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International Automotive Technicians Network
Parastic draw testing
Posted to Technical Theory Forum on 12/5/2012 60 Replies

This post is in reference to a reply I made yesterday here http://members.iatn.net/forums/read/msg.aspx?f=forum2&m=332053&fv=0&ar=0

05 Dodge Caravan parasitic draw testing. I usually use my Vantage Pro on graphing multimeter mode to check a draw on a system, in my experience it paints a much wider picture of what is actually going on, and otherwise would be missed by the Fluke 87. Here is how I connected to this vehicle for testing [Parasitic draw testing]

I had mentioned in the reply it was about a 50% duty cycle, that is incorrect, it was late and I wasn't looking at the data at the time. I tried to get a reading on the duty cycle but couldn't figure it out, anyone know how to do this in amp mode on the vantage pro? I could figure it out math wise, just busy at the moment, and it is irrelevant at this point anyhow.

I checked draw with the Vantage pro in graphing mode [2005 Dodge Grand Caravan, BATT/Charging/Starting Waveform] see how it says 17mA, but then shows a rapid on off of amperage, on the upper left you can see it maxes out at 110 mA, this will drain a battery in just a few days. Here it is again with scope mode, [2005 Dodge Grand Caravan, BATT/Charging/Starting Waveform] . Here it is again with multimeter mode, [2005 Dodge Grand Caravan, BATT/Charging/Starting Photo] still shows 17mA with a peak of 110mA.

Here it is now with the Fluke 87 [2005 Dodge Grand Caravan, BATT/Charging/Starting Photo] shows 9.73 mA and I put it on min max, no real change, never went over 11mA.

I assume every tech on iATN would pass a 11mA reading I know I would. But without using a graphing multimeter you are only seeing a part of the story and not the part you need to see.

Jeremy from Kansas

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car Vehicle Data

2005 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3L

Engine3.3 L
Trans4-speed Automatic (Electronic)

car Vehicle Data

2005 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3L

Engine3.3 L
Trans4-speed Automatic (Electronic)