i have a draw of .016, i think, how fast will this kill my battery? when i hook the test light up to the postive cable and the postive on the battery, it lights up. now every time i unplug the radio harness, the light goes out. is the radio wiring wrong, or is the radio bad??? need some help

 

Well if you are saying that you have a 16 millamp draw that is not bad,but if you have the test light illuminating then there is a problem.Are you sure you are reading the dvom right?

 

Alos when doing a draw test you need to disconnect the negative cable and place the dvom there,not the positive cable.

 

Also when doing a draw test you need to disconnect the negative cable and place the dvom there,not the positive cable.

 

i didnt think it matter where u hooked the test light up 2, cuz ur just completing a circuit? im pretty sure it .016, on my muili-meter is has 200k, 20k, 2k settings. i set it to 2k. am im using it right? anyways do you think the head unit went bad?

 

On the dvoms I use the is a settings for just 100 millamps,and also a setting for 10 amps,what are you using?

 

2 amps

 

The 200k, 20k, and 2k settings refers to resistance measurements only.
A reading of .016 on the 2k range indicates a resistance of 16 Ohms, but of course you cannot apply that to a current measurement.. Try again..
It is correct that it doesn't matter which post you disconnect to make such measurements, but it is safe, good practice to always work with the negative terminal, first off, last on. It is because it's easy to short circuit the positive battery terminal to ground (which is all around) with the wrench or the test wires, both of which can explode if you do it thorougly... When you work on the negative terminal you can touch ground with the wrench all you want, nothing happens.. Safer for the DVOm too.

 

i meant 200m 20m 2m, is that right?

 

Yes, that makes sense. So you measured .016 on the 2m(A) range? That amounts to 16 microAmps, an extremely small current that would take something like 500 years to drain your battery. This however does not correspond with your test light illuminating.. To check instrument, fuse, and range: set the instrument to 200m[A] and put it in series with the test light, both across the battery. This should light the test lamp, and the instrument should indicate something roughly around 100[mA] depending on lamp wattage. If it gives a sane reading; proceed to make a reading of the leakage current. Anything under 20[mA] could be considered ok. If the test light does not illuminate; check for test wires inserted in the proper sockets on the instrument, and the fuse inside. (Do not put the instrument directly across the battery when in mA range, or the fuse will blow.)

 

thanks for the info. why is the radio makeing it goe up to .016 and when its dis connected it reads like .001. maybe the radio is bad?

 

No, it's quite normal to get a reading between .1 and 2mA, radio's usually uses some small current to retain the station preset memory.