Phantom power draw

G

geekless

New member
Over the last couple of months my '02 has been draining its battery VERY quickly. I replaced the old battery with a new one and the problem persists. I've had the alternator checked and there are no lights being left on or habit differences in how I use or drive it.

Please help! I never know if the car will start each morning.
 
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Unless you installed a bunch of aftermarket gear it's more likely and common to have a short somewhere that is draining your battery.

How do your battery terminals and connections look, clean or crusty?
How does the battery connection at the starter look, clean or crusty?

Check all your ground connections, block, body, frame.

Until you find the issue, you can keep always connect to a trickle charger overnight to keep the battery charged; like this one.

It's a PITA, but in a pinch you can always pull the negative battery cable overnight but by doing so you will reset the EFI tables and lose all your radio presets - but at least your car will start.

Good luck and report back!
 
If your battery has serviceable cell caps, snag a battery hydrometer and see if you have dead cell. I've seen a bad cell draw batteries down quickly and still crank over fine sometimes.

Otherwise you gotta use an ameter, hooked up in line with the cables. Make sure all doors are closed and all that. Remove either terminal (amps don't matter positive or negative) and hook one lead to battery terminal, one lead to clamp. Running meter thru the battery circuit. If it reads over .250 amps that's too much. Then start pulling fuses. Once you pull a fuse and the amps drop to an acceptable level, around .100 amps, that's the circuit that's drawing power. It's also worth noting, when you first connect the meter in series, give it a few minutes as the amps will spike as the ecu's come on line and the number should drop and settle somewhere after about 5 minutes or so.

Hope that helps. Good luck.
 
I fought the same problem before I narrowed it down to a rear window de-fogger.....didn't even know I had one! buy a cheap VOM with a 10amp scale.
 
4Reak Show said:
If your battery has serviceable cell caps, snag a battery hydrometer and see if you have dead cell. I've seen a bad cell draw batteries down quickly and still crank over fine sometimes.

Otherwise you gotta use an ameter, hooked up in line with the cables. Make sure all doors are closed and all that. Remove either terminal (amps don't matter positive or negative) and hook one lead to battery terminal, one lead to clamp. Running meter thru the battery circuit. If it reads over .250 amps that's too much. Then start pulling fuses. Once you pull a fuse and the amps drop to an acceptable level, around .100 amps, that's the circuit that's drawing power. It's also worth noting, when you first connect the meter in series, give it a few minutes as the amps will spike as the ecu's come on line and the number should drop and settle somewhere after about 5 minutes or so.

Hope that helps. Good luck.
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Holy crap. Ammeters are expensive!
 
alumarine said:
$5.99 good for up to 10 amps

https://www.harborfreight.com/7-function-multimeter-98025.html
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No offense but that thing is a total POS... its not even worth the money they ask for. Might as well wait for a coupon where they give them out for free. You can barley buy a decent set of leads for that much money let alone a meter that actually functions reliably.

Not saying go out and spend Fluke money, but there are other respectable meters worth owning as general purpose home owner or automotive tools for $50-100. Even the $25-50 range gets for a fair amount more than the HF meter... at least get something that auto ranges.

You really do get what you pay.
 
Bumbo said:
No offense but that thing is a total POS... its not even worth the money they ask for. Might as well wait for a coupon where they give them out for free. You can barley buy a decent set of leads for that much money let alone a meter that actually functions reliably.

Not saying go out and spend Fluke money, but there are other respectable meters worth owning as general purpose home owner or automotive tools for $50-100. Even the $25-50 range gets for a fair amount more than the HF meter... at least get something that auto ranges.

You really do get what you pay.
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It's a cheap POS but it works. I keep one of those I got for free in my truck for emergencies. I don't want my good one getting all that vibration. Silly thing works when I need it. 90% of what you do on a car is the presence or absence of 12V+. Doesn't take much. A test light does the same job, and will also do the the current measurement for chasing down parasitic draws.

Personally, I don't like autorangers. Too easy to misread and if you can't figure out where to set it maybe you shouldn't be messing with electric.
 
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I have a background as an electrical tech, and ur the first person I ever met that prefers a manual range over auto...

These tools matter... and if you do any real electrical projects in automotive you will find yourself wanting more meter.

