Tweet
I seem to have a drain on the electrical system that over a short period will make the battery voltage insufficient to start the car. I have read posts that recommend removing the fuses one at a time till the meter drops. Where is the meter placed? I would imagine placing it between the battery posts will give you the battery voltage but how will that tell you the drain? With the meter in the ohms range it will read resistance. Is that where we want to be?????? All help appreciated, Bill #20328
-
-
Re: Electrical Drain
remove the battery cable from the negative side of the battery and place the meter set on amps between the cable and the battery terminal. then you can pull the fuses till the amperage draw drops. -
Re: Electrical Drain
Excellent advice using an ammeter. Check first to make sure your ammeter will handle at least one amp, preferably 10 otherwise you will at very least blow a fuse in your meter or worse fry your meter if the parasitic drain is severe. To be on the safe side, I would first put a test light between the negative cable and the negative battery terminal. If it lights brightly forget the meter for now and proceed with the fuse pulling.Comment
-
Re: Electrical Drain
Bill,
There was a good posting here a couple of days ago when the problem turned out to be a glove box switch that was not adjusted properly and the glove box light was on all the time.
The procedure of using the ampmeter will help a lot.
Good luck,
GeneComment
-
Re: Electrical Drain
To help explain........ compare electricity to your water faucet, with the valve off the potential for waterflowing is called voltage, once the valve is opened the water flows which is like current flow or amperage, the size of the water pipe is like the resistance of the wire, think fire hydrant versus garden hose. So in order to measure current draw you need to put your VOM in amperage measurement mode...most can handle 10 amps..check you manual for set up and max setting, then put the meter in series with the negative cable...you know one meter lead on the post and the other lead on the battery cable...when you do this you will see the meter measuring current flow...a typical light bulb will pull about .3-.4 amps, if your door is open you will have three bulbs on with a total of 1-1.5 amp draw...then you start removing one fuse at a time till until you identify the circuit...then you study the circuit to see why the draw is occuring..then solve the root cause.Dino LannoComment
-
dino
you guys have such a way with words.Comment
-
Re: Electrical Drain
Another handy tool is a clamp style AMP meter that forms an closed loop around a wire and measures the current flowing through it without any inline connections. Works great for diganosis of car as well as other items. While Fluke makes some excellent units, you can get cheaper imports now too...I think an investment of around $30 or so will get you a decent unit...CraigComment
Comment