Signature 276 parasitic battery drain

[Johnfrmcal]

I have a 2006 Sig 276 that we keep in Florida so we have a boat to play with in the winter. It is stored in an indoor facility. I’m wondering if anyone knows if there is parasitic drain on the battery(s) when the battery switches are turned off such as radio memory or anything else?  The facility won’t plug in a tender because it is dry rack storage and too difficult to accommodate that.  From what I’ve been able to find, there may be some circuits that have parasitic drain on the house battery even with the switches turned off.  I’m trying to verify this, last year between a medical event and COVID, we weren’t able to visit the boat for a year. When we finally got to the boat, the house battery was toast (battery switches were off). I replaced batteries and then right before I left I disconnected all negative cables from the house battery, used the parallel switch to be able to operate the engine hatch, and then turned the battery switches off. Came back three months later, used the parallel switch to open the hatch, reconnected the negative cables to the house battery, and all seems to be normal. I’m just not sure if my procedure actually solved something or if it was the year-long absence that killed the battery initially. Any owners out there with some input?

[jeffk]

Check you radio.

On my old chap it had a slight trickle going to it.

I was told it was for the memory in the radio.

[cyclops2]

 If your computer / no float  /  bilge pump is wired to the battery ?   There can be a tiny bit of electrical drain for the computer chip all winter. Nothing to drop it . All 6 months is only .2 amps .  No problem at all.

[Wingnut]

7 hours ago, Johnfrmcal said:

I have a 2006 Sig 276 that we keep in Florida so we have a boat to play with in the winter. It is stored in an indoor facility. I’m wondering if anyone knows if there is parasitic drain on the battery(s) when the battery switches are turned off such as radio memory or anything else?  The facility won’t plug in a tender because it is dry rack storage and too difficult to accommodate that.  From what I’ve been able to find, there may be some circuits that have parasitic drain on the house battery even with the switches turned off.  I’m trying to verify this, last year between a medical event and COVID, we weren’t able to visit the boat for a year. When we finally got to the boat, the house battery was toast (battery switches were off). I replaced batteries and then right before I left I disconnected all negative cables from the house battery, used the parallel switch to be able to operate the engine hatch, and then turned the battery switches off. Came back three months later, used the parallel switch to open the hatch, reconnected the negative cables to the house battery, and all seems to be normal. I’m just not sure if my procedure actually solved something or if it was the year-long absence that killed the battery initially. Any owners out there with some input?

Radio memory, Mercathode, and ECM memory.  I switch my mercathode to the other side of my battery switch as mine is a trailer queen. You might want to do the same. Always leave your boat with the battery selector in the off position. In my experence, the OEM radio and an ECM-555 will drain a 1000 CCA battery in about 5 weeks. W

[Rambo]

What he said above - ecm, radio, anti corrosion system (VP or Merc, either brand sucks electricity), and the biggest offenders might be the two wired CO detectors you have inside the cabin. Replace them with a newer type that has built in 10-year battery inside. That alone might give you 20-30% longer battery life while in storage.

You can reuse the CO detectors wiring for USB chargers. Just make sure the USB charger is marine type and is paired with a switch and has power on indicator light. The existing CO detector wiring on your boat bypasses any battery switches.