battery drain

[Duncan Thomson]

Kent,

Sounds like the fuse has popped.

DVMs have fuses for current readings, often separate fuses for the high
and low current settings.
These are independent of the voltage part of the meter.

You could test it by setting it to the highest reading (200mA) and
connecting it inline with a working circuit with a very small current.
i.e. at 12V the wattage would need to be less than 2.4V (Power = Current
x Voltage).

Duncan

-- 
Kent McLean wrote:
> To troubleshoot a battery drain, I charged up the battery in my
> '91 200 20V.  I reinstalled the battery. I attached the negative
> (ground) cable to the battery negative and left the positive cable
> free. I then attached my digital volt meter (DVM) probes between
> the battery positive and the positive cable, to see what the
> battery drain might be.  I tried all 3 m.amp settings (2000u,
> 200m, and 20m) and couldn't get a reading -- the DVM showed 0 on
> all 3 settings.
>
> Not being an EE, am I doing this right?
> Should I see a reading?
> Could I have burnt out the m.amp reading?
>
> I swapped the DVM probes for m.amps rather than the Ohms position
> they had been in.  The voltage part of the DVM still works