Yah it must be the settings you are using, or the ports you are plugged into.� Or something funky with the MM.� I've done what you're doing and it works well.� I forget what my draw was.� You can also do it for individual things, like I connected power through the MM�to my LP furnace to see how many amps it was using.
http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain

--- On Fri, 10/21/11, Courtney Hook <courtneyhook@SHAW.CA> wrote:

From: Courtney Hook <courtneyhook@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Multimeter help for the idiot
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Date: Friday, October 21, 2011, 6:03 PM

I was trying again to see if I had any current draw so did some internet sleuthing to help me figure this out. I can rebuild engines fine, tune motorcycles, etc, etc, but when it comes to multimeters I am an idiot. I think I did it right, but want some backup on this. I put my MM between the + terminal on my new battery and the + cable. I then set my RadioShack MM to the notch marked 200 DCmA which also had a solid line beside it with 3 dots under it. I then took the reading, and it said 00.0 ??? I reversed the leads and it then said -00.0���
Does that mean I have no current draw at all?? I am lost, because I have a small digital volt gauge plugged into the lighter that MUST be drawing something??
The MM reads voltage across the battery fine, at 12.74volts, so I think it's working fine. What am I doing wrong??
Courtney