Battery Testers ???

I got this Allsun 575 version for well under $20 on a big sale. It reads .1 volts different than my voltmeter, but as long as it's consistent, that's fine. At lower prices, as long as something gets the correct cca result in the ballpark, it certainly beats just a voltmeter. People have compared similar cheap ones to their expensive ones and not found a whole lot of difference.

Has pretty beefy cables and clamps. And reads ohms. There are many similar ones, so I'd just get whatever one has decent reviews and is on sale at the time.
 
My midtronics battery tester read 14.77 to 14.8V when I was charging my last battery with a supposedly 14.8V absorption voltage I suspect the charger reduces the current in small steps when 14.8V is reached, so I see 14.77V next and creeping up until the next reduction.

I'm happy both agree on the charge voltage though.
 
These devices are still too expensive for me and it is cheaper to have the battery tested on the car (for free) and then buy a new one it needed.

The CCA rating on the batterries is measured according to strict standards: very low temp and cranking to about 7v depending on DIN or SAE standards.

when you do this with your handheld, the conditions are very different so I expect to see a much higher CCA reading.

Or the unit uses an alogarithm to compensate for this??
 
There's plenty of videos of people comparing their cheap one to their $500 tester and the cheap one being close.

And I guess it depends on your definition of "much higher." We're just seeing if a particular battery is one we'd be fine with in our car. Even if we deduct 10% from a cheap tester's reading, then a 700 CCA tested battery is still 630 and still a good battery. If a 700 CCA rated battery tests down around 300, it's probably time to replace it before it gets worse, or THAT's when to have it tested more professionally to see if the 300 is legit. Point is, along with taking things like battery age into account, generally, a ballpark reading is all that's needed.

If I let my car sit and the battery loses volts and the cheap tester says let's say "70% charged", the tester shows low ohms and the CCA still reads very good. I used my cheap tester on a battery I know had a bad cell, and the ohm reading on the tester was sky high, and the CCA tested at 100 or something instead of 600. I could charge that battery to 12.7 volts, but it wouldn't hold it more than a day max and then dropped to 10.8. Just from that with a voltmeter I knew the battery was bad. The tester knew immediately even with a 12.7v charge it was bad.

Lots of people have these so they don't have to waste time getting their battery tested at a shop or auto store, even if the place does it for free. I've used mine to see how fast various battery chargers charge, (higher amps vs. 1 amp maintenance charger vs solar panel). Most people particularly with maintenance chargers won't care about that because they just leave the charger on until its light changes color, but the tester comes in more handy when using a dumb charger or solar charger.
 
I just got a Solar BA9 and was wondering if these kinds of testers have temperature measurements in the tester to apply compensation to the calculations used to derive CCA... I have a ~6-7 year old AGM battery. I know it doesn't owe me anything but long story short - no signs of any issues, I have a CTEK MXS 5.0 wall mounted near the car and it's plugged in fairly often, when I had to re-prime the oil system in November it did 5 rounds of 10 second cranks with full compression in ~10C weather and the voltage stayed in the 10.x range. Something is going on with battery prices in my area during the pandemic and an East Penn replacement (not dealer) is in the $600-$700 range instead of $2xx. If prices were "normal" I would probably just replace it for peace of mind but 1/ not at these inflated prices and 2/ I don't like throwing away perfectly good stuff.

I believe the rated CCA is 850 (it's a vehicle manufacturer branded battery and the rating isn't printed on it, the East Penn direct replacement carries an 850 CCA rating). The BA9 says around 725 CCA and I have been testing in a garage just above freezing. I'm just not sure if it's taking temperature into account and the CCA may even be higher than that. TBH, I haven't even researched the calculation it is using enough to know if temperature factors in at all...
 
sky jumper said:
if you're just looking for a battery tester (and not the OBD stuff) I have a few of these and have been very happy with them. I bought one for $40 on amazon and 2 more for about $25ea on aliexpress and they are identical. the cca measurement is an estimate, but I believe its pretty close based on comparing it to real load testing of many batteries in various states of health. it's also highly precise/repeatable so its very useful for tracking over time. one of the more useful tools I've come across recently.
www.aliexpress.com

24.09US $ 22% OFF|Auto Diagnostic Tool V311b 12v Car Battery Charger Tester Analyzer Analyzer Tools Automotive Car Charging Cricut Load Test - Car Battery Tester & Charger Tools - AliExpress

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Click to expand...
I just picked this up and it gives a way more optimistic reading that my HF Cen-tech. The Centech has two wires going to each alligator clip while the blue unit only seems to have one, making me wonder how it powers itself and creates the AC pulses.

What's nice though is the peak cranking graph it generates, shows how low the battery gets. Haven't gotten into the other stuff like alternator ripple.
 
Does the job. Is it time to by a new battery or not. If you want to know more then spend more. ;)

ABBA0F44-9739-48E9-9697-5372024EA2E3.jpeg
 
I purchased two batteries for my medium duty diesel truck recently. The batteries have the male threaded posts. I found that the only way to get a reliable reading with a digital battery tester was to install charging posts onto the terminals.
This is what I used:
https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...&ved=0ahUKEwjmsL-Ry9D4AhXXbs0KHTXaBQsQ9pwGCAU
Without the charging posts installed, the new batteries both tested 'bad' . Even the people at the NAPA store did not know about the need to use charging posts in order to get reliable battery tester readings on those batteries. Thought I would mention it here to save someone all the trouble I encountered with testing that type of battery.
 
billt460 said:
I got it, and tested the battery in my Jeep, and it says it's a POS that needs replacement. The charging system is working fine.

Just for the hell of it, I bought the $6 one from Harbor Freight that plugs into the cigarette lighter, and it said it was DEAD! (It still cranks slowly, and starts the vehicle). So it's new battery time, to say the least.
Click to expand...
I would not trust a $6 tester from HF.
 
bonjo said:
These devices are still too expensive for me and it is cheaper to have the battery tested on the car (for free) and then buy a new one it needed.

The CCA rating on the batterries is measured according to strict standards: very low temp and cranking to about 7v depending on DIN or SAE standards.

when you do this with your handheld, the conditions are very different so I expect to see a much higher CCA reading.

Or the unit uses an alogarithm to compensate for this??
Click to expand...
The high quality will measure temp of the battery and factor it in.
 
Reviving an old tread.

I have the Solar one, it was very inexpensive, looking for something a little better quality, particularly sine it’s reporting a brand ne east penn Duracell (fully charged) as bad and only 330 CCA (590 rated)

Midtronnics? Seems that the dealership go to.

Will the 100 do or do I need to get a 200/300?
 
I just got a Foxwell BT-705 (Amazon, $109.64 +change). It's does basic tests and will print wireless to a printer.

Had a vehicle that on starting, would intermittently grunt and stop. Cycling the key on-to-start would then crank with authority. Traditional old school diagnostic methods told me the battery was good (I suspected otherwise). This thing confirmed the battery was bad.
 
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