how to find the battery draw!?!?
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 717
Likes: 0
From: Georgetown, DE
First you need a multimeter that can measure DC current (among other things).
Connect the meter in series between the battery's positive terminal and the cable. Make sure you have the polarity correct (NEG meter lead goes to cable side). You should see the current drain register on the meter. Pull fuses from the fuse box one at a time and recheck current.
NOTE: This should only be done with the engine off.
Connect the meter in series between the battery's positive terminal and the cable. Make sure you have the polarity correct (NEG meter lead goes to cable side). You should see the current drain register on the meter. Pull fuses from the fuse box one at a time and recheck current.
NOTE: This should only be done with the engine off.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 735
Likes: 1
From: St. Louis, MO
unplug the negative battery cable
take one side of your voltmeter...set on DC voltage and connect it to the battery...take the other side of the voltmeter and connect it to the negative cable.
with the car off, ignition off, see what the voltage is. you may have to let it sit for a minute or 2, reconnecting the battery(by hooking the meter in series) might turn the dome lights on for the 10 secs or whatever or send power else where for a min....
so anways let it sit and you should have somewhere under .05 volts(50 milivolts)
anything higher will tell you that you have a draw on the battery somewhere else.
good luck, like he said, you can unplug fuses one by one to find your problem possibly
take one side of your voltmeter...set on DC voltage and connect it to the battery...take the other side of the voltmeter and connect it to the negative cable.
with the car off, ignition off, see what the voltage is. you may have to let it sit for a minute or 2, reconnecting the battery(by hooking the meter in series) might turn the dome lights on for the 10 secs or whatever or send power else where for a min....
so anways let it sit and you should have somewhere under .05 volts(50 milivolts)
anything higher will tell you that you have a draw on the battery somewhere else.
good luck, like he said, you can unplug fuses one by one to find your problem possibly
