Draw on battery 1

rickasbury

rickasbury

Master Chief Petty Officer
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Jul 13, 2011
Messages
821
R Lowery said:
Get one of these amp clamps.

i use them frequently at work chasing down draws and shorts. you don't have to disconnect anything, just put the clamp end around any wire and it tells you what that wire is drawing.

with nothing running and batteries charged, anything over 500ma will drain a battery in a couple days. I've always shot for under 50ma.
Click to expand...
I just saw your message, thanks. My electrical is very limited- with no drawings for what wire goes where and know what should be hot and what should be not I checked a different way. I pulled the neg terminal for each battery to test amp draw on the batteries with everything turned off. Bat 1 was is about 4 amps, bat 2 is 0. Next, I pulled down the battery selector switch. On battery 1 in addition to the battery cable there was one wire that goes to the helm switch and then one over to the cathode fuse, all at the battery selector. So, I pulled each wire ,retested and confirmed both are causing the draw. So, I'm understanding that nothing should be connected to these bat terminals as effectively it is keeping some helm items hot in one way or another- i have a windless, remote search light and an amp- plus I have a fridge, TV, a/c system so a lot going on. The only things connected to my actual batteries is a positive for the genset, on bat 2 and then on bat one is the tilt- which i thought odd. All these other asc i guess are powered at a bus bar through the engine harness?
I store my boat on a trailer. I moved both these wires to the com post so they will be on while a battery is on until I can track down each issue. For the helm I should be able to pull fuses and know where the wires go and find the draw. That will be fun. Im assuming I will find something with the stero amp, first place I will look. Could be a stuck relay any number of things I don't understand, yet.
The mercathode I'm more concerned about- what am I looking for that would cause that system to be pulling about half my problem? Once I get this resolved I will put the cathode back on bat 1 so that the boat is in the water without a battery on it will work as long as the battery does anyway...I do not have any visable corrosion on the boat- i did have some on the transom asy on the inside which i pulled and refinished. I'm certainly learning a lot!
Thanks for all the input from everyone.
 

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alldodge

alldodge

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43,626
Read thru your thread

For clarification you are discussing the 2006 Rinker, right?

Your disconnecting the Mercathode lead which, make sure it's disconnected by measuring voltage on the module. Keeping boat on trailer you can leave the Mercathode disconnected

Being a 2006 the motors should not have a ECM stay alive wire. Have a motor serial number?
 
rickasbury

rickasbury

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
821
alldodge said:
Read thru your thread

For clarification you are discussing the 2006 Rinker, right?

Your disconnecting the Mercathode lead which, make sure it's disconnected by measuring voltage on the module. Keeping boat on trailer you can leave the Mercathode disconnected

Being a 2006 the motors should not have a ECM stay alive wire. Have a motor serial number?
Click to expand...
Evening and happy new year sir!
I do have a serial number : ow038097. I have had the motor out of this and I'm not familiar with a box that says mercathode on it. I moved that wire to the com post on the battery selector so I dont have the battery draw in storage. Disconnecting the battery would be a pain. I do want to fix it so I don't have problems.
Thanks-
 
J

Jeff J

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Jun 23, 2021
Messages
426
From google:
The Mercathode is an electronic corrosion control system for boats, manufactured by Mercury Marine, that actively prevents galvanic corrosion on underwater metal components. It works by using impressed current cathodic protection, which introduces a reverse electrical current to stop the destructive flow of galvanic currents that naturally occur when dissimilar metals are in a conductive fluid like water. The system is powered by the boat's 12-volt battery and operates automatically, requiring minimal user input after installation.
 
rickasbury

rickasbury

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
821
Jeff J said:
From google:
The Mercathode is an electronic corrosion control system for boats, manufactured by Mercury Marine, that actively prevents galvanic corrosion on underwater metal components. It works by using impressed current cathodic protection, which introduces a reverse electrical current to stop the destructive flow of galvanic currents that naturally occur when dissimilar metals are in a conductive fluid like water. The system is powered by the boat's 12-volt battery and operates automatically, requiring minimal user input after installation.
Click to expand...
Thanks jeff- I understand what it is I just can find it! I pulled the engine and outdrive/transom assembly myself- i did not see it. I remember something on the bottom of the gimbal ring with wires- and I replaced it- I don't recall where they went or any box labeled mercathode as i see on google- i have an electrical bus against the inside of the transom on the starboard side but I dont think that is it
.
 
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