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electrical drain
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Larry W4CSC
Posts: n/a
(Terry) wrote in
:
Turned out to be memory for an old VHF radio he had installed. Even
when off, unit consumed power.
None of the VHF radios switch primary power. Their IC brick RF power amps
are continuously connected to the high current DC cables. The "power
switch" only switches off the basic walkie talkie circuit board the radios
use. I have a Standard Horizon Eclipse + in a box somewhere around here
that was in my jetboat. It draws a constant 3A at 13VDC when "off".
Seawater leaked in around the chinzy speaker sealing, ran across the main
circuit board destroying it and pooled up between the pins of the IC power
amp brick, biasing it into 3A of idle current.....which isn't enough to
blow the fuse or melt anything at 40 watts of heat for the heat sink on the
rear. It just gets hot while killing the hell out of the boat's battery so
dead you can't recover it.
Be sure to kill ALL power to ALL electronics at the primary power level
before storing your boat. A main disconnect is mandatory.
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