Jensen stereo.... parasitic drain?

[jennis9]

Just installed our new stereo - and it has a standby power button light.

Wondering how much this is going to drain the battery over a week/two weeks time while we have it dry docked. I cannot get to the wire harness since this radio is mounted inside a gimbal mount box. It is temporarily mounted to the main battery since we don't have the second battery in for the season yet.

I plugged in my little solar trickle charger to see what the voltage meter says when we get back to it.

[Silvertip]

Auto and marine radios have clocks and station memory that presents a slight, but constant battery drain. If you have power at the dock, you would be well advised to install an on-board charger. Plug it in and forget it. If not, you have few choices except for the solar panel which is a target for thieves -- especially if you have one that has more than 5 watts of power.

[jennis9]

Thanks Silvertip -- that's what I thought. Thinking of adding a kill switch.

We do have an onboard charger.... just not near power for two weeks. Guess we'll deal with that when we get to the dock.

[Silvertip]

You could just disconnect the station memory/clock wire on the radio for the two week period. The radio will lose the station presets and time but the radio itself will work ok. If this is a time period that you will have to deal with with some frequency, you could add a switch in the memory/clock line and switch it off if the boat will sit for a couple weeks. Actually though, even two weeks should not pose a problem. If you think it will, I'd carry a jump start box to jump start the boat if you find the battery discharged.

[ShaneCarroll]

Something I am doing with my radio might help you out. I am sure your boat has extra slots for extra switches? Anyways, run the power through a switch, that way you can completely turn the radio off, with no draining the battery.
Now the only down side to this is whenever the radio is on, you will have to program the stations again as well as the clock, but it only takes a couple of seconds to do as opposed to charging the battery.

[jennis9]

Well, thought I'd post in case anyone else needs the info.

Got back to the boat last night... as you can see it's been sitting since April 21st and it's now May7th. Temps have been in the 40s and above.

Had the solar trickle on since we are a little far from and electrical plug - and the battery is still strong - radios, lights function and we're quite pleased with the results of that little gadget. We'll put a voltmeter on the battery this weekend to see what it says. But glad to know that we're not in need of a jump.

The switch idea is quite tempting - thanks ofr the help