Battery tester

[SubLGT]

https://marinehowto.com/are-battery-conductance-testers-worth-it/

• If you want to know the cranking ability of a battery, the Midtronics testers can be useful.
• If you want to know your batteries SoH, as related to Ah capacity, fogedaboutit.

So how can you use one if you already bought it? I still suspect we can draw some conclusions from an initial baseline to a future test using the same tester and the same batteries. I have developed lots of these sorts of data-sets for our Argus and Midtronics testers, but they keep proving us wrong and this is very, very frustrating. IF we figure out a translation and think we nailed it we get thrown a curve ball on the next battery.

The bottom line is that impedance/conductance testers simply do not translate to SoH for usable Ah capacity. For deep-cycle house banks Ah capacity or usable Ah capacity is all that matters. I certainly wish they were more accurate because it would make our life much, much easier.

I have no qualms with the Midtronics tool for predicting cranking capacity, and suspect it is rather accurate. If buying a conductance tester, for cranking testing, the only one we recommend is the Midtronics line or a company that licenses with Midtronics for its technology.

The slew of Chinese testers out there are pure unadulterated crap. We have now tested about 8 different Chinese testers and not a single one comes anywhere close to the Midtronics. The Harbor Freight / Centech is not worth the cardboard box it ships in. Garbage data is garbage data.

 

[SubLGT]

I did not see no accuracy specs.. (edit) I should read directions once in awhile, 99.6% I did test it against an old shumaker 100 amp load tester, the Ancel came up as saying the battery was bad needed to be replaced but the shumaker was still saying it was good.

The 100A load tester probably only pulls 80A, if it comes from the same factory as my dirt cheap HF 100A unit. But 80A-100A is not a very demanding load, and can give misleading results. It's better to check the battery with a 15-second load that is 1/2 the rated CCA.

 

[Scott S]

I stopped over at Advance Auto, their results were 890 CCA on a 850 cold cranking amps battery at that time, drove to AutoZone their test showed 731 on a OEM tester my test came out, 931 CCA if connect right to the battery, if I connect to the terminals I lose some CCA

 

[Donald]

It looks like Ancel make a case. But close to the cost of the Ancel battery tester.

 

[Scott S]

The 100A load tester probably only pulls 80A, if it comes from the same factory as my dirt cheap HF 100A unit. But 80A-100A is not a very demanding load, and can give misleading results. It's better to check the battery with a 15-second load that is 1/2 the rated CCA.

Mine came from pep boys years ago, made by Shumaker...

 

[Donald]

The 100A load tester probably only pulls 80A, if it comes from the same factory as my dirt cheap HF 100A unit. But 80A-100A is not a very demanding load, and can give misleading results. It's better to check the battery with a 15-second load that is 1/2 the rated CCA.

I agree. And if you are worried about accuracy connect up your Fluke to measure the voltage. Not worried about the current. If it's off by some there is still a lot of current flowing. And of course you could attach your Fluke clamp on amp meter to check the amp draw you have it set for. But if set for 400 amps if it's really 350 or 400 or 450 probably it's good enough.

If marginal replace the battery. If anywhere close to marginal on wife's or daughter's car replace the battery.

 

[wpod]

A load tester is my choice.

 

[SubLGT]

Here is my battery tester kit. The analog ammeter and voltmeter on the carbon pile are quite accurate, and can be easily calibrated.

 

[Sayjac]

It looks like Ancel make a case. But close to the cost of the Ancel battery tester.

Previously mentioned/linked by @researcher post #14. Why the OP posted follow up with half the price Ramondes case post #15. Good find by @Scott S .

 

[researcher]

I stopped over at Advance Auto, their results were 890 CCA on a 850 cold cranking amps battery at that time, drove to AutoZone their test showed 731 on a OEM tester my test came out, 931 CCA if connect right to the battery, if I connect to the terminals I lose some CCA

ok so you're saying your ancel battery tester was off compared to adv auto's tester? was theirs the midtronics brand? There is a mode on the ancel tester to say "connected in the car" and "outside of vehicle" something like that to account for the battery connection resistance.

 

[Scott S]

ok so you're saying your ancel battery tester was off compared to adv auto's tester? was theirs the midtronics brand? There is a mode on the ancel tester to say "connected in the car" and "outside of vehicle" something like that to account for the battery connection resistance.

Yeah it was off by a little bit, yes I believe it was a midtronics tester. I had it set up for inside the car..

 

[dubber09]

I got MOTOPOWER MP0515A but use it only to establish some initial baseline, it helps to see graph and voltages during load test, charge test, you still need to know what voltages are good or no good. Its voltage accuracy is to 0.01V.

 

[Scott S]

I can always exchange it..

 

[researcher]

Yeah it was off by a little bit, yes I believe it was a midtronics tester. I had it set up for inside the car..

so.. how much was your ancel tester off compared to adv auto's result? you said theirs was 890cca on an 850 spec'd battery.. let me know.. I remember mine was exactly the same.. hmm..

 

[Scott S]

so.. how much was your ancel tester off compared to adv auto's result? you said theirs was 890cca on an 850 spec'd battery.. let me know.. I remember mine was exactly the same.. hmm..

931cca if I connected right to the battery, if I connected to the terminal, it was substantially less.

 

[researcher]

931cca if I connected right to the battery, if I connected to the terminal, it was substantially less.

ok I didn't understand on your earlier post, now I get it.. wow that's unfortunate that yours was off that much. Compared to the more expensive one. I wonder if the electronics inside have gone cheaper than the model I bought a couple years ago. And did the people at adv auto care at all what you were doing comparing their tester to yours? Maybe you buy another brand and see if that's more accurate.

 

[Scott S]

ok I didn't understand on your earlier post, now I get it.. wow that's unfortunate that yours was off that much. Compared to the more expensive one. I wonder if the electronics inside have gone cheaper than the model I bought a couple years ago. And did the people at adv auto care at all what you were doing comparing their tester to yours? Maybe you buy another brand and see if that's more accurate.

That's what I'm thinking about, either that or exchanging it.. looking at a couple different ones..

 

[researcher]

That's what I'm thinking about, either that or exchanging it.. looking at a couple different ones..

That sucks.. I know with CCA the results are much higher at room temp, since CA is the test that's used for above 32 degrees, the ancel manual was talking about that. With the one I have and my friend's they were identical results. It would suck to find out that ancel has gone "Cheap" with the electronics in newer versions of the tester. But then again, there's not much to the calculation since all it does is measure the resistance and then estimate the results. It's not a carbon pile tester, but it is pretty accurate in telling if a battery is bad.

 

[Scott S]

That sucks.. I know with CCA the results are much higher at room temp, since CA is the test that's used for above 32 degrees, the ancel manual was talking about that. With the one I have and my friend's they were identical results. It would suck to find out that ancel has gone "Cheap" with the electronics in newer versions of the tester. But then again, there's not much to the calculation since all it does is measure the resistance and then estimate the results. It's not a carbon pile tester, but it is pretty accurate in telling if a battery is bad.

What I'm going to do, is purchase either the TopDon AB101 or MotoPower MP0515A and test them side by side and see what readings I get. Then I will return one of them..

 

[researcher]

What I'm going to do, is purchase either the TopDon AB101 or MotoPower MP0515A and test them side by side and see what readings I get. Then I will return one of them..

Be interesting to see the results.. When you do test this time, can you include the resistance number that is included in the test results? See if those all measure the same..