causing the drain

[duckz]

Decisions....

[duckz]

Ok so back to the real issue. I have nothing but the motor connected. The guy at the shop said there could be a fuse blown. Could that be a real issue ? If so what part of the electrical system would I look at? I tried searching all the visible fuses and nothing was blown so maybe I need to look at a schematic to search elsewhere.

[SouthernWake]

You should put a battery switch between the battery and the engine/house electronics to ensure it is fully disconnected when not in use.

From there use a multimeter to see what is drawing current when it should be off.

[Chuck the Duck Slayer]

what kind of motor is it?

[KRT]

I can’t tell you how many batteries I’ve replaced after the chain parts stores told them the battery load tested good.

It would have to be one hell of a parasitic draw to kill a battery in one night, especially from a simple boat wiring layout.

That bitch would be arcing like you’re welding when you touch the cables to the battery post.

[KRT]

Take your negative cable off, put a volt meter on 10 amps and touch hot lead of tester to the cable and black lead to the negative post and see what the draw is. 50 milliamps is normal. I’d say an amp would prob be ok. A few amps would kill the battery.

If it’s over an amp, start unhooking components until amps drop out. When they do that’s the culprit.

I.E. you pull a relay for tilt and trim and the draw goes from 2 amps to 50 milliamps, the relay or the tilt and trim motor is bad.

[Catdaddy]

Does the boat have an electric motor hooked up?

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

[Whaler_Dave]

How old is the battery?

If you don’t own a jump box, get one. It can save your day and you can be a hero at the boat ramp.

[Palmetto Bug]

If you don't find any mysterious amperage draws on the boat, leave the charged battery disconnected, check the voltage and see if it still has full voltage the next day. A chunk of trash floating around inside the battery can short the plates and it may even be intermittent.

I remember my grandfather showing me a trick to revive sulfated batteries. He'd wire them up to a regular 110 AC extension cord and plug it in until the circuit breaker kicked. Any sulfate bridges got vaporized. It has worked for me but was only a short term fix for a battery that needed replacement anyway. I do NOT recommend doing this! It can easily cause a battery to explode.