Amp draining battery

[lalh20]

My accessory battery keeps going dead. At first I thought my isolator was bad and it just wasn't charging but this week I disconnected cables to find the problem and it turns out one of my amps is drawing power even when the boat, acessories, and stereo power is off.

I don't think it's a short, I think maybe the amp isn't turning off like it should. Any solutions?

[chpthril]

how did you determine the amp is pulling current when off? The reason I ask is because amps have some big capacitors in them, and they will charge up when the battery is first connected. This is often seen as an arc when the battery cable is touched to the battery post.

How old is the battery? Are any lights lite up on the amp when the system should be off?

[lalh20]

I held a voltage tester/meter between the two and it showed a current at what i think was 1.8 amps? (not much experience with voltage testers). The current didn't drop as I held the tester between the two which led me to think it wasn't just filling a capacitor.

I wish I knew if any lights were on on the amp. I planned on checking but I was actually working on something else when I found this and forgot to look. I'll know this week.

[boatwakes]

Lalh, is the remote switch lead on the amp hooked up to the stereo (usually blue wire) or directly to the 12v+ side? If it's hooked directly, the amp will constantly be on but if there's a malfunction in the remote switch in the amp, it may not turn off and cause the same issue. As a quick solution, you can put a high amperage switch on the batt positive to the amp and turn it off until you find the real problem. Good luck.