Unknown Battery Drain

[Musky Plug]

  

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some insight into a battery drain issue on my boat. I’m experiencing a problem where, about an hour into a day on the water, I get a low battery warning on my Helix 9 unit, but not on my Helix 7. I get the low battery warning only when I start the main motor. Both units, along with my live well pump, bilge pump, and main motor, are powered by the same Group 31 lead-acid battery 225 Res. I've tried turning the brightness down or even putting them on night mode, replacing the battery - which temporarily solved the problem, but it happened again on the second trip with the new battery-, testing the battery with a multi meter - which shows it holds a charge -, a voltage test by keeping the negative end of the multi meter on the negative post and checking each positive lead - all reading were 0 -, checked all fuses which seem to be in order. Not quite sure where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Terry]

It may be not enough current going to the unit you may need to beef up your wiring 

double check your connections too

[BillM]

Probably your stock wiring.  My Lund did the same thing until I ran dedicated wires to a distribution box for my finders (Two Helix 12s).   Fixed the problem instantly.  

Edited 2 hours ago by BillM

[Musky Plug]

25 minutes ago, Terry said:

It may be not enough current going to the unit you may need to beef up your wiring 

double check your connections too

I had these units first installed when I got the boat, had the exact same battery. I got a new battery at the beginning of last season (replacing old one due to age)and never had an issue until end of last season. Wouldn’t I had the same issue originally? 
 

I check battery connections regularly. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Musky Plug

[Musky Plug]

13 minutes ago, BillM said:

Probably your stock wiring.  My Lund did the same thing until I ran dedicated wires to a distribution box for my finders (Two Helix 12s).   Fixed the problem instantly.  

The units are wired directly to the battery with an inline fuse. 

[Musky Plug]

I forgot to mention in the original post that a few times when I’ve gone for day trips, my main motor won’t start right way when I turn the key over. It takes a few tries to get it going and makes a sound like it’s not running properly? Also had the batteries charged overnight on the minn kota charger.