House Battery / Blower

[kgower]

My house battery (17 months old) has been draining faster than normal the last two times out. It dropped to 11v in about 3 hours, and an alarm sounded. I also discovered that the blower is connected to the house battery is that normal? 24 222SE.

Getting a new battery this week.

 

[tdonoughue]

In a 2 battery system, generally the starter is connected to the start battery and everything else to the house (including blowers, stereo, lights, etc.). So I would say blower on house battery is normal.

17 months on a battery is not that old. Has it been regularly maintained (like on a charger)? Water levels good?

When you go to get a new battery, take the old one in and have them load test it first. It may not be bad if you have something draining the battery. Get a multimeter with a clamp sensor on it for measuring amps. That has been one of my best tools for trying to trace battery drains. You can basically put it on any wire & see what the amps (flow) are. So you can put it on your stereo and see its draw, your amp, see its draw, etc. Or you can start at the battery and see total draw from the battery.

 

[kgower]

In a 2 battery system, generally the starter is connected to the start battery and everything else to the house (including blowers, stereo, lights, etc.). So I would say blower on house battery is normal.

17 months on a battery is not that old. Has it been regularly maintained (like on a charger)? Water levels good?

When you go to get a new battery, take the old one in and have them load test it first. It may not be bad if you have something draining the battery. Get a multimeter with a clamp sensor on it for measuring amps. That has been one of my best tools for trying to trace battery drains. You can basically put it on any wire & see what the amps (flow) are. So you can put it on your stereo and see its draw, your amp, see its draw, etc. Or you can start at the battery and see total draw from the battery.

When its not on the water it is always connected to the Nocco charger.
I thought 17 months was a little soon as well.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

In a 2 battery system, generally the starter is connected to the start battery and everything else to the house (including blowers, stereo, lights, etc.). So I would say blower on house battery is normal.

17 months on a battery is not that old. Has it been regularly maintained (like on a charger)? Water levels good?

When you go to get a new battery, take the old one in and have them load test it first. It may not be bad if you have something draining the battery. Get a multimeter with a clamp sensor on it for measuring amps. That has been one of my best tools for trying to trace battery drains. You can basically put it on any wire & see what the amps (flow) are. So you can put it on your stereo and see its draw, your amp, see its draw, etc. Or you can start at the battery and see total draw from the battery.

That’s a great suggestion! But, you have to make sure the clamp on ammeter is for DC to. be accurate. AC and DC inductive ammeters are different.

 

[kgower]

The set up hasn't changed as i haven't added any accessories to the battery in over a year. If not the battery and something is draining it, any thoughts to what it might be?

 

[TommyMcK]

I'm assuming that you are operating off of the house battery for three hours with the engines off. With the engines running you should see 13.6 to 14.3 depending on state of charge.

In any case, I'm not sure what you had running off of the house battery for three hours, but it's not crazy that a good battery would drop below 11V after three hours while actively sourcing current.

 

[kgower]

I'm assuming that you are operating off of the house battery for three hours with the engines off. With the engines running you should see 13.6 to 14.3 depending on state of charge.

In any case, I'm not sure what you had running off of the house battery for three hours, but it's not crazy that a good battery would drop below 11V after three hours while actively sourcing current.

I am getting that voltage while running. Last time out running was 14.1 start battery 14.3. House battery was 12.7 I think when we anchored. Only the audio system was on while anchored. Up until recently we could run the tunes for 4.5 hours +/- and it would only drop to 11.8 or 11.7.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Get the battery tested sounds like a bad battery

 

[tdonoughue]

Yep. Next step: load test the battery at the store and get a new one if bad...