I have a friend who literally spend 2 hours trouble shooting a problem with that exact meter, who eventually asked for my help, and I come over with my tools only to find that the meter is bad.

Yet it turned on, it the did stuff, but none of it was right.

You mentioned recovery gear... something I take seriously... I have good air pumps, straps, and yes, one of my best Fluke DC clamp meters stay in the truck too. Its that important of a tool for me because I see and use and its value in that area too. What I need is reliability I don't have to second guess.

Again, not saying you need a $500 Flue 87 to get the job done, but there is a middle ground to be found when comparing a $6 meter that they give out for free once a month.
 
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Bumbo said:
No offense but that thing is a total POS... its not even worth the money they ask for. Might as well wait for a coupon where they give them out for free. You can barley buy a decent set of leads for that much money let alone a meter that actually functions reliably.

Not saying go out and spend Fluke money, but there are other respectable meters worth owning as general purpose home owner or automotive tools for $50-100. Even the $25-50 range gets for a fair amount more than the HF meter... at least get something that auto ranges.

You really do get what you pay.
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It's way better than the meter someone doesn't have.

Would I use it for mission critical stuff - no.

Would I use it to check a 4runner - all day long.

They're also disposable and I keep something like that in my boats as well.
 
As with good tools, buy once, cry once. Had my Flukes for 20+ years, never let me down. And please give me auto ranging any old day.

Or invest in a good test light. Most are LEDs now.
 
Bumbo said:
No offense but that thing is a total POS... its not even worth the money they ask for. Might as well wait for a coupon where they give them out for free. You can barley buy a decent set of leads for that much money let alone a meter that actually functions reliably.

Not saying go out and spend Fluke money, but there are other respectable meters worth owning as general purpose home owner or automotive tools for $50-100. Even the $25-50 range gets for a fair amount more than the HF meter... at least get something that auto ranges.

You really do get what you pay.
Click to expand...

Yes this meter is cheap. but it is not a POS. For the money it functions quite well. I have had the exact one sitting on my desk for 3 years and 2 of us use it frequently when we can't be bothered to dig out our good ones. It will do the job. Don't be a tool snob.
 
My posts were far from being a tool snob... understanding the reason you would want more meter and snobbing out are two very different things.

These meters have a high burden voltage when measuring current and their resistance readings are very lacking limiting its use further.

I've owned a few of these things too... the calibrations drift and they are not very accurate. They don't have much of any resolution so small changes in voltage dont really register on display...

If you don't need a better meter, go for it, but I can tell the difference and it's massive. I have no confidence in the readings... its good for nothing more than basic voltage readings; like making sure there is 12v present, to see if your AA is a 1.5 or 1.2

Trouble shooting low current parasitic drain you might just end up chasing your tail with that meter. What you pay for is confidence in the reading with a good meter. More resolution and accuracy allow you to make better decisions though better information.

But what do I know... vie only spent the last 20 years of my life as an electronics enthusiast buying the bare minimum to get the job done because everything I own I bought on my own hard earned money.

I don't have an elaborate high end tool kit, but what I do have I bought because there was a need or reason for better. Learn from my own growth...

You can't even get a good set of leads for $6 let alone a whole meter. The leads are where the rubber meets the road… it’s like buying a tricked out 4x4 or sports car and throwing junk tires on it. The leads matter but often an afterthought when dealing with bottom barrel meters. I actually buy reputable leads separately from my local electronics store. All my 10A leads are at least 14 AWG silicone now.

If you don't believe me... man up and start cutting your leads in half... These leads (on the right) were shipped with some bargain basement meter with a 10 amp range... You tell me if you think 26 AWG stranded is actually going to pass 10A? They won't because I had a set catch on fire before... which is how I developed a new hobby of cutting up "perfectly good leads"

18 AWG vs 26 AWG
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I don't care if you agree or disagree with what I am saying, but I am just giving my opinion from personal experiences.

Your money, your TIME, spend it how you like. All I was trying to say is $25-50 gets you A LOT MORE METER... Everyone has to start somewhere.

At least go buy a UT-61E... for $50 you won't find a better meter. Its got a cult like following as the poor mans alternate to a fluke 87 iii.
 
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