Battery being drained by Motor

[wallyH]

I was on vacation for a couple weeks and unfortunately my onboard charger has gone on the fritz so didn't have that plugged in when I was gone. When I got back the starting battery was totally dead. I hooked up an electrical multitool and figured out that the motor is drawing 150mA. The motor is a 50hp 4 stroke Merc tiller. No key switch. Just a start button and a kill button. Motor was in Neutral and I even flipped the safety switch.

Anyone know if that's normal? Is there any way to stop it or any suggestions for adding some type of switch to kill the power to the motor?

Thanks,
Wally

[Valv]

Sounds really weird, I have same exact motor on a boat here waiting to be sold for past 3 weeks, and don't have a problem.
If you need Perko makes nice heavy duty battery disconnect switches, very easy to install, and I recommend it to anybody, just a quick turn of the knob and it's disconnected, in case of emergency, it takes forever to reach the little wingnuts on battery and unscrew them all the way.

------------------
Val Vignati

www.kvesurplus.com
[email protected]

[Surface Tension]

A bad rectifier will drain your battery.

[wallyH]

Thanks for the replies.

Any chance you could explain how I might go about finding this rectifier and determining if it's bad?

Thanks again,
Wally

[Valv]

Which year is your motor ? Mine is a 1999, I can take a picture and send it over, but you will have to have dealer check it or replace it yourself.

Send me an email, I'll reply

------------------
Val Vignati

www.kvesurplus.com
[email protected]

[wallyH]

I sent you mail.

Thanks
Wally

[LittleRanger]

WallyH:
I bought a new Ranger with a 150 Yamaha. The battery is constantly being drained on the starting battery. Talked to lame dealer in Chisago and got one of many excuses. But they said that the motors will drain the battery........... period. Makes no sense, no logic but rather than argue I just trip all the breakers when I park the boat. If I hadn't had other issues I would tend to believe the dealer. But I think they are just passing the perverbial buck

[delmuts]

ltl ranger. i bought a use boat from the same dealer this spring. i got ripped . find a different dealer and talk to them. some thing doesn't sound right. yes if you only make short runs with the boat it will drain the batt. due to the starting and not enough running time to recharge it, but do some checking! del

[hydro]

If you have a 150mA draw there is definitely a problem somewhere. Something is either left on like a light oe an accessory, or you have a partial short somewhere. You will need to connect your ammeter and start disconnecting things until that draw drops to zero. Once you find the offending part of your system you can address the problem.

As mentioned above, a failed component in the motor circuitry could be the cause and you will find it as soon as you disconnect the wire to the motor (not the big wire that goes to the starter)

[Surface Tension]

wallyH, any progress on finding the drain and what year is the motor?

------------------
Frank
ProStaff Coordinator
FishingMinnesota
Iceleaders
My Sponsors

[wallyH]

Woot! Just received the new charger. Hopefully I can get that installed before I leave tomorrow. Then that drain will be less of an issue.

WallyH

[wallyH]

No progress yet. Valv sent me some pictures of the rectifier and pictures out of the manual of how to diagnose it. Except I've been too busy to track it down.

However, it isn't an accessory. I remove all lines from the battery and tested each one individually. It's coming from the motor.

I'm heading up to Vermilion for a week starting tomorrow. So probably won't have time to look at it until I get back.

I'll let you know what I find out.

Thanks again,
Wally