Parasitic draw / DVM help

[Gilaguy23]

Trying to track down a parasitic draw on a 98. I cant recall what's what on my DVM. When set at 200Ma I get a .2 reading, or set at 20Ma I get a .02 reading. Is this excessive? IIRC, 50Ma is normal on todays ECM equipped vehicles. So what would 50 Ma draw look like set at 20Ma or 200 Ma dvm setting? I think im going senile Here's the kicker if the draw is to much. This thing had/has issues based off battery/starter wiring mods. Somebody set up battery cables like the following. 2 HD cables off the battery neg, 1 to the block, the other to the body, Good I say. The pos battery terminal has one cable into the PDC in, and then out to the alt. The other straight to the starter. Disconnecting either the + or minus cables, and using my DVM to monitor draw I get that .2 draw when either + or - cables touch the battery. I considered a bad diode in the alt, but I still get the draw with the alt cable unhooked and then landing the PDC cable. I've pulled every fuse and relay there is and still the draw.

 

[GATORB8]

Trying to track down a parasitic draw on a 98. I cant recall what's what on my DVM. When set at 200Ma I get a .2 reading, or set at 20Ma I get a .02 reading. Is this excessive? IIRC, 50Ma is normal on todays ECM equipped vehicles. So what would 50 Ma draw look like set at 20Ma or 200 Ma dvm setting? I think im going senile Here's the kicker if the draw is to much. This thing had/has issues based off battery/starter wiring mods. Somebody set up battery cables like the following. 2 HD cables off the battery neg, 1 to the block, the other to the body, Good I say. The pos battery terminal has one cable into the PDC in, and then out to the alt. The other straight to the starter. Disconnecting either the + or minus cables, and using my DVM to monitor draw I get that .2 draw when either + or - cables touch the battery. I considered a bad diode in the alt, but I still get the draw with the alt cable unhooked and then landing the PDC cable. I've pulled every fuse and relay there is and still the draw.

Unless I'm also going senile, it should be outputing mA, when you notch down the setting it gets more accurate. So the 20 reading is more accurate than the 200. It is closer to .02mA than .2mA. You should be able to step down one more if the setting is available.

That seems like very low draw, there are normally two sockets to choose from for amperage, are you using the right one?

 

[Gilaguy23]

Yes, I started with the 10 amp probe socket and saw nothing. Then moved the probe to the middle/Ma socket with the black lead in the ground setting. Its like .02 is OK but .2 is bad. So which do I have, Ok or not OK, sheesh. And to think I once was a math wizard of sorts.

 

[KennethS]

So what would 50 Ma draw look like set at 20Ma or 200 Ma dvm setting?

It would read overload (OL) on the 20 mA range (because 50 is more than 20) and 50 on the 200 mA range.

 

[GATORB8]

Yes, I started with the 10 amp probe socket and saw nothing. Then moved the probe to the middle/Ma socket with the black lead in the ground setting. Its like .02 is OK but .2 is bad. So which do I have, Ok or not OK, sheesh. And to think I once was a math wizard of sorts.

Either .2 or .02 mA should be fine, both are a fraction of a regular self discharge rate of a battery. Even .02 Amps would be okay (20 mA).

What are your symptoms, and has the battery been tested?

 

[Gilaguy23]

Load tested no, however sitting at 12.4V and starting it with a good DMV it drops to 11.4ish IIRC. The battery is 3 years old as well. I charged the battery and it seemed to charge normal, charging system puts the battery at 14.2V as well. Maybe its just a weak battery as Im beginning to question if there was really a problem or not. Apparently it did sit here and there but had a tender on it at times so who knows. Thank You for the response as well, my OCD is getting the better of me on this one.

 

[GATORB8]

Load tested no, however sitting at 12.4V and starting it with a good DMV it drops to 11.4ish IIRC. The battery is 3 years old as well. I charged the battery and it seemed to charge normal, charging system puts the battery at 14.2V as well. Maybe its just a weak battery as Im beginning to question if there was really a problem or not. Apparently it did sit here and there but had a tender on it at times so who knows. Thank You for the response as well, my OCD is getting the better of me on this one.

The battery will float for a bit on charge, 14.2V should be good alternator output though. A good full 12V is somewhere around 12.6-12.8 V once it settles.

 

[Gilaguy23]

Yeppers, that's what bugs me is the 12.4v read from 2 meters in the am. I need to let it sit for several days and check the volts but its getting driven daily and topping up the battery again.

 

[GATORB8]

Yeppers, that's what bugs me is the 12.4v read from 2 meters in the am. I need to let it sit for several days and check the volts but its getting driven daily and topping up the battery again.

12.4 is pretty low. To me that points to one of two things, either the battery is worn out and time to get replaced, or it hasn't been charged long enough to get back to full charge.

Do you have a charger you can throw it on and see if it'll take a top off?

 

[Gilaguy23]

I did charge it Friday, but never checked the voltage after it sat unhooked a few hours later. Need more testing, however its just raining to hard today to mess with it.