Battery Drain

[Grog]

To make a neater battery connection, sometimes there will be multiple connections inside the Perko switch (bilge, radio, clock,...). The radio and clock should draw a few miliamps which wouldn't bother the battery over a week's time. Do you have a separate stereo amp? I had one in my car that wouldn't turn off and drained the battery over 2 weeks (maybe sooner).

 

[seasick]

for what it is worth, I found that it is best to use a cheap tester , the ones that have the sharp point, a 12 volt light blub, wire and a clip. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... 5776_15776 remove the Neg battery cable,and put the tester in line ,clip on neg battery post and sharp end on cable. if the blub lights you have current and a draw. start removing fuses till the blub gos out, that will tell you what line haves the trouble, if the blub doesn't light then it's good. the bilge pumps might be wired to the hot side of the switches there are fuses in water prof covers that might look like this one. http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse. ... 26910.html

If there is a small drain, this works OK. But for the record, if there is a large drain or you turn on something that draws a reasonable current, the test lamp becomes a fuse and the bulb will fry.

 

[seasick]

I don't know much about the Perko switch but I thought in the off posistion no current would pass to the field side "simply stated not the battery side of the switch".
I would think that if you have battery drain there would have to be somthing hooked directly to the battery and not through the Perko switch. Another thing is take the cover off the Perko switch and see if a circuit is hooked up on the hot side of the switch. In other words on the battery feed side of the switch and not on the outfeed side of the switch. If so you should be able to I.D. the circuit draining the battery.

Yes, the switch should disconnect all loads but I have seen some that due to corrosion, draw some current in the disconnected state.