Dead battery - Is the alternator bad?

[Ian c]

Them figures are t the end of the world .
It dropped but still was high enough to produce a charge for the battery .

Did you get a meter with dc amps ?

[3point2]

Here's a pic of my meter.



Shall I start removing the firewall cover and get started on removing the alternator? Lol

[Ian c]

I can't see properly as I'm in the car on my cell , but it looks like dCA ?
If it is , that is dc amps . Perfect.

Disconnect the ground as described earlier and take a reading .
Make notes and remove fuses one at a time and note what it goes down to .

I forgot to add earlier . Your meter co. e toons must be good .. If using probe pins scrape first and if using clips lamp them on the. Use the grips to clean the surface .

I will be home in an hour so will call back on here but hopeful someone else will rey a out your drain readings if you're having trouble

[3point2]

It's DCA on the left side of the meter.

So I removed the negative cable from the battery.

What setting do I use on thE meter? 200milliamps?

Then with the car off I take a reading at the battery and pull one fuse at a time in the drivers side footwell?

Do I replace the fuse after each reading?

[Ian c]

Yeah
That's exactly how to do it .
One at a time and replace after noting the reading .
You should be reading around 20-25 milliamps so if you have a smaller range on your meter it will be fine .
The idea is to find how many mAs your car drains with all doors shut and locked (simulating a parked scenario)
And if it is high enough to flatten your battery you pull one fuse at a time to find out which circuit has a fault causing excessive drain

[3point2]

Thanks for your help.

Before I go check fuses, from what I've seen so far, could the alternator still be good?

Thanks again,
-leo

[Ian c]

From your first reading yes .
From your second reading no .
but i'm suspecting a bad connection on your leads or the air kicking in or radiator fan coming on .
We can go back to it later ...
A drain check will eliminate a circuit flattening it when parked
And your initial reading with all fuses still in place will determine that

[3point2]

I'm trying to do an initial reading with the car off, earth off, and I'm getting 0 milliamperes across the battery. Am I doing something wrong?