P500 Battery discharging

[Sprd69]

I have a less than a year old 520 that won't crank after sitting 3 or 4 days. It just started doing it a couple of months ago. I thought it was the wetsounds soundbar so I put a keyed in line switch on the positive wire and it's still doing it. I have a kfi winch and two led lights all wired through a key on wire. I unhooked the battery and put my tester on the positive post and touched each negative wire separately. The main ground showed about 0.10 volts. The ground to the soundbar showed about 0.45 volts and winch ground about 0.30 volts. The battery itself is 12.44 so I left it unhooked and will check it tomorrow. Am I doing this right and should I do anything else? Thanks

 

[Remington]

I would start by prosess of elimination. how I diagnose electrical issues with my job. It does suck but it will help u find it.
that said, even though you have some switches in line to some accessories still dosnt mean u dont have a drawbfrom them. You have one somewhere Tho. So I would disconnect every accesory you have and charge the battery full then let it sit and see if u have lost juice. If you have, then its something in the SXS itself. If it didnt loose charge, Id start by connecting your accessories one by one and let it sit again each time checking it till you find the culprit. Its gonna take some time but you will find it.

 

[NTCPrezJB]

Wireless winch remote? I believe a couple of guys on the forum found their wireless winch controllers had a draw.

 

[Keebler]

Do you have an accessory wire harness and if so are all your accessories wired trough the harness? That was the situation with my P500 and all was good. Then I added a winch and my battery would discharge in about a week. The accessory wire harness is good at isolating devices when the ignition switch is off, and even though the winch relay may be connected to the accessory harness the winch power cable is not, and that was my light draw path. I places a high current on/off switch in line with the winch power cable and now leave it set to off unless I am using the winch and the problems no longer exists. Hope this helps.

 

[KYhillbilly]

Wireless winch controller drains mine, i put an isolation switch on my power from the battery to winch.

 

[Remington]

Wireless winch controller drains mine, i put an isolation switch on my power from the battery to winch.

Do u have a link or pic of that switch? my wireless is for my rear winch and its not currently draining it. But Id like to add that

 

[Sprd69]

Do you have an accessory wire harness and if so are all your accessories wired trough the harness? That was the situation with my P500 and all was good. Then I added a winch and my battery would discharge in about a week. The accessory wire harness is good at isolating devices when the ignition switch is off, and even though the winch relay may be connected to the accessory harness the winch power cable is not, and that was my light draw path. I places a high current on/off switch in line with the winch power cable and now leave it set to off unless I am using the winch and the problems no longer exists. Hope this helps.

Yes I have a accessory wire harness that everything is ran through. I was wondering about the winch relay. What's weird is it just started doing it a few months ago. Sounds like I have a lot of testing to do. I also thought about a on/off switch on the main power wire.

 

[Remington]

I also thought about a on/off switch on the main power wire.

Shouldn't have to do that if you find the culprit.
You would be just masking the overall problem.

 

[Sprd69]

Wireless winch remote? I believe a couple of guys on the forum found their wireless winch controllers had a draw.

I have one but haven't installed it yet.

 

[Sprd69]

Looks like the battery is still good at least. 12.44 volts yesterday and 12.12 volts this morning with the negative cables unhooked all night.

 

[KYhillbilly]

Do u have a link or pic of that switch? my wireless is for my rear winch and its not currently draining it. But Id like to add that

battery to switch to blue sea bus bar then all accessories, winch, front and rear LED's ran off of the bus bar.

 

[Brmcg324]

If a charged battery drains in 3 days, that is 16 Amp hours divided by 72 hours. 16/72 is 0.222 Amps (220 mA … milliamperes). If you could get a clamp on current meter, you are looking for a draw of maybe 100 mA to 200 mA. That seems like a low current draw, but it takes a toll on a small battery over a period of days. This is why a wireless winch remote can gradually drain a battery if wired to the winch main terminals. This sounds crazy, but a pinched wire or zip-tied wire to a metal frame can drain a battery slowly, not necessarily a fast acting short circuit. The only sure troubleshooting is “lifting” wires one at a time to isolate by finding what circuits are NOT causing the problem. Most circuits are good, but there is one “stinker“ in there causing the drain on the battery. Why I use a battery tender to make sure your ride is always ready to go!

 

[Neohio]

A thermal imaging gun will help show which wires are drawing power. They will typically have a heat trace showing the drain.

 

[Mudder]

This is also a good way to isolate a circuit, small size switched plus it provides protection against shorts.

 

[Sprd69]

This is also a good way to isolate a circuit, small size switched plus it provides protection against shorts.
View attachment 333947

Looks like what is on my Harley Tri-glide for the reverse motor.