Why battery needs to be unhooked over the winter, and other power consumption data

[Bonmotwang]

I did some test on my 97 SPX. Here is the findings:

Without lanyard connected, the current is 4.2mA. which will drain 100% of a good fully charged battery (say 19AH) in 6 months.
Now I know why I have to disconnect my battery on my 97 SPX for storage. The MPEM sleep mode wasn't designed well enough 20 years ago. LoL

With lanyard connected it will consume about 0.3A and drops 0.1A when time out (If you don't start the engine)
MPEM taking 0.3A is a lot, not sure about the charging rate when the ski is running. Probably barely catching up :-D

Another thing I found out about my "tachometer gauge" add on. It consumes 31mA when the ski is off. Basically my ski is draining my battery at 31+4=35mA when sitting. I will move the tacho gauge into the same circuit with my "mirror meter", which is controlled by a switch.

I thought this is useful information if you are interested.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

180 Watt regulator output max for many carbed Seadoos and more for the injected models, fuel pump draws about 7Amps on injected motor so 300ma is mouse load while running.

In 9 months, most wet cell l/a batteries will be in poor state of charge if disconnected but not maintained. I recommend not to connect a maintainer to the MPEM thus you must leave battery disconnected and charge it separately on occasion.

Last winter, I connected my maintainer and battery twice over the period (6 months almost) and it only charged maybe a few seconds each time, so this battery holds a charge quite well better than many others I've had. Maybe it's still fairly new and good condition....

 

[LouDoo]

Winter........too early for this kind of talk.

Lou

 

[Sea Dood]

Your observation is why Sea Doo switched to a different approach in 2003 with a main power relay. Drops the quiescent current to almost nothing.

If you think 4.2 mA is bad, the 2000 to 2002 DI's consume from 6 to 10 mA at rest.....