Ancel battery tester

[Donald]

I have the BA101 battery tester. Battery being tested is 800 MCA boat battery.

Enter in 800 MCA and test and the display says it has 1000 CCA.

The conversion from MCA to CCA is .77.

So 800 MCA = 616 CCA.

Enter in 615 CCA and test and the display says it has 770 CCA.

I have emailed Ancel.

 

[atikovi]

What's MCA? I know CA and CCA but never heard of MCA.

 

[atikovi]

Just looked up BA101. Not sure how accurate a $34 battery tester can be beyond close enough. My $500 Midtronics often gives false negatives which after a few days on a maintainer turn into good readings.

 

[SHOZ]

I watch the voltage when I first turn on the key and then when cranking. If it's dipping into the 10v range when cranking better be prepared. It usually is 11.9v with the key on and engine off after sitting overnight before cranking.

 

[JHZR2]

Attempts at mathematical correlations for complex transport phenomena in varying conditions is not going to be accurate.

You’re looking for consistency in testing, and “good enough”.

 

[Donald]

What's MCA? I know CA and CCA but never heard of MCA.

Marine cranking amps. Since pleasure boat batteries are almost always used when it's warm they are often rated in MCA.

 

[researcher]

Just looked up BA101. Not sure how accurate a $34 battery tester can be beyond close enough. My $500 Midtronics often gives false negatives which after a few days on a maintainer turn into good readings.

I have that same Ancel battery tester. Tested it against the Midtronics at Adv Auto, exactly the same results. But doesn't mean that @Donald unit is as accurate but I bet it is. All it's doing is a internal resistance test to estimate the amps, same as the midtronics. As everyone says a carbon-pile load tester is the only actual load test, not an estimate.

 

[Donald]

I have a HF carbon pile load tester which I think is the gold standard method of testing a battery. Putting 50% of the CCA load for 15 seconds (until it beeps) and then read the voltage on temp adjusted scale. I am sure there are better quality carbon pile load testers but the main goal is to put a huge load for a short period of time and read the voltage.

To make it more accurate one could measure the voltage with a Fluke DVM during the test. And whether the actual load is 400 amps or 450 amps probably does not matter that much. You can smell it's a big load.

But am using the Ancel to see how well the Battery Minder desulfation function is working given the batteries treatment over the summer being charged once and awhile when I took the boat out.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I don't think you should use CCA - you should use CA unless the battery is near 0F. I read that somewhere - I thought here but maybe not?

When I switched from CCA to CA when just testing my car batteries - the numbers seemed to match reality better.

 

[Donald]

I don't think you should use CCA - you should use CA unless the battery is near 0F. I read that somewhere - I thought here but maybe not?

When I switched from CCA to CA when just testing my car batteries - the numbers seemed to match reality better.

But there is a sticker on the battery. Many say only CCA. My boat battery says MCA. Articles on the Internet say to multiply MCA by .77 to get CCA. I assume that's a valid conversion. But not sure.

I really expected the results display on the Ancel battery tester to show MCA since I entered MCA to start the test.

 

[mfewtrail]

Odd battery test

I have an Ancel battery tester. Tested my new deep cycle battery that is labeled 800 MCA. Plugged 800 MCA into the tester and it said the battery had 1025 CCA. That's odd that the CCA as tested is more than the MCA. Multiplied 800 MCA x .77 to get 616 CCA rating. Tested a second time, plugged...

bobistheoilguy.com

 

[Donald]

Odd battery test

I have an Ancel battery tester. Tested my new deep cycle battery that is labeled 800 MCA. Plugged 800 MCA into the tester and it said the battery had 1025 CCA. That's odd that the CCA as tested is more than the MCA. Multiplied 800 MCA x .77 to get 616 CCA rating. Tested a second time, plugged...

bobistheoilguy.com

I am 70 and forget things.

 

[GMBoy]

My testers allows you to enter CA, CCA, AMP and reserve for testing a battery and I have seen batteries test above the rated power a few times. This is normal as a battery rated for , say, 700 amps that is the minimum it must make to be labeled correctly when sold new. I have seen 700 CCA batteries test out to 775-825 but only when less than a year or 2 old. Most batteries I see older than 2 yrs test below their original rating. Just had a 750CCA battery that was date marked 4/21 that tested at 615 so it was starting to weaken.

 

[Donald]

Ancel answered my email. Basically no matter what you enter: CCA or MCA, etc the display will always say CCA but it should say the same as what you entered. So if you entered MCA then the display should say MCA but it will say CCA. Just assume it says MCA when you look.