HOW TO DETECT WHAT DRAINS THE CURRENT IN A CAR

HOW TO DETECT WHAT DRAINS THE CURRENT IN A CAR

WRITTEN  BY MADUKA TONY

It is a problem that has been given most car users a sleepless night. Have u ever wondered what happens after parking your car and getting to it the next day only to discover that the battery is down.

The battery is so dead that the dome light barely makes enough illumination to help you find the key slot. Now the way to detect wht actually draws this current is illustrated below

APPARATUS NEEDED

Multimeter

Flexible wires

Fully charged battery

PROCEDURE

Connect the multimeter as shown below. the red wire to the ammeter side so as not to damage the meter. 

Start hunting by putting your multimeter in series with the battery’s ground circuit. Connect by removing the negative terminal of the battery ( this is to offer safety to the device and to the vehicle at large).

Ensure that the car doors are in shut position ( you may leave the passenger front door open but shut the lock) make sure that the front door is locked because if opened can trigger the PCM(power control module) to activate the fuel pump relay and this will inturn make the injectors to be ready upon starting to supply fuel to the engine. Make sure that the whole electrical gadgets and accessories like radio, earpiece, cigarette lighter are all off so that no current is lost in any form.

Run a flexible wire to the negative terminal of the battery and the other flexible wire direct to the battery terminal cap. See the illustration in cartoon format below

next thing to do since you know there is a current drain is to check the fuses one after the other and taking into cognizance the current drop on the meter reading.


image from google images

keep checking all the electronics on the car by removing each fuse and taking note of the corresponding drop on the meter. once you detect a fuse if when removed leads to a drastic drop on the meter reading, wallow!!! you have found the fault, trace the fuse using the wire diagram of the car to which accessory the fuse works for and change it.

note' the reading should be 0.05 - 0.06

disconnect the set up and your battery is saved from the parasitic drain.

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