Vehicle current drain tester with memory saver

A vehicle current drain tester for testing current drain through an electrical circuit in a vehicle having an on-board memory, comprising:

• means for providing power to the vehicle's electrical circuit;
• means for sensing current flow in the electrical circuit and generating a measurement signal indicative of the current flow;
• first offset means for offsetting the measurement signal with a first offset representative of a predetermined maximum drain current;
• first indicating means for indicating whether the measurement signal exceeds the first offset;
• second offset means for offsetting the measurement signal with a second offset, which is less than the first offset;
• and
• second indicating means for indicating whether the measurement signal exceeds the second offset.

A vehicle nominal current drain tester for testing nominal current drawn by a vehicle's electrical circuit from the vehicle battery when the ignition is off, the tester comprising:

• a measurement current loop comprising:
• first and second tester terminals for connection in series with the electrical circuit;
• first and second voltage source terminals coupled in series with the first and second tester terminals;
• and
• a current sensor coupled in series with the first and second tester terminals and the first and second voltage source terminals, which generates a measurement signal representative of nominal current drawn by the electrical circuit through the measurement current loop;
• a voltage offset generator providing an offset voltage which represents a selected nominal drain current level drawn by the electrical circuit when the ignition is off;
• a comparator having first and second inputs and a comparator output, wherein the first input is coupled to the current sensor, the second input is coupled to the voltage offset generator and the comparator output provides a fail output in response to a comparison of the measurement signal and the offset voltage;
• and
• a fail indicator coupled to the comparator output and responsive to the fail output.