Checking for Electical Leaks/Shorts 1989 MKI

[Chris Martinson]

I recently upgraded/"fixed" some of my electrical system....installed the Blue Sea battery switch and relay (concept is great and installed easily) added missing fuses, removed isolators and inverter and other mysterious items and bought new batteries. I reset my heart monitor for the new batteries and changed the "floor" setting for time remaining based on 50%.  I'm getting ready to launch and after I installed the batteries and tested the new items everything was fine except my heart monitor showed a steady 3.1 amp draw with the battery switches OFF.  My bilge pump is wired off the house battery bank and I confirmed it was off..... the only thing I know of not thru the House or Engine switch is a wash down pump (PO installation) which was off....3.1 amp draw seems large.  I had the panel unscrewed and leaning forward but don't believe I crossed any wires....with the switch off - I can't find anything that is on.....any advice on how to find the source would be appreciated....i have a multi meter and understand I may need to get a meter that can sense amps thru the "jaw"....

Further - I can't seem to follow how the panel is wired...I can follow the negative back to the bus but can't seem to find where the postive is actually connected to the devices...for instance - it seems others had issues with this in the past....my fm radio is wired into my datamarine head unit instead of being on accessory....i wanted to change this but see why it was done this way....I can't find the positive lead.  I don't know how much of the panel wiring was done at the factory or redone/reworked later...it looks original but several wires are the wrong color with color bands on it indicating it should be a different color.  Rewiring the panel wasn't on my list - until now, or at least I think until now, I didn't have a problem with this....can anyone let me know about their wiring for this era boat and if the factory took the shorts cuts of relabelling the wires....thank you.

Chris Martinson
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#945

[Ken Juul]

The neg wires should all go the neg buss bar.  There should be a large red wire from the off 1 2 B switch that feeds both banks of DC switches.  Positive lines run from the switches to power the various appliances/lights/etc.

The behind the electrical is typically a mess, several write ups in the projects page on upgrades.  Mike Vacarro's is a good one.   http://www.c34.org/projects/projects-building-electrical-panel.htm

3.1 amps seems too high to me also.  Could be something wired directly or through a remote switch.  Could be a switch on the panel has failed, it might show off but really be on.  Might want to dissconnect the positives from the switches one at a time to see if there is any change.  3.1 amps is about 37watts.  It should be fairly easy to narrow down the list of things that use that much power.

[Ray & Sandy Erps]

It could be if the wiring of the battery monitor isn't just right, that the monitor could be measuring some cross current from one battery bank to another battery bank.  I've seen something like that happen once before.

[Stu Jackson]

Here's a link to another board with pretty much the same question. 

http://www.sailboatowners.com/forums/pviewall.tpl?fno=21&uid=73200280089&sku=2007135114716.32

The spark and check answer seems a good one.

[Ron Hill]

Chris : 3.1 is a bunch of amps!!  About the only single item on a C34 that draws the much is the fridge. If your wiring is correct you need to start disconnecting item one by one until you the draw.
Ray may have a point, that you might need to check your amp meter (possibly bad but not too likely).   

[Chris Martinson]

Thank you for the replys and suggestions.  I was able to borrow from a friend a meter that measures amp flow.  It appears that the heart meter (Link 10) is not working properly...even though it reads 3.1 amps there was no flow from the battery......it will cost me $90 plus shipping to have it re calabrated vs a replacement if still available (xantrex is diconinuing the Link 10 and replacing it with the xbm)...or a new one at $250 with a warranty....less labor than tracing things out but more expensive.....

Thanks for the help

Chris Martinson
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Hull 945