Drain on the engine battery?

[Toki]

Got a charter customer out on my R27 Classic now. They woke this morning to a drained engine start battery. They were able to get it started by turning the parallel switch on, then turned it back off. They swear that other than that, the parallel switch has been off.

Question: is there anything other than the engine starter that comes off that engine battery? Can you think of any switch or breaker that might have been left on, pump that might have been running, anything that draws off the engine battery rather than the house batteries?

Thanks

 

[Ralf H]

Hi Toki,

The new 27s no longer have any load other than the engine on the engine battery. However in the past we did have items from the 24/7 fuse panel connected to the engine battery. (such as CO alarm, bilge pumps, etc.) Your boat may still have this older system. Regardless, there still would be nothing on that system that would draw down enough power to kill the engine battery overnight. They may have left the ignition on overnight. Other than that, you may want to diagnose the battery itself to ensure it does not have any issues. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Ralf

 

[bluestreak]

Toki,
We have the same boat and ours just returned from a charter.
No issues were reported.
Bill

 

[Wee Venture]

On at least some models (not sure if the 27 was one of them) the propane solenoid was connected to the engine battery through the 24/7 panel. Over, say, a 20 hour stay at anchor it would draw about 20AH from the battery all by itself if left on. If the battery were marginal to begin with, this could compromise it enough to fail to start the engine. It happened to me. The factory guys were great in helping me out. They switched the solenoid over to the house bank and installed a better engine battery for me.

John

 

[Toki]

Thanks all. Sounds like there very well could have been something left on that drew on the engine battery. Might also be time to check the conditions of the batteries and replace as needed.

 

[knotflying]

Did they inadvertently leave the key in the on position? That engages the starter solenoid and will drain the battery.

 

[Toki]

Knotflying, on the R27 classics, there's not a key and there's not an "on" position. Rather, it's a remote fob, and two buttons: Ignition and Start/Stop. I'm pretty sure Ignition doesn't energize the starter solenoid, but it does power up the engine electronics. Perhaps that's enough of a draw to kill the battery overnight. That may explain it!

 

[CaspersCruiser]

...... on the R27 classics, there's not a key........

Maybe not on the later classic models, but there is a key start on my 2012 R27.

 

[BB marine]

D3 Volvo has a relay that is activated when the battery switch is on. The draw would be minimal, not enough to deplete a battery. If the electrical system is original and not molested there should be no additional battery draw from the engine battery with the battery switch left in the on position. The thruster battery bank was used for the 24/7 circuits but this could be different from one boat to the next based on model year changes. Even if the 24/7 circuits were used it would be unlikely that the components used in this circuit would cause a known good fully charged battery to be depleted over night. I would inspect the engine battery connections to confirm good connections and if there are any additional components added to the boat that could draw from this battery. Fully charging the engine battery then load texting would probably be in order to rule out a failing engine battery.