topdon btmobile battery analyzer

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Update: The app for this isn't currently in the Google Play store.
It's kind of worthless without the app.
This is just a guess: British Telecom told them they had a trademark on "BT".
You could take a gamble that the app will be back. Don't know if I would.
==
Original review:

A few months ago I got one on EBay for $75.
It has great clamps. Very small (though feels like it'll take abuse without breaking).
It talks bluetooth to an app on your either Android or iOS phone; all the config and tests are done via the app.
I looked it up on Amazon and the topdon web site for a pic - it's list price is $150, its Amazon price currently says $63.99.

It has 3 types of tests in it: Battery Analyzer, Start Test, and Charging Test.
So far, I've only got 2 of 3 tests to run (the battery analyzer and the charging test).
For battery test, you put in the type of battery, the CCA (or one of several different world standards for referring to battery capacity)
and select test. Several seconds later, you get a percent good result (a State of Health), then 4 numbers: a percent State of Charge, voltage, estimated CCA, internal impedance.
I've had it call one battery bad (an X2Power, 5 1/2 years old).
I guess through my fault I had it call another battery bad, but, with that one I was doing an in-car test, the battery was in the trunk and I couldn't
clamp directly onto the + so I clamped onto a place a few inches away. It read the impedance much higher than it was.
Later, when I pulled the battery out of the car and tested it I got a much lower impedance, and a "good" result.

The charging test shows charging voltage in volts DC and A/C ripple in millivolts, along with a "good" indicator.
It tells you to raise the RPM to 2500 for several seconds before you run the test.

The starting test: a 2013 Honda Fit starts apparently too fast for the thing to test. I just can't get it run a successful start test.

The app is a bit buggy. Expect it to not be very good at navigating around.
You need to register it to an account on their website in order to "share" test results (i.e. save them). I don't think it can store
them locally. I find myself closing the app by swiping it up off the screen after use. Navigating around to different parts
of the app mostly doesn't work and the app feels like it has frozen.

I bought it to get a user interface much better than the HF battery analyzer's. That one has been having button press
issues for several years; I just got tired of it and a bluetooth to a smart phone interface would give me a much higher
quality interface. It does.
I think, if you assume the app will do the job but will have a frozen feeling at times the price at Amazon makes this quite
a good buy. Physically it's built to a better quality than the HF battery analyzer, and it does charging analysis to boot.
 

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Does it measure AC current ripple when it does the charging system test? To check the condition of the rectifier diodes.
 
Does it measure AC current ripple when it does the charging system test? To check the condition of the rectifier diodes.
Yes. Because a shorted diode or two causes low current output when running, alternating current which doesn't charge
a battery well, and a path to ground when not running (if shorted).
It's something that should be looked at when diagnosing a dead battery.
 
I emailed Topdon-US, they replied:

Open this link from the device you want to install the BTMobile App.

One link on how to install apk files: https://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-install-apks-31494/

So, for more advanced users, who can put up with a somewhat temperamental app, this is a decent deal.
I tried downloading the iOS version - it's still in Apple's store. It looks a little smoother, but I didn't hook
it up to the analyzer and run it through its paces.
 
Kind of scary that some unknown, unvetted, foreign software will be installed on your device and watching your every move and communicated.
 
Still I hear the google Play store is the Wild West for spyware and who knows what else.
 
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