Car battery is always empty
#42
09-02-2018, 08:05 AM
#43
09-02-2018, 08:32 AM
Veteran Member
Use common sense.
If the lamps light with the battery hooked directly but do not light with the meter in AMP mode connected between the battery terminal and the wire then your meter is no good...
#44
09-02-2018, 10:30 AM
Veteran Member
#45
09-02-2018, 10:36 AM
Veteran Member
ALSO, one cannot merely disconnect the battery cable and then connect the meter in series, as when the car first detects voltage all sorts of things turn on. That would be in excess of the 10 Amps and immediately blow the fuse.
I spent several weeks off and on trying to find a drain in my F150 and I learned a lot of things doing it.
To do this correctly, you must hook a jumper between the cable and the battery post. Position your doors and boot lid switches/latches to the CLOSED position so the lights and sensors are OFF. Allow about 30 minutes or so for everything to shut down. THEN, you can FIRST hook the meter leads between the battery cable and the battery post and THEN disconnect the jumper lead. That way, the modules won't reset and turn on as there has been a constant voltage.
I spent several weeks off and on trying to find a drain in my F150 and I learned a lot of things doing it.
To do this correctly, you must hook a jumper between the cable and the battery post. Position your doors and boot lid switches/latches to the CLOSED position so the lights and sensors are OFF. Allow about 30 minutes or so for everything to shut down. THEN, you can FIRST hook the meter leads between the battery cable and the battery post and THEN disconnect the jumper lead. That way, the modules won't reset and turn on as there has been a constant voltage.
The following 4 users liked this post by Cee Jay:
#46
09-12-2018, 08:28 AM
Veteran Member
ALSO, one cannot merely disconnect the battery cable and then connect the meter in series, as when the car first detects voltage all sorts of things turn on. That would be in excess of the 10 Amps and immediately blow the fuse.
I spent several weeks off and on trying to find a drain in my F150 and I learned a lot of things doing it.
To do this correctly, you must hook a jumper between the cable and the battery post. Position your doors and boot lid switches/latches to the CLOSED position so the lights and sensors are OFF. Allow about 30 minutes or so for everything to shut down. THEN, you can FIRST hook the meter leads between the battery cable and the battery post and THEN disconnect the jumper lead. That way, the modules won't reset and turn on as there has been a constant voltage.
I spent several weeks off and on trying to find a drain in my F150 and I learned a lot of things doing it.
To do this correctly, you must hook a jumper between the cable and the battery post. Position your doors and boot lid switches/latches to the CLOSED position so the lights and sensors are OFF. Allow about 30 minutes or so for everything to shut down. THEN, you can FIRST hook the meter leads between the battery cable and the battery post and THEN disconnect the jumper lead. That way, the modules won't reset and turn on as there has been a constant voltage.
The following users liked this post:
Cee Jay (09-12-2018)
#47
09-16-2018, 05:53 PM
Senior Member
For those who are sufficiently interested in measuring high current to make this meter worthwhile, this is what I use for measuring up to 200A AC and DC current, without having to disconnect any leads. The resolution is only to 0.1, however, so this is not good for measuring very low currents or voltages:
https://www.fluke-direct.com/product...SABEgKDk_D_BwE
Last edited by Patrick Wong; 09-16-2018 at 05:58 PM.
#48
12-26-2018, 01:18 AM
. the battery didn't charged well that's why its broken.
#49
12-26-2018, 04:25 AM
Veteran Member
I have a tracker fitted to my car (which advises me of battery voltage when I use the app) and notice that drain is between approx .03-0.5V for each 24hrs it's left undriven, So based on it sitting at 12.70V now worst case it would drop below 12V in 2 weeks, which sounds about right. Natch am not going to test this out (unless going on holiday)
When I plug it into a CTEK overnight it gets up close to 14v, but once driven this drops quickly to around 12.8v
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