How to check if there is draw on battery? Options

[nitemare]

Hi,

I purchased a Craftsman Digital Multimeter with AC Voltage Detector:
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?...0383&AFFL=Y

Now, I want to test my car battery to see if there is a draw when its off.

I watched someone else do it.

I believe he took neg lead off batter. Connected one end of multimeter to battery neg post - then clipped on other end to any part of car. Light was on - which indicated a draw. The light was always on even after pulling fuses out.

Is this the correct way to test? Please see the multilmeter I purchased and let me know how you would test for a battery draw.

Thanks!!

[alltracman78]

All cars have some parasitic draw.
If you leave them sitting for months, there are very few batterys that won't be dead, or dead enough to not start your car anyways.

Once your battery is dead it sometimes takes a good bit of charging to fully restore it so it can sit again for a bit.
First make sure your battery is good.

In your car normally the clock, radio, and ECU will draw power.
The amps shouldn't be drawing any power at all, only the radio.

A milliamp is .001 amps.
25 milliamps is .025 amps.

You want the red lead on your multimeter at 10A.
There should be a common ground for the black lead.
It should be black.

Put one lead on the battery post and the other on the battery cable.
If you're good, you can touch each first, then slide the terminal off the post. This will keep your memory intact.

It should be less than .050A.
Your car is actually a bit less, but that is fine.

If it's more, start removing fuses one at a time.
If the draw doesn't change, put it back and go to the next one.
You have to give the reading a minute to stabilize between fuses.

If it is too high, removing one [or more] of the fuses WILL lower it.
If you can't find one that will, you missed at least one.
The ONLY thing that isn't fused in your car is the starter itself.
Unless you wired something in [like your amps] with no fuse.
If that's the case, try disconnecting them as well.
It actually has a fusible link built into the cable, but you can't remove it.