CCA Battery Test

[oilstudent24]

I had the dealer check for a parasitic loss as well as an alternator test as my battery became weak at about a year old. I think it sat on the lot too long (sulfated). I replaced the battery since the charging system seemed to deliver to proper voltage and then had them run the test. Everything checked out fine with them. They tested the battery and came back with 761 CCA on a 500 CCA battery. Is this pretty normal for a battery to show that much more capacity? This was from the printout that looked like a Midtronics test. Battery is made by East Penn 51R.

 

[Rand]

depends on the temp. CCA is amps at 0f

So it can be somewhat normal for a room temp battery to easily beat it.

Also depends on the testing tool and settings if applicable.

I think 50% higher is not really normal but 100amps higher is common IIRC.

 

[901Memphis]

Depending on the tester I know it's possible to beat the CCA rating when new but that's a pretty good margin

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Rand
depends on the temp. CCA is amps at 0f


No it doesn't as far as the printout goes. The midtronics tester has an infared temp doohickey and internal math to correct for temp. With a carbon pile tester, sure.

Midtronics cautions to not test new batteries or one would get an abnormally high reading. When I worked at a tire store I used this "feature" to convince customers that the battery they just bought was a really fresh "ringer".

Midtronics just tests the internal resistance of a battery by buzzing a frequency back through it. Virgin batteries pass with flying colors.

 

[wrcsixeight]

The video linked below shows 3 batteries of same age make and model.

They were wired in parallel, improperly, so that they did not share the loads properly.

The boat owner saw the Obvious capacity loss, and the video maker, a highly