Parasitic draw testing blew my fluke meter 10a fuse

[06RTCharger]

Some of u probably seen my status posts about the battery issue im having. Basically the battery died early and after recharging it was dead again the next morning. Leaving me to the conclusion my battery is having a draw while the car is off. The battery was dead and wouldnt hold a charge at all anymore, the cca was only above 100 on a battery rated for 950. 

So after searching around for what i could do to help find the issue, i came across the parasitic draw testing. Went and got a fluke 115 so i could accurately test for a draw and then test fuses to see which fuse was passing amps thru it while car is off. To that you need a fully charged battery, so bought a new one with AAA(they did the testing on my battery). Got the battery installed and all that. 

Then i start to prepare to test for a draw. I pop the trunk (rear stock battery location) and i use a screw driver to make the trunk latch close so that the trunk light goes off and the car is completly off. I disconnect the ground terminal from the battery. Set my Fluke to dc amps. Plug in the black lead into the common/ground spot, and plug in the red lead into the current testing side for reading amps. I take one lead and attach it the ground terminal that i removed from the battery, then put the other lead onto the batteries ground post, it slightly sparks and sparks slightly again at any movement of the lead that on the post. The meter reads all kinds of amps readings jumping up and down with movement of the lead. Also as this is happening my stock stereo has a 6 cd changer, i here it switching and changins disks?? The keys not in the car, i dont have key sensing technology. The stereo clock also turns on which should be on when the car is off. I stop and try to set the leads a lil more securely so the readings will stay still. When i try to do this the meter no longer reads anything....stays at zero. I thought alright it fixed its self, no draw. But becuase it was absolute zero i thought that was kind of odd, and it was, found out the fuse blew in the meter by using several techniques to test the meter for continuity. It all turned out to no continuity. Pulled the fuse and checked it with the fluke set to continuty, no connection. Just to double check i grabbed an anl fuse and tested it for continuty with the fluke and its fine. 

How tf did i blow a 10A fuse with the car off?? I tried to be as detailed as possible so that u can see exactly what i did to try to find if i did something wrong. I swear technical problems fuckin love me. 

One idea i had is something went haywire in the car with the way the AAA guy removed and installed both batteries. I read u always remove GROUND FIRST to disconnect, and attach POSITIVE FIRST when connecting battery??? Would that have caused extra shit to happen when i try to add the fluke in series to the ground side of the battery? I also didnt let the car sit for too long before taking a read just a couple mins. I wasnt worried becuase i was gonna take another reading 30 mins after to be sure the car went "to sleep", if you e read this far thanks for ur time, very much appreciate it, any helpful info is welcome, thanks guys. 

Now i gotta try to find a replacement fuse fk. 

[06RTCharger]

What did i do wrong? Do u think that maybe there actually was something drawing more than 10amps while the car was off? It is a fast blow fuse so i think soon as it went above 10 it would pop. I wanna figure out what happened or what i did wrong before i try to test for a parasitic draw again. 

[ShadeTreeMechanic]

The things that might draw current when the battery is first connected are the capacitors inside the amps, the cars computer and power train control modules. It might be better to leave the battery connected, and pull the accessory fuses one at a time and check with the meter in the fuse sockets.

[Skullz]

Get a dummy light, all it does is light up letting you know which circuit is the culprit requiring further investigating. 

They work every time.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-6-12V-Circuit-Tester-Industrial/dp/B003UHNMMS

[06RTCharger]

Yah ill just test the fuses without testing the draw. I already spent 240 on a fluke so dont wanna buy another lil thing to test the fuses lol. Took the fluke back and they just gave me a new one. Ill be ordering some extra fuses before i try to run the meter in series with the battery again. I was hoping someone could help point out what went wrong with what i did, so i can learn how to do it correctly if needed. 

[06RTCharger]

6 hours ago, ShadeTreeMechanic said:

The things that might draw current when the battery is first connected are the capacitors inside the amps, the cars computer and power train control modules. It might be better to leave the battery connected, and pull the accessory fuses one at a time and check with the meter in the fuse sockets.

Do u think something couldve pulled over 10amps when the battery was reconnected through the meter? Maybe all those things "woke up" at the same time?

Im trying to not to do the pull fuses technique, i read that sometimes that can cause other issues in the computer. Id really like to avoid other small complications. So im going to try testing the fuse from the top of them, that way i dont have to pull fuses to see if there is current passing through the fuse. 

[slowfkncar]

Any integration modules? Obd flashers? Any bad/malfunctioning lock switches? Light switches? Power seat switches? Chrysler likes to use can style systems so any CAN equipped factory item will need to time out first before the vehicle's BCM can shut down, anything out of spec/malfunctioning could throw the BCM in a loop every 30 mins and it could be something just as simple as a light switch,cheap integration modules or even simply a stuck power seat button. 

[Skullz]

This is the second time i suggested the dummy light and the second time you have dismissed it, only to spend a massive amount of money on a tool you did not need for this job, as it only requires you to know if it is shorted and pulling power, all you need to know is where it is coming from and not at what power level or amp draw. That is the perfect tool for this job.

This could be as simple as you H/U not shutting off completely or a fuel pump relay stuck in the run position, you find the circuit and start pulling plugs till you find what is causing the draw, a short in a wire, a bad component or something else causing the issue.

Nothing against you, but you make things harder on yourself than they would otherwise be.

[06RTCharger]

I have noticed power/switch gliches with my car every once in a great while. Like first turn of the key wont crank over, trys to but dies right before starting. But it has always started perfectly on the second try. Thats only happened a 3-4 times since ive had it. Also the window switches, one window switch might not work and id have to click the switch up and down a couple times then it works fine. That too has only happened 2-3 times. I know my actuators are pretty weak, windows go up pretty damn slow even with a brand new battery. Most of those things im kind of guessing was happening as my battery slowly slowly got drained.

I think ive found atleast one of the parasitic draws tho! Fuse 18 in the trunk, selectable power outlet (dash cigarette lighter), it can be set in two spots, one spot makes it work only when ignition is on, other spot is if u want the outlet to have power available even if the car is off. So this is the only fuse in the trunk that has voltage drop across the fuse. 6.0-5.4 millivolts, all the other fuses drop to zero soon as both leads touch the top pins on the fuse. Im not sure what that translates into as amps to see how much amps are actually being drawn. But the cigarette lighter plug says 10amp on it, could be why my fluke poped the 10amp fuse on it. That number 18 fuse is also a 20amp fuse. Gonna try to figure out how to deal with this outlet now, there aint even the actual lighter thing in it, just a plastic dummy plug/cover. 

[06RTCharger]

Well now im lost lol, pulled the fuse to check the continuity of the fuse and the fuse is blown lol. So im not sure what to make of that. That couldnt have been the power draw right, since it basically wasnt on because the fuse was blown? Maybe it was drawing power but just blew now when my fluke blew too? Thats a 20 amp fuse that blew in the trunk too. Digging my own lil hole here. Gonna check continuity of the reat of the trunk fuses and do the engine bay fuses tomarrow, its too dark out here.