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Hi, First time here. I was watching Erics video on you tube about battery drain and I really learned a lot from that. My 72 Nova was running down the battery. I checked it with my meter and it said 0.40 amps. I noticed in the video that Eric said no more that 50 milliamps. I am just wondering what 0.40 amps would be in milliamps. Sorry I don’t know too much about elect. on cars. My Nova is a semi race/ show car so there is not much extra elect. on it other than a radio, no air or heat. Thanks for a great web site! Bruce Reno
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Mili amps is a multiple of 1000. So 0.4 amps is 400 milliamps. That a lot of drain in my opinion. Are you 100% certain your meter didn’t say 0.04 amps?
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milli is the metric prefix for one-thousandth. The unit of measurement for electrical current is the ampere, usually shortened to amp, So 1 milliamp would be one one-thousandth of an amp, or 0.001 amp.
As for the draw, rust and corrosion causes electrical resistance which increases current draw. Check your grounds for rust and inside the battery terminal connections for corrosion that could cause an unexplained increase.
.4 is almost half an amp, that.s a lot. A trunk light left on will usually be around and amp or so and kill a battery overnight. Sounds like you have a good sized drain. Milliamp draws are usually on newer cars with ecms with a constant small draw, security systems, ect. Your nova should pull NO amps. Older cars like that have no constant draw devices unless you or somebody added one.
[quote=”andrewbutton442″ post=130673]Your nova should pull NO amps. Older cars like that have no constant draw devices unless you or somebody added one.[/quote]
The OE dash clock would have a small draw, an aftermarket radio will have a small draw for its clock/memory circuit, but those would be no more than 50mA. Certainly nothing close to 400mA.
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