Q&A

 Enthusiast

i tried the light bulb thing and i couldnt get a steady strong charge to the light. the light would just flicker. i had to dab the wire onto the negative terminal to keep getting a strong charge to the light. and i pulled all the fuses 1 by 1 and the light never went out. is there any other way. i was reading something else and they said to use a volt meter instead of a light bulb. would that work better?

 Journeyman

if you have a voltmeter that reads in milliamps you can connect it in the same way as the light bulb to check for draw. after you remove the 3rd piece of wire that bypasses the meter (or light bulb)it well tell you what the draw is in milliamps. a few hundred or less is acceptable. if you have any more then pull fuses until it goes away (you may have 2-3 fuse boxes). in order to use the amp function on voltmeters you have to change the common lead to a different hole, don't forget to put it back to test voltage or you will blow the fuse in your meter (cost me $5 every time i forget). if there is no draw then check your charging, battery negative to alternator positive terminal should be at least 14 volts, check the same in ac volts to check for ripple, should be 200mv or less. cleaning your batter terminals & cable ends could help but its a long shot.

 Enthusiast

i finally found the problem. i went out and bought a circuit tester with a bulb in it and the jbl system fuse is what was drawing the power from my battery. i have no sound from my radio right now but thats ok for now. that was the only fuse that the bulb went out on me. so i took it out and hopefully my battery wont drain anymore. thanks a lot for all the information you gave me. it really helped and saved me a LOT of money. thanks a lot