I have it connected in series, black lead to neg battery red to negative cable. The decimal seems way out of wack if I'm reading it correctly, when connected to amp is reads .03, or 30 milliamps, but when set to 20mA it reads also reads .03. Nothing shows up when I have the leads connected to the regular socket witha 200mA limit. Perhaps I did blowa fuse... I'll take it apart tonight and look. What sort of drain is normal?

 

That drain is fairly normal.

Unless you have some aftermarket stuff installed, the only loads would be the memory for the radio and the engine computer. Since it's just minor electronics, 30 ma is a reasonable draw. If you want to verify that the meter is working, set it for 10 amps and open the door to turn on the dome light and step on the brakes. The reading should jump up noticeably.

 

It is possible that you have an internal short in the battery.

 

Hmmm.. An internal short? Is there any way to test for that? The battery does drain when I disconnect it from the van, and I know it's on its way out, but the drain is much fdaster when I leave it plugged in over night.