how to determine if i have a parasitic electrical current draw?
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
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From: San Francisco, CA, USA
how to determine if i have a parasitic electrical current draw?
I saw instructions online once on how to test using a voltmeter if there is sumthing drawing power from the car while it is off...
i think the instructions said something about unplugging the negative battery terminal and connecting the voltmeter to the negative batt CABLE and to the positive battery TERMINAL....
does this sound right? i tried that and i saw a .02v drop (compared to when measuring with both cables off) is this the current draw reading?
i think the instructions said something about unplugging the negative battery terminal and connecting the voltmeter to the negative batt CABLE and to the positive battery TERMINAL....
does this sound right? i tried that and i saw a .02v drop (compared to when measuring with both cables off) is this the current draw reading?
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 471
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From: calgary, ab, canada
Re: how to determine if i have a parasitic electrical current draw? (rody084)
You can do it with a good multi meter. you usually have to plug your pos. lead into the current ... um,... 'hole' on your meter, and set it to the current setting.
Some meters have more than one hole for testing amperage. Mine has a spot that's good up to 300mA, and another thats good up to 10 amps. use the biggest one.
then you put your meter in series with the battery,
remove the positive cable of the battery,
put your neg. lead (from meter) on to the pos. battery post,
put your pos. lead (from meter) on to the pos. battery cable.
your meter now can measure the flow of current through the vehicle.
a word of caution, if you have a remote starter or alarm. if your lights flash when you hook the battery back up after being disconnected ( common on some starter/ alarms) you run the risk of smoking the internal fuse on your meter, as it usually only rated for 10 amps or so. ( the current flow to power the parklights will exceed the fuse's rating ) so dont slip and let the meter become disconnected while you are testing.
once youre all set, just start removing fuses and disconnecting things until you see the current draw disappear. whatever the last thing you disconnected was, will be the draw.
good luck.
Some meters have more than one hole for testing amperage. Mine has a spot that's good up to 300mA, and another thats good up to 10 amps. use the biggest one.
then you put your meter in series with the battery,
remove the positive cable of the battery,
put your neg. lead (from meter) on to the pos. battery post,
put your pos. lead (from meter) on to the pos. battery cable.
your meter now can measure the flow of current through the vehicle.
a word of caution, if you have a remote starter or alarm. if your lights flash when you hook the battery back up after being disconnected ( common on some starter/ alarms) you run the risk of smoking the internal fuse on your meter, as it usually only rated for 10 amps or so. ( the current flow to power the parklights will exceed the fuse's rating ) so dont slip and let the meter become disconnected while you are testing.
once youre all set, just start removing fuses and disconnecting things until you see the current draw disappear. whatever the last thing you disconnected was, will be the draw.
good luck.
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