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Steve Tinker · 04-23-2010, 09:57 PM

LB - in his first paragraph, skadakia says he has fitted a new battery..... and as you correctly say, problems do occur with new batteries, though I wonder how "charged" his battery is??

skadakia, what stephen wilson & extanker are talking about is the draw on the battery with the engine off and the key removed - we call it "dark current" and its in miliamps (mA).
If you remove the + cable from the battery and connect your meter between the battery terminal and the cable end (in series) and switch your meter to DC Amps, you will get a reading - usually about 10-20mA. This current is feeding the clock & alarm system etc.
If you see a reading of say 100mA, you have a current draw which is over and above the norm and the way to isolate this draw is to leave the meter connected and start removing each fuse. When you see the current draw change (drop) when a particular fuse is removed, you have isolated the faulty circuit.

One other thing, you cannot fully charge your battery with a 25 mile drive. You really need to trickle charge it for at least 12 hours for a decent charge.....

04-23-2010, 09:57 PM	#14
Steve Tinker Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Queensland, Australia Posts: 1,522	LB - in his first paragraph, skadakia says he has fitted a new battery..... and as you correctly say, problems do occur with new batteries, though I wonder how "charged" his battery is?? skadakia, what stephen wilson & extanker are talking about is the draw on the battery with the engine off and the key removed - we call it "dark current" and its in miliamps (mA). If you remove the + cable from the battery and connect your meter between the battery terminal and the cable end (in series) and switch your meter to DC Amps, you will get a reading - usually about 10-20mA. This current is feeding the clock & alarm system etc. If you see a reading of say 100mA, you have a current draw which is over and above the norm and the way to isolate this draw is to leave the meter connected and start removing each fuse. When you see the current draw change (drop) when a particular fuse is removed, you have isolated the faulty circuit. One other thing, you cannot fully charge your battery with a 25 mile drive. You really need to trickle charge it for at least 12 hours for a decent charge..... __________________ 2001 Boxster S (triple black). Sleeping easier with LN Engineering/Flat 6 IMS upgrade, low temp thermostat & underspeed pulley. 2001 MV Agusta F4. Last edited by Steve Tinker; 04-23-2010 at 10:00 PM.