Noise on battery?!

[Chip]

Hi all



So I've been trying to track down an issue with my power steering recently and took the car to Halfords yesterday to get a battery check.

When they put the meter on the battery at idle it came up with 'noise on battery'. He said that the test couldn't be completed as something was draining the battery.

Has anyone heard of this? I have a multimeter myself, does anyone know the correct setting to use to check the battery voltage?


Thanks!

[husky]

Hi all



So I've been trying to track down an issue with my power steering recently and took the car to Halfords yesterday to get a battery check.

When they put the meter on the battery at idle it came up with 'noise on battery'. He said that the test couldn't be completed as something was draining the battery.

Has anyone heard of this? I have a multimeter myself, does anyone know the correct setting to use to check the battery voltage?


Thanks!

why are they checking the battery with the car running ? surely thats just checking the alternator charge rate and not the battery

[Chip]

My mistake, I meant not idling - car was fully off! D'oh

[Critch]

He may just be confused an its doing an alternator ripple test Should be checking battey drain on a static battery Check voltage on multimeter on DC voltsIf your trying to find current draw you need to set it to amps and have the meter in series with batt

[kcmillar]

To check the draw from the battery first you need a multimeter that checks amps then disconnect the neg post from you battery then connect both the leads of your meter one to the post of the battery the other on the neg cable switch your meter on then lock your doors the meter will be reading around 1amp but should drop to 0.05amp when the can system sleeps takes around 30_45 seconds
If its still reading high start pulling fuses one at a time to see what circuit is draining the battery
Hope this helps