Battery dead next morning.

[TheDurk]

Does it make a difference if it's on this symbol that I'm pointing ?



Or this

The top symbol, straight lines, means DC which is what you need on cars. The wavy line is for AC, which you have in your house. But, since you show zero, it's neither one. Since the 10A setting point has both symbols, I assumed your meter autoselects when it finds something. Is this a new meter? Is there any chance someone could have blown its 10A fuse at some earlier time?

I'd go ahead and try the mA setting with the red wire on the right. It's good practice to check the high amp (10A) range first, but you should be fine. The low amp (mA) will use a different fuse, so we can move forward if the high amp is blown. The worst that will happen is you will have two blown fuses in your meter instead of one. They are cheap and easy to change.

Make sure your probes are making good contact on clean metal. Really push down hard on those probes and slide them a little bit.

 

[TheDurk]

[MENTION=10169]TheDurk[/MENTION] I tried moving the red wire to the right on the test meter. And set the test meter to 10A and set it to this

I put red wire to lose ground cable and black wire to the negative battery terminal and it read solid 0.314

If i reversed the meter wires. It read 0.183

Is this normal ?

Then I changed it to mA and did red wire of meter to lose ground wire and black wire from meter to negative battery terminal and it reads solid 3.02
Using this setting

Our posts crossed here. It should read the same reversed or not. 10A with the wire on the right is not how you do it so I have no idea what the reading might mean. I'd disregard.

I'm a little concerned I can't be sure where the decimal point is on your reading. we could have 3mA (which is very low), 30mA (which would be perfect, or 300mA which is typical of a parasitic problem. Any chance I can see a pic of the actual meter when reading in mA mode. I realize that may take prehensile toes and help from a friend.

I actually prefer old-fashioned non-autoranging meters. Less risk of confusion.

 

[kolelt]

Probe is brand new. How come it showed a reading when I switched the red probe wire to right side.

I'll try again with red wire in the left (10A).

 

[TheDurk]

Probe is brand new. How come it showed a reading when I switched the red probe wire to right side.

I'll try again with red wire in the left (10A).

Well, if it is really 3mA you are below threshold for the 10A range so zero is correct. Otherwise, I don't know why you are zero on the 10A setup. If I were there, I'd put my meter on it and then figure it out. Over the net, not so easy.

 

[kolelt]

Well, if it is really 3mA you are below threshold for the 10A range so zero is correct. Otherwise, I don't know why you are zero on the 10A setup. If I were there, I'd put my meter on it and then figure it out. Over the net, not so easy.

I'll make a video tomorrow of me doing it. Thanks !

 

[thegipper]

You may have blown the fuse if you initially set it up wrong. I'll draw up a diagram so you know exactly how to set it up with your meter. So first things first, you need to pull the back off your meter and make sure the 10a fuse is not blown, if it is, replace it. Many meters come with a spare in it, if not, go and grab a couple.

 

[thegipper]

This is how the volt meter needs to be setup (first confirm the fuse isn't blown, see above).

This is how it needs to be setup on the vehicle. Make sure everything is off, no doors/lights are open/on ect. This is when you should see how many amps you are drawing. If everything is normal, it should be like .05 amps approximately. Anything significantly above that means something is staying on or something is pulling power when it shouldn't.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[thegipper]

If you are drawing more than that .05amps, this is when you need to one by one start pulling fuses and watch the meter. If you pull a fuse and that draw in amps goes away, or goes down significantly, this is where you start. For instance, if you pull the fuse for the interior lighting, and that draw goes away, some interior light is either staying on or there is a short somewhere in the wiring. Trying to find the exact cause of the draw can be a ***** but this will at least point you in the right direction. I had a parasitic drain in my grand prix and it was because the glove box light wasn't turning off (bad switch). Keep in mind that many fuses are for multiple things so you would have to inspect all of the components related to that fuse.

 

[IBallEngineer]

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

Gotta love that artist's rendering!

:yo:

 

[thegipper]

Gotta love that artist's rendering!

:yo:

Lol thanks!

That is definitely the extent of my artistic abilities...

 

[kolelt]

It reads 0. So maybe it's suppose to do that ? Meaning it was really my old battery. ?

 

[kolelt]

I checked the 10A fuse and it looks good. It's a solid white so it's not like a regular fuse where you can see inside it and tell if the fuse has burnt up.

But I try to simply test the battery for 12v and it reads 0. DUDE SHOOT ME !

Im going to try to get a new fuse for volt meter. Because I really want to make sure I don't have a parasitic draw.

 

[chrisparker]

that sucks

 

[TheDurk]

I checked the 10A fuse and it looks good. It's a solid white so it's not like a regular fuse where you can see inside it and tell if the fuse has burnt up.

But I try to simply test the battery for 12v and it reads 0. DUDE SHOOT ME !

Im going to try to get a new fuse for volt meter. Because I really want to make sure I don't have a parasitic draw.

Well, if you only had an ohmmeter you could take the fuse out and measure it for continuity.

Oh, wait....


(10A AMP fuse should not effect ohm readings).

You have to really work to blow your volt fuse. Like exceed 800V potential. Did you have black in the middle and red on the right when you were reading the battery? Again, sometimes you really need to push the probes hard against the terminals.

Maybe you should try an outlet voltage in your house. Just to see if SOMETHING works.

 

[ThorInc]

Maybe you should try an outlet voltage in your house. Just to see if SOMETHING works.

I would highly suggest providing the directions as to how to do this! eep:

I thought I would add this JIC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXlVVgsp64c

 

[TheDurk]

I would highly suggest providing the directions as to how to do this! eep:

I thought I would add this JIC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXlVVgsp64c

If he asks, I'll be happy to.

 

[kolelt]

So I tested an outlet at home. Nothing was showing up with the red probe wire plugged into the 10A Port. Switched the red probe wire to the right side with the multi meter set on V and it showed 118.8 v. Seems legit to me, 118v outlet is 120

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, If this meter is defective or wtf. Seems that if I use the left side (10A) nothing works

 

[kolelt]

Im sorry for being annoying. The funny thing is I did residential electrical work for few years. Just never ever touched a multi meter. Only ran wires, installed lights, outlets and all finishing products. I'm embarrassed

 

[gamefreakgc]

I checked the 10A fuse and it looks good. It's a solid white so it's not like a regular fuse where you can see inside it and tell if the fuse has burnt up.

But I try to simply test the battery for 12v and it reads 0. DUDE SHOOT ME !

Im going to try to get a new fuse for volt meter. Because I really want to make sure I don't have a parasitic draw.

Well, obviously your battery is good now, I also run a red Optima and they are awesome. That meter is either super confusing or no good. Although, there is a learning curve on those things. Durk's right about just having a simple voltmeter or ohmeter... it only does one thing and there's something to be said for that. Plus the analog needles are way more responsive than these digital ones.

 

[kolelt]

Well, obviously your battery is good now, I also run a red Optima and they are awesome. That meter is either super confusing or no good. Although, there is a learning curve on those things. Durk's right about just having a simple voltmeter or ohmeter... it only does one thing and there's something to be said for that. Plus the analog needles are way more responsive than these digital ones.

Well I hope my battery is it. I'd really like to confirm that in fact it was just a bad battery that died on its own and not from a unknown drain. That's all. Don't want this to happen with new battery. But so far truck turns on in morning. So I think I'm good.