Parasitic battery drain

Hello, Hope this is the correct place for this question

First question is: can doing this test wrong damage the vehicle electrical system? From what I gather, the multi meter will be damaged first (acting like a fuse in a way)

Second, if there are small sparks when connecting the leads from the multimeter to the battery terminals, I assume the mulimeter got fried?

Thanks for any help

 

How exactly did you test for parasitic drain

 

I connected in line with the negative battery cable but forgot to move the leads to the 10A comm port. Got a few small sparks. I assume that fried the multimeter

 

Happens, your truck should be fine. Google your multimeter model along with "fuse replacement". A lot of models out there can be replaced to get them back up and running.

 

Thank you. I figured something might be wrong when I keep trying to do the test and was getting no values. Appreciate your help

Also. I have been in the market for a better meter. I bought some cheap on on Amazon a few years back. I have been looking at a

$51 Klein MM400 Multimeter, Digital Auto Ranging, AC/DC Voltage, Current, Capacitance, Frequency, Duty-Cycle, Diode, Continuity, Temp 600V

Klein MM400. Is this a good one or perhaps one recommended?

Thanks again.

 

Damn Parasites

 

For amateur auto stuff, cheap Amazon stuff works just fine IMO. The most people use is voltage, continuity, and amperage (10amp + preferably in case you want to check amp draw from accessories like lighting). But yeah klein is a good brand.

 

A clamp on amp meter works well too just make sure it's rated for DC and not AC only. Also when chasing drains it's better to test across fuses with a voltmeter set to mv instead of pulling fuses as pulling fuses can "wake up" modules on newer vehicles.

 

I just received the MM400 for Christmas. Haven't put it to much test yet, but it is fast, has several useful functions, has auto-ranging and is built solidly. The audible continuity beep will definitely come in handy. You can ignore most of the negative Amazon reviews because they are idiots that don't know you can remove the shields on the tips of the probes. The shields are for use in high voltage (Cat III and IV) situations and can be removed for most home and auto applications.

 

Just what kind of drain do you have?

Drains the battery flat over night??

Your always going to have the radio memory and clock and ecm given enough time it will drain the battery

 

Back a long time ago.....when analog clocks first landed in the dashboard......parasitic battery drain began.

Modern vehicles have Computers to control everything, Digital Head Units connected to the world, remote starts, alarms, clocks.......

You will find parasitic drain on any modern vehicle.

 

How did this play out ?? It would be nice to know ?