danglerb

Looks like 17 amps, which is a BIG draw, but I don't know that meter and how it works for current.

Mrmerlin

Umm are the leads connected correctly ?
should not the black lead be connected to the COM port?
the red lead would go into any of the other 3 ports depending on what you have selected.
NOTE with a fresh charge on the battery,
go drive the car for about 10 miles,
park it,
close the doors,
you can leave the window open,
and the cover to the CE panel removed.
let it sit for about 30 mins,
then with the IR gun ,
shoot the CE panel looking for any relay or fuse thats hotter than the rest.

jerybak

lol.....its not 17amps, to pull 17amps the head lights & driving lights would damn near need to be on....
the color of the leads is irrelevant, however the plug location is important and that is why I have asked the question and shown the pic.

I will include a better pic so you can see that there is a small "m" a large "A" & "DC" on the Multimeter display. With what I have selected on the dial and how I have it connected I think that means 17milli amps, but that is my question, as I don't think 17mA would kill a battery in two days.

dr bob

Disconnect the battery after it's been charged and see if it drains down on its own. ASSUming that the meter really is showing just 17mA (which is better than normal for S4+ cars), the battery should be able to start the car after several weeks of that discharge.

I can't see in your pictures how you have the meter connected. It needs to be in series with the battery to measure current. The favorite way is to lift the battery ground strap at the rear apron. Then one lead to ground, and the other to the loose end of the ground strap. That way all current through the battery passes through the meter. Your picture of the battery is too dark at the positive end to see how you have the leads and cables configured. Guessing by the fact that you are using a good meter that you know this stuff, but sometimes it takes a second set of eyes to see little 'ooops' things in the heat of battle.

Other Thoughts:

That ground cable looks lile it's the original. There are known issues with corrosion inside the sleeve on the original ground strap, especially when the external vent hose is not fitted to the battery to carry corrosive fumes out of the battery well. Our spnsoring vendors have original replacements, and several carry an uprated 2ga strap and sleeve that's a bit heavier duty than what the factory originally fitted. Replacing mine solved a charging issue where the battery wasn't reaching full charge even after extended driving.

Flooded-cell batteries as we have in our cars do not take well to deep discharge. Each time the charge level is drawn down below somewhere around 9-10 no-load Volts, you give up about 5% of the battery's remaining capacity. So if you've been letting the battery discharge down to just a few Volts, you will start to see it's ability to start the car diminish even after charging. There are a few 'smart' charger/maintainers that claim to be able to recover some of that lost capacity, and I've seen some testimonials to that effect, but they were posted on the manufacturers' websites so may be ever so slightly suspect.

Testing battery current flow with the hatch or a door open usually offers a higher drain, as both the lights and the alarm circuits may still be active. Key needs to be out of the ignition, doors and hatch closed, or at least the pin switches on open doors need to be depressed for a few minutes before you can get a reliable current reading. Reading current at the end of the ground strap, as I recommended above, means the meter leads can come out through the hatch seal at the rear and leave the meter outside the car.


Housekeeping:

Add the year of your car into your signature lines. I guessed S4+ because of the wing in your avatar picture. Diagnosing from a guess...

UKKid35

Possible culprits for high drain are stuck heated rear window relay, and where applicable seat memory module.

MikeM

I'd check your lead configuration on the meter too. This is not a Fluke 78 manual, but would assume 80 would be similar. Take a look at page 24 and diagram on page 25 which shows a different configuration than your picture.

http://www.transcat.com/media/pdf/80vUserManual.pdf

mark kibort

it says milliamps on the scale reading. it should killl the battery in 3000 hours. (based on 50amp hour battery cap)
if it was 17amps, the battery would be dead in 2 -3 hours

you also have the red and black confused. also you need to put the red in the ma port, for milliam readings. the resistance is much higher in the fluke meter in the Amp port you are using. us the ma port and the reading willl change. also, is your black on the positive power terminal? if not, you witnesing divine charging at .017amps

jerybak

I had the multimeter in series on the positive side not the neg..... does that matter?

dr bob

No.

But if you are reading only 17mA drain, try what I suggested above with the charged battery left disconnected for the same few days you say it takes to drain the battery when it's in the circuit. If the battery terminal voltage falls off the same way, it's quite likely that the battery itself is toast. You didn't mention how old and how many deep discharges the battery has endured. You may be chasing a dufo battery rather than a parasitic drain issue.

You can test the specific gravity of fluid in the cells and get a very good idea what life remains in a battery. The basic floating-***** tester is under $2 on the battery display at Wal-Mart, and available at any real parts store. There are more exotic testers with graduated float, but no need for that level of tester; the floating-***** work fine. Battery must be fully charged and allowed to settle for a bit after charging to get valid specific gravity readings.

Alan

17mA is a very good number, the question is - is it always 17mA? or is it sometimes a lot more?

Sometimes you can get a high load that remains after the ignition is turned off but that just goes away when you disconnect & reconnect the battery. If in your addition of the meter in series you lose the battery connection - you will potentially drop to the lower level before you do a measurement, this can also happen when switching range on a meter, and since with the ignition on you will always be measuring >200mA you have a problem measuring what you need.

However the best methodology for this is really quite simple:

Set the meter on Amps mode initially, connect the meter leads to the battery negative POST with a clamp, connect the other meter lead to a [different than normal] solid chassis ground with a clamp (there is a ground point in the forward upper area of the spare tire well - behind the plastic cover). With the battery ground strap still connected to the normal ground point - ensure the hatch pin switch is disabled (pull off the brown/white wire) and ensure the passenger door pin switch is depressed as if the door is closed (this way you still have access to the battery/meter and the CE panel).

Turn the ignition on, then off, remove the battery ground strap from the ground point. You will now be measuring current in Amps mode on the meter - without having lost connection. If it is in the range of >200mA then reconnect the ground strap switch to mA range and the disconnect the ground strap again to accurately measure in mA. See if this value is different than measuring previously?

Alan

jerybak

son a bi$#%@...... 1.2 amp draw......what do I start pulling first, the rear defroster has a look around the fuse socket like it melted at little at some point, but I never will use it so I just left that fuse out.... could that relay be bad?

Any method to pulling fuses?

jerybak

so I grabbed my IR Gun to see if anything presented with some heat, saw a spike around fuse 5 & 6, pulled 6 (The Freak n AC) draw dropped from 1.2 amps, to 168mA. Pulled every other fuse in the CE panel nothing had any effect on the the draw.

So two questions:
1. is 168mA acceptable? seems kinda high still...
2. need to track down the issue with AC circuit as I now have no defrost for this winter becuase the AC Fuse killed the blower. Where do I start?

Hilton

Is it still 168mA after an hour? (see my previous post about fan controller)

Mrmerlin

Jerybak try replacing the X bus relay and the blower relay and the HVAC relay

jerybak

Mr Merlin...

I just recently replaced "X" Fresh Air Blower relay, did all 253.B's new a couple weeks back.

I am not sure which other replays you mean.....XVIII Cooling Air Flap? and IV Ignition Relay X????