Current draw

[Old Dog]

Ok guys, you all know I'm electricly challanged so help me out here.
I have something new going on thats draning my battery. How do I use my muliti meter to check for the draw. I THINK I disconect the pos. or the neg. from the battery and can use the meter to check, but please explain it to me. Also what do I set the meter on to do this.

 

[CJKrawler]

As long as your meter is set up for amp draw, you have to put it in the loop. Basically, you have to break the circuit, and put the meter into the circuit with the pos and neg leads. There should be a separate plug for the pos lead to go into that is marked for amps. start at the highest amp setting you have, and move down from there, I would guess you will not make it to the milli amps, or mA. if you post up a pic of your meter, I could point it out on there. Hope that makes sense. Good luck. Also, a short can cause high amp draw as well, so you could also check resistance, which means no voltage in the system.

 

[Old Dog]

I have 2 meters, I'm not sure why as I don't really understand either one. Here they are, maybe you can tell me which one would be best. And the best way to check.

 

[Old Dog]

Also, a short can cause high amp draw as well, so you could also check resistance, which means no voltage in the system.

To go a little more in depth on this, I just had my dash out during the week and now I have a dead battery. I'm not sure if I did something when I was putting the dash back in or if my battery just picked now to take a dump on me. So I need a way to check to see if I screwed up a wire or what happened. I don't want to take the dash back out and just look around if it's just a bad battery. I kinda think I did something though as the battery is only about 1 year old.

 

[IOPort51]

Do not put either of those meters on the battery connection while set on amps.
first off I think neither does DC amps.
you can put the voltmeter , set to above but as close to 12V DC. probably 20 V or so.
If voltage is red between the cable and the terminal it means something is making its way to ground. This also includes things like clocks in the dash. If there is no voltage read it does not indicate the battery is dead as You will more than likely have voltage to "A real ground".

 

[priceg]

Old school, put you 12v test light between the positive post and the positive cable and start pulling fuses untill the light goes out.

 

[dslywalker]

How to Find a Parasitic Battery Drain - wikiHow
see if this makes sense to you.Ignore the computer part of it unless you have EFI

 

[CJKrawler]

I have 2 meters, I'm not sure why as I don't really understand either one. Here they are, maybe you can tell me which one would be best. And the best way to check.

these should help

[/ATTACH]

 

[CJKrawler]

checking the amp draw will help, but i think you should also be looking at resistance, more than likely a wire got pinched, and is shorting out, causing the battery to drain.

 

[Old Dog]

Do not put either of those meters on the battery connection while set on amps.
first off I think neither does DC amps.
you can put the voltmeter , set to above but as close to 12V DC. probably 20 V or so.
If voltage is red between the cable and the terminal it means something is making its way to ground. This also includes things like clocks in the dash. If there is no voltage read it does not indicate the battery is dead as You will more than likely have voltage to "A real ground".

I don't have a clock or anything except the tbi computer

How to Find a Parasitic Battery Drain - wikiHow
see if this makes sense to you.Ignore the computer part of it unless you have EFI

I do have a Howell tbi, I think ithe computer might draw something but not real sure

checking the amp draw will help, but i think you should also be looking at resistance, more than likely a wire got pinched, and is shorting out, causing the battery to drain.

When I hook up the meter as you suggest is that checking amps or resistance? Also is this with the meter between the battery cable and the battery.
sorry to be so dumb here, but electric is not my thing. I also agree that I probally shorted something out I just want to be sure before I pull the dash again.

 

[Old Dog]

Old school, put you 12v test light between the positive post and the positive cable and start pulling fuses untill the light goes out.

Now there's something my old brain can understand.

 

[CJKrawler]

pull the pos lead from the battery, and secure it so that it touches nothing, and you can press the leads onto it. Press the read lead onto the pos lead, and the neagative onto the postive battery terminal. that will give you amps.

pull both leads, press black to black, or vice versa, means no difference for resistance. you have the leads set the same as you would for voltage, and the meter is set to ohms, again, the larger the better. if the meter reads 0, you have a dead short, if it is maxed out, there is no short, anything else, and there is a partial short. Without knowing exactly what you have, I would guess that the computer retains a minute amount of voltage draw, which will show as a partial short, same as a clock radio would, anything else that would retain a memory will do the same.

I would start at the fuse block, instead on the battery. You can pull the fuse and place the leads across the terminals, which would be easier, and point you in the right direction quicker.

 

[dslywalker]

If you want Old Dog I have a Howell TBI also.I can see what my current draw is.I know my radio draws some to keep station memory.Happy to do it if you want.
Mike

 

[Old Dog]

Thanks guys, I found the problem.
After standing on my head tring to see if I could see a pinched wire, I decided I needed to take the dash back off, as I went to take one of the screws out I noticed my headlite switch was on.
Well give me my stupid sign, that fixed the problem.
Once again thanks to everyone, at least I know a little more about how to use a meter now.

 

[CJKrawler]

You mean the light eminating from the headlamps wasn't enough to tell you that????

 

[Old Dog]

You mean the light eminating from the headlamps wasn't enough to tell you that????

Well just so it doesn't sound so bad, I have a one piece front end that I have to unplug the headlite wires (Ihave a plug connector at the frame) to lift up, so my headlites were not working at the time. I guess I didn't notice the tail lites as they were in the sunshine. Other than that I have no excuse.

 

[CJKrawler]

it happens. At least you know you installed your dash correctly.

 

[bones]

Who says you cant teach an old dog new tricks

 

[IOPort51]

That would piss me off! I would have to go and drink beer and ponder the shame I had heaped upon myself. I think I could get over the shame in about two beers and the rest would be gravy.

 

[dslywalker]

Okay hold my sign while i crawl under the dash.I wouldn't want to lose it.
Happens to the best of us,at least it fixed