AAAAArrrrrgghhh - still got battery discharge problems

[nik]

Dear All,

OK here comes the update on my 986 battery discharge problem.

A quick summary first, drive about 500 miles a week on pretty long trips so battery has plenty of chance to charge itself, if i don't drive it for 2 days the battery is flat.

1. I fully charged the battery and had it tested, the garage told me it had a cranking figure of 580 which was fine, he couldn't tell me if it was holding it's charge though.

2. Purchased a clamp meter and and clamped it over the + lead next to the battery

3. I set the dial to 200ACA (the lowest available)to check the reading and then start pulling fuses

4. The reading was 00.0

Can't pull the fuses because the reading is at 0, am I doing this right or could it be that the clamp meter range is too high and I need a meter that measures miliamps.

So i guess i have a couple of questions

Am I using the clamp meter in the correct way?

Should the battery guys be able to tell me if the battery is fully charged and secondly is it holding that charge?

Not happy, i've spent way tooooooooooo much time trying to sort this out, it's stopping me from refurbing my recently acquired sport design split rims that I picked up for £300 from fleabay

As usual thanks for everyones help so far.

[Glyn]

Dear All,

OK here comes the update on my 986 battery discharge problem.

A quick summary first, drive about 500 miles a week on pretty long trips so battery has plenty of chance to charge itself, if i don't drive it for 2 days the battery is flat.

1. I fully charged the battery and had it tested, the garage told me it had a cranking figure of 580 which was fine, he couldn't tell me if it was holding it's charge though.

2. Purchased a clamp meter and and clamped it over the + lead next to the battery

3. I set the dial to 200ACA (the lowest available)to check the reading and then start pulling fuses

4. The reading was 00.0

Can't pull the fuses because the reading is at 0, am I doing this right or could it be that the clamp meter range is too high and I need a meter that measures miliamps.

So i guess i have a couple of questions

Am I using the clamp meter in the correct way?

Should the battery guys be able to tell me if the battery is fully charged and secondly is it holding that charge?

Not happy, i've spent way tooooooooooo much time trying to sort this out, it's stopping me from refurbing my recently acquired sport design split rims that I picked up for £300 from fleabay

As usual thanks for everyones help so far.

Nik, you have the meter set to AC amps, select DC amps.

Measuring AC will produce 0 as there is no AC current

Glyn

[Tool Pants]

Read this from Peter and Scott. Peter works at a local dealer.

http://www.pca.org/tech/tech_qa_question.a...9-284D52B42EDE}

http://www.pca.org/tech/tech_qa_question.a...7-84710F816889}

I'm not sparky, so Peter told me to test for draw like in the picture. In fact, I think I should have turned the dial to mA and not the larger 10A scale.

Before I hooked up the meter I closed the trunk latch with a screw driver in order to turn off the light.

[pjslowik]

3. I set the dial to 200ACA (the lowest available)to check the reading and then start pulling fuses

Am I using the clamp meter in the correct way?

Sorry, Bro, amp clamp only works for AC current. You need to hook the meter in series and set to DC amps, like I told you earlier. Clamp works by induction. AC induces current. DC does not.

Try disconnecting fully charged battery for a couple days to see if it holds a charge. Feel free to E-mail me if you want.

Good luck!