How to Test for Car Battery Drain?
2 Answers
Methods to check for car battery drain: 1. Inspect whether the battery voltage and charging output are normal, and check for severe corrosion on battery terminals; 2. Remove the negative battery terminal, set the multimeter to maximum current measurement, connect the red probe to the negative cable, and fix the black probe to the battery terminal; 3. Turn off all electrical appliances inside and outside the vehicle, lock the doors, observe the current reading, adjust to the appropriate range, and record; 4. Wait for about 20 minutes until all vehicle modules enter sleep mode, then read the accurate static discharge current. Car batteries, also known as storage batteries, are a type of cell that works by converting chemical energy into electrical energy. Batteries are categorized into conventional lead-acid batteries, dry-charged batteries, and maintenance-free batteries.
Last time my car wouldn't start after sitting for just one week, so I learned to measure parasitic current with a multimeter. First lock the car and wait half an hour for the computers to go to sleep, then disconnect the negative battery terminal. Set the multimeter to the 10A current range, connect the red probe to the battery terminal and the black probe to the disconnected negative cable. If the reading exceeds 50mA, it indicates a parasitic drain. Remember to check if the glove box light or trunk light is stuck on - modified reverse cameras are the most common power drainers. Once I found it was the dashcam's parking mode consuming power; unplugging it fixed the issue.
