wrote in message
oups.com...
"Haven't gone out of town yet. I checked the disconnected battery
today 24 hours after yesterday. Now the drain is 4V! Why would it
vary (just sitting there)? The battery is still 10V potential of
course"

What you should be measuring is the amps that are being drawn by
inserting an amp meter in series with the battery. Inserting a
voltmeter like you are doing won't tell you what the actual drain is,
only that there is one.

You are correct, however, how many amps flowing through the short won't help
much. While it might give an experienced electrition a clue as to what's
faulty, few tinkerers who post questions in a newsgroup such as this will
likely even have an amp or multimeter, much less one that can read over 10
amps without blowing a fuse or worse. The fact that there's still voltage
across a supposedly open circuit is enough to know that there's a short, and
to trace the problem.

And the drain is likely varying because a
short somewhere isn't going to be perfect. It can vary from a few
microamps to 100amps depending on what's going on, like humididty,
temp, if the short is rubbing against something, etc. One thing for
sure, if it reaches the 100 amp point, you'll likely find it real
quick. BTW, I wouldn't leave the mower in my garage with a likely
short and the battery connected.

I'm feeling a little stupid for not suggesting that. Good call.

Pagan