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Mysterious 5amp drain


jenevers

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Does the inverter have it's own isolator? if so turn it off and see if you still have the current drain. An inverter uses power even when there is no 240 volt load so turning off the breakers will not result in zero amps to the inverter.. Some cheapies use 5 amps when doing nothing, many older ones of 10 years ago use about 2 amps even good brands, a recent one should be about 1 amp with no load.  There is of course also the chance that the inverter has developed a fault.

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Please keep an eye open for an extraneous 5A entering your boat.  If 5A has disappeared into the ether then it could reappear anywhere in the cosmos.  Constant vigilance!  (Other serious opinions are also available.)

Edited by system 4-50
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2 minutes ago, smileypete said:

Main options:

 

1) Clamp meter

 

2) Struggle?

 

In the past, only option 2 was available. Seems some of 'the experts' still prefer this, dunno why...

 

You missed option 3: Disconnect everything then add back in the connections one at a time.

 

The OP seems curiously resistant to doing this. 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

You missed option 3: Disconnect everything then add back in the connections one at a time.

 

The OP seems curiously resistant to doing this. 

Or there may be a simpler explanation ...

12 hours ago, jenevers said:

Will try that next time I go to the boat,  but that won’t be for about 10 days now.

 

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Have you got a car type radio when we recently had our new batteries and monitor installed there was a constant max 2 amp current with ‘everything’ turned off it turned out it was the radio drawing to keep its memory settings. Ok max of 2 amp isn’t 5 but if your readout isn’t particularly accurate it could be offset?

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9 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

The OP seems curiously resistant to doing this. 

Yes, and I wish he'd get on with it.  I can't think of an easier type of electrical snag to track down than this - it's simple isolation.  Either it can be done methodically or we can just keep shouting out random things to disconnect til he picks the right one! :D

 

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3 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Yes, and I wish he'd get on with it.  I can't think of an easier type of electrical snag to track down than this - it's simple isolation.  Either it can be done methodically or we can just keep shouting out random things to disconnect til he picks the right one! :D

 

It will be solved on his return to the boat.

I bet he doesn't have a 5 amp discharge in 10 days time.

Problem solved (obviously)

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13 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

It will be solved on his return to the boat.

I bet he doesn't have a 5 amp discharge in 10 days time.

Problem solved (obviously)

 

Perfectly correct, as someone pointed out his batteries will be dead & flat. :)

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and if they are not he does not have a 5 amp discharge.

Edited by Tony Brooks
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  • 4 weeks later...
On 10/11/2018 at 00:21, smileypete said:

Main options:

 

1) Clamp meter

 

2) Struggle?

 

In the past, only option 2 was available. Seems some of 'the experts' still prefer this, dunno why...

Quite right. My clamp meter arrived and proved that the inverter was drawing 4.5A just on standby. So I’ve switched the master switch off. Even the MICC was drawing 1A.

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3 hours ago, jenevers said:

Quite right. My clamp meter arrived and proved that the inverter was drawing 4.5A just on standby. ………………………..

They do that - so the 1st few replies had identified the problem.

 

There is 'off' and there is 'OFF'

An inverter is not switched off when it is not in use, it is only switched off when it is totally switched off / disconnected from the supply.

 

It is called "Quiescent current" and is a power usage often dismissed, disregarded or never considered, but, as you have found, can be a considerable 'number'. Better quality inverters have a much lower figure and can be as low as 0.5a.

You gets what you pays for.

 

As suggested previously - replace your bilge pump with a 12v one and bin the 230v one then you won't need to leave the inverter on.

 

Hopefully the response to this suggestion will not be the same as the last time it was proposed :

 

"Fatuous and entirely irrelevant post of the day."

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On 07/11/2018 at 11:44, jenevers said:

 

Where is this power going? I thought it might be the inverter but when I switch it off there’s still a drain of 5 Amps going somewhere.

 

3 hours ago, jenevers said:

Quite right. My clamp meter arrived and proved that the inverter was drawing 4.5A just on standby. So I’ve switched the master switch off. 

 

I love the smell of a big red herring in the morning! :banghead:

 

:D

 

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