As a car owner, I believe you experience a situation where you try to startup your car in the morning and notice the battery is drained, but you are sure you turned off everything in the car before you left it parked for the night? This may be as a result of electrical drain of the car battery by a particular electronic component.
So the issue is how to know the particular component causing the electrical drain. Here I will show you a method that can be used to diagnose a car for electrical drain issues as learned from a car professional.
Tool needed: Digital Multimeter.
Note: In order to perform this test, the car battery have to be fully charged and should be in a good working condition to enable a proper test result. Also before performing the test, make sure nothing is turned on in the vehicle and the doors are shut properly to prevent any load on the battery before testing.
Steps:
1. Change the position of the positive terminal of the multimeter (red wire) from its default position usually VΩHz or VΩmA and insert in the 10A position.2. Set the multimeter dial to the 10 Amps DC scale
3. Remove the cable from the negative terminal of the car battery and connect any of the multimeter lead (+ve or –ve side) to it, then connect the remaining multimeter lead to the negative battery terminal.
The reading on the multimeter should not be greater than 50mA, anything above 50mA, indicates an electrical drain on the battery while it is not in use by any active component.
To investigate the cause of this electrical drain, follow these steps:
1. Make sure the multimeter is still connected in place on the battery as before.
2. Look for the fuse box in the engine compartment, usually located on the side of the compartment.
3. Take out the fuses one at a time and check the meter reading if there is any significant drop in amps. If no significant drop is seen after that, move over to the fuse boxes located under the dashboard.
Note: Disconnect the multimeter before opening the car door to avoid over current on the meter which may damage it.
To check the fuse boxes under the dashboard follow this steps:
1. Depress the door switch down with any object to disable it while inside the car
2. Reconnect the multimeter back as before and place it on the windshield to enable you see the readings from inside of the vehicle.
3. Take out all the fuses one after another from the fuse box in the driver’s side of the dashboard and check the amps reading for each fuse as before.
4. Once done with the driver’s side shut the door and move over to the passenger’s side of the car also repeating the process in the fuse box located in the passenger’s side.
Note: Make sure the door switch on the passenger’s side is depressed and ensure to disconnect the multimeter before opening the door to begin the test on the passenger’s side like in the driver’s side.
Once a total drop in amps is seen as soon as a fuse is removed, then the circuit that particular fuse controls is the cause of the drain. You can proceed to investigate the circuit with an appropriate circuit diagram for that vehicle to check for that particular fuse position in order to know the component it controls.
Hopefully you may not have to check up to the fuse box in the passenger’s side before the particular fuse controlling the circuit causing causing the drain is found.
Remember that it is better to contact a vehicle professional for any issue your car is facing.
Hope this was helpful? Your questions and contributions are welcome.
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