Battery Connection Help Options

[AvalonFal]

I've been having problems with the battery draining over a couple of days of non-use, so I'm intending to replace the PO's battery cables (a few splices in the current ones) and go from there. PO relocated battery to the rear trunk & that's OK. However, I came across this situation:

- Engine off, key out.
- (+) battery cable disconnected at battery
- (-) battery cable still connected

I measured across the disconnected (+) cable to the connected (-) cable & got a voltage of around .6 - .75 volts. Is this normal to have voltage across a disconnected (+) cable??

Car starts fine when battery is charged, but, as I said, battery loses juice after being idle for a couple of days.

[Tom]

There is a very much easier way to make a shunt.
Use a 6" piece of #12 copper ground wire from a piece of old house wiring. Hook it to two thin bolts and connect a couple of 12" 12 gage wires to the bolts. Put alligator clips on the other ends. Now hook up a known current draw in series with the "shunt you just made. Hook the source to the battery in-line with the shunt. Measure the voltage drop across the shunt only at the two bolts. this is the voltage drop across that shunt for a known current draw. Now hook your shunt in-line with any other current draw and use a formula to figure out the current draw.
New voltage drop divided by the known voltage drop, times the known current draw, = the new current draw.
Tom