SureTrack Users General Discussion

[Robin]

Yes Crusty it was a typo, I did change it.

Thanks.

[Witsend]

fuse buddy sells one with ammeter built in, just plug into fuse and turn it on, measures current draw on small screen.
Use it all the time for finding battery drains..

Can you install the correct fuse the circuit is rated for in it while the circuit is awake, then pull the fuse to have it go through a smaller replaceable shunt fuse for the milli amp meter?
Remember you can't always remove a vehicle fuse without waking up the module network to attach a meter
I think amp meter should be self powered to insure it doesn't cause something not to go to sleep..

[Crusty]

Yes Crusty it was a typo, I did change it.

Thanks.

Hey Robin;
Just wanted to make sure you understood (and others) that the milliVOLT drop across the fuses represented the milliAMP drain or draw.
It's the milliAMP (or higher) drain that will kill the battery.

As Louis Bernstein has pointed out on IATN, the meters need to be of very high quality and accuracy to get a good reading in millivolts that we can trust. (some people don't care for Louis but I think he and his "friends" are just fine, thank you very much-!! LMAO)
SOME small parasitic drains will always be there. As MAVEN points out many people still think 50 milliamps is OK but that harkens back to the 1980's and 1990's and even back then some individual modules had much less than 5 milliamps of draw each, so isolating them can be a challenge (ESPECIALLY when an inductive low current probe carries a bias or float of 11 milliamps consistently such as the SnapOn low current probe does) (I'm still pee'd off about their response that 11 milliamps is "negligible"-!! To me that's HUGE when things today are working in micro volts and amps) Some Dodge products these days show injector on times in MICRO-seconds, not just MILLI-seconds-!!!

Where does the name "PICO" come from-?? As in the Pico-scope....
It comes from the measurements used such as (in larger to smaller value scales) Milli, Micro, Nano, Pico.....

That's why I was jumping on your original millivolts (across the fuses) and the milliamps of actual current drain. Didn't mean anything personal-!!

Now to one of my favorite expressions....LMAO...
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS-!!!

Fix the little things and the big problems don't seem to happen as often-!!

[greasybob]

Had an 03 GMC today with a 128 mAmp draw after an hour. Checked the fuses and found a .5 millivolt drop across the 15 amp radio fuse. That would make the BMW chart pretty accurate. Unplug the radio and the draw dropped to 8 mAmps. It was an aftermarket radio.

[Dr.Jake]

Grease, did ya know the wurd addressed means figured out.? Our next heater core is a guy from Florida that is in Atlanta....Gonna drive from ATL tah heer. A 97 F150. We did 2 last night for Flock's Dad.

Think me gonna quit figuring start addressing shite. I think we gonna do a mechanics video soon. Flock hold the cam, me hold on his side. Do some step1 step 2 ****.

[Crusty]

Had an 03 GMC today with a 128 mAmp draw after an hour. Checked the fuses and found a .5 millivolt drop across the 15 amp radio fuse. That would make the BMW chart pretty accurate. Unplug the radio and the draw dropped to 8 mAmps. It was an aftermarket radio.

That was a good APPLICATION of the fuse/voltage drop technique-!!

How many fuses did you have to check before you hit on that one-??

How did you measure your initial 128ma drain/draw-??

[Dr.Jake]

16 degrees SC, colder than Alaska Norte.! 27 in Anchorage anchor town 907. Supposed to heat up to 17 today and tomorrow. Dunno what happened. A witch's mudflap hotter than this. No mosquitos. Buzzards are grounded.

[greasybob]

I install a temporary battery cable on the negative side until I get the vantage amp meter installed in series and then disconnect the cable. I work left to right so it was one of the last fuses I checked. Important to get a sharp probe to make a good connection to the top of the fuse or the volt meter is all over the place.

The cold is good for us, it thins the herd. Just make sure you got enough nuts stored away for a long winter.

[liljoe]

The fuse buddy is self powered, has a connector that fits the fuse hole and a place for a fuse in the side of it so you can put a ten amp fuse in if the circuit calls for a ten amp to keep from overloading the circuit, you can use to a 25 amp, I think. Then you just turn it on and it reads the draw, good if you know what fuse is pulling current but need to disconnect multiple items to find the problem. Not a fancy tool, but a nice addition to the tool box.

Found it here for under $15.00. http://www.tooldiscounter.com/ItemDi...lookup=ESP302M

Correction, it goes to 20 amp not 25

[Crusty]

[QUOTE=liljoe;47480]The fuse buddy is self powered, has a connector that fits the fuse hole and a place for a fuse in the side of it so you can put a ten amp fuse in if the circuit calls for a ten amp to keep from overloading the circuit, you can use to a 25 amp, I think. Then you just turn it on and it reads the draw, good if you know what fuse is pulling current but need to disconnect multiple items to find the problem. Not a fancy tool, but a nice addition to the tool box.


The only problem with this is you have to A: identify which circuit you want to test and B: you have to open the circuit to install the fuse buddy which can eliminate the drain you were trying to find.

[liljoe]

http://www.tooldiscounter.com/ItemDisplay.cfm?lookup=ESP302M

something else interesting along the same lines....

[starserv]

check the you tube video for the power probe hook for testing parasitic draws

[dodge90]

What's the matter Dr. Jake Southeren not used to this great North East weather?? Heck, its been single dig. here in PA with wind chill down to -40. . Been playing heat wars with boss all winter, he runs around with sweater and jacket all day stays in waiting room and says its not that bad in shop, balmy 60 in here.

[Crusty]

What's the matter Dr. Jake Southeren not used to this great North East weather?? Heck, its been single dig. here in PA with wind chill down to -40. . Been playing heat wars with boss all winter, he runs around with sweater and jacket all day stays in waiting room and says its not that bad in shop, balmy 60 in here.

LOL-!!! CANDY-AZZ-!! LOL
My shop is a balmy 51-F and has been since October-!!
My ESO says work harder, you'll stay warm-!!!
Wait a minute. ... I'm the ESO-!!!

[maven]

Right around 55F here on my end out the shop, 2miles out to sea on this island.

I only get grumpy when the door stays open and the 2F-15F wind blows through
Anything over 20F I usually dont complain or wear anything heavier than a tshirt when I head outside. But these single digit temps and double digit wind speeds have made me throw on a jacket a few times to go hunt down a vehicle this winter.