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From: paulfoel on 10 Mar 2010 04:31
Battery is always pretty much flat every morning - car starts just
about. However, once its started in the morning its pretty much ok for
the rest of the day.

Sorry for being thick, but can I use a multimeter to see if anything
is draining the battery?

If it is, how do I find out what?
From: Rob Graham on 10 Mar 2010 05:27
On 10/03/2010 09:31, paulfoel wrote:
> Battery is always pretty much flat every morning - car starts just
> about. However, once its started in the morning its pretty much ok for
> the rest of the day.
>
> Sorry for being thick, but can I use a multimeter to see if anything
> is draining the battery?
>
> If it is, how do I find out what?

Disconnect one of the battery terminals and put the multimeter between
the terminal and the end of the lead. If it shows a current with
everything switched off (which it almost certainly will), then you have
a drain. Question is, how much? I would expect about 35 milliamps or so,
because even with everything switched off current is still needed to
maintain some functions.

Rob Graham
From: Tim on 10 Mar 2010 05:52
Rob Graham wrote:
> On 10/03/2010 09:31, paulfoel wrote:
>> Battery is always pretty much flat every morning - car starts just
>> about. However, once its started in the morning its pretty much ok
>> for the rest of the day.
>>
>> Sorry for being thick, but can I use a multimeter to see if anything
>> is draining the battery?
>>
>> If it is, how do I find out what?
>
> Disconnect one of the battery terminals and put the multimeter between
> the terminal and the end of the lead. If it shows a current with
> everything switched off (which it almost certainly will), then you
> have a drain. Question is, how much? I would expect about 35
> milliamps or so, because even with everything switched off current is
> still needed to maintain some functions.

But don't do this before you've made sure that you've got your radio unlock
codes. ;-)

It's quite likely that it's just that your battery is nearing the end of its
life and needs replacing.

Tim

From: Dave Plowman (News) on 10 Mar 2010 06:06
In article <DJSdnQZS5-Sx6QrWnZ2dnUVZ8lGdnZ2d(a)bt.com>,
Rob Graham <rttgraham(a)btinternet.com> wrote:
> On 10/03/2010 09:31, paulfoel wrote:
> > Battery is always pretty much flat every morning - car starts just
> > about. However, once its started in the morning its pretty much ok for
> > the rest of the day.
> >
> > Sorry for being thick, but can I use a multimeter to see if anything
> > is draining the battery?
> >
> > If it is, how do I find out what?

> Disconnect one of the battery terminals and put the multimeter between
> the terminal and the end of the lead. If it shows a current with
> everything switched off (which it almost certainly will), then you have
> a drain. Question is, how much? I would expect about 35 milliamps or so,
> because even with everything switched off current is still needed to
> maintain some functions.

You have to use guile when carrying this out with some cars as the inrush
current when connecting the battery can blow the DVM fuse. So best way is
to make the connection with the DVM shorted, then remove that short after
a short time.

--
*Eschew obfuscation *

Dave Plowman dave(a)davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
From: Jacobian on 10 Mar 2010 06:07
On 10/03/2010 09:31, paulfoel wrote:
> Battery is always pretty much flat every morning - car starts just
> about. However, once its started in the morning its pretty much ok for
> the rest of the day.
>
> Sorry for being thick, but can I use a multimeter to see if anything
> is draining the battery?
>
> If it is, how do I find out what?

Check the boot light and bonnet lamp (if you have them), switch breaks
and the lights stay on and off course are un-noticed
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