Quote Originally Posted by David T View Post
If a diode in the bridge is shorted it will drain the battery and if the regulator is bad it can drain the battery. The only way to know using a bulb in series with the battery is to disconnect the alternator since it is not fused. As bitsyncmaster points out not every load in the car is fused. That is correct but most of the time a drain is going to be on a fused load. We all know the door lock module has a significant standby drain. What I presume the original poster is looking for is something much larger and out-of-the-ordinary. Like a short in the cigarette lighter, door courtesy lights that don't go off, a burglar alarm, etc. My tip is a short-cut to find any large drain quickly with a minimum of test equipment.
David Teitelbaum
Yes, I'm looking for something that would cause the battery to drain in about a week's time if the car is just sitting.

I did replace the cigarette lighter with a similar model that I found on another thread here. I wonder if that could be the problem.

Quote Originally Posted by Ron View Post
Although colors don't really matter, the Black one always goes in the COM ("common") port. The Red one goes in the Right port unless you want to read amperage between 400Ma = .4 Amps and 10Amps (anything higher can toast the meter).
Sounds like you may have used the two outside ports (a No-No)...recheck your fuses (ALWAYS replace with 'fast blow' fuses).

Yes, one part of the meter can read correctly while others don't.
Did you try what Elvis suggested to test it?
Well that'll probably be a problem -- I had the red in the right most and the black in the left most. That'll teach me to skim the directions...