Radio memory battery drain?

[tmh]

My old radio was OLD so it did not have a clock or digital pre-sets so it had no electical needs when not playing. We put in a new digital radio that has a seperate power wire for "memory". Right now, I have it hooked in with the main power wire which is on an "accessory" switch which we turn off each time we leave the boat. It's a 19" BR so just one battery.

I'm wondering how much drain the emmory would have if I ran the memory power wire direct to always be powered "on"? Would it run the battery down in days? weeks? Months? Seems like a car radio has this memory power off one battery and it's not an issue.....same thing in a boat?

thanks.

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Radio memory battery drain?

The memory on the CD deck on my boat will run the battery down if it sits more than a couple of weeks. The memory regularly runs down the battery in my Mustang, because it often sits for a month or longer without being cranked. Matter of fact, the battery is nearly dead right now.

Harbor Freight has a solar charger that maintains your battery. As soon as I can get down to the one close to me, I am going to pick up one or two to combat this problem. Right now, I just pull the fuse outta the boat's deck to keep from running the battery down.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44768

 

[PondTunes]

Re: Radio memory battery drain?

On boats that sit for extended periods with no use the memory wire could eventually drain the battery. In my opinion if you've got a boat that sits for extended periods on a trailer you should have a battery disconnect to prevent your batteries from being drained. Batteries that remain in a discharged state for an extended period of time won't last very long. If you use your boat often the memory wire will function exactly as it does in your car. I do lots of these and they are hooked up one of two ways, one using the memory wire hooked straight to the master disconnect or where the red switched power wire & yellow constant wire are twisted together and hooked to switched power. The second method will never cause your battery any drain when off but you'll have to reset your stations/clock/bass/treble/balance/fader etc every single time you switch the radio off.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Radio memory battery drain?

For boats that sit for extended periods, the best solution is an on-board Battery Maintainer or better yet, an on-board charger. They can be plugged into AC power and left on indefinitely and it prolongs battery life. But then if you don't have AC at the dock or where the boat is stored, you can rely on a solar panel but it then becomes a target for thieves. The smaller panels are barely large enough to keep a battery topped off with no drain so one that would keep up with the memory/clock requirements would need to be a step above the small panel.

 

[tmh]

Re: Radio memory battery drain?

Our boat rarely sits without use for more than a week but who knows when it might. I may try to keep the radio memory on for a few days and see what happens. Maybe when we're on vacation and using it every day we'll want to keep it on.

Thanks for the help, folks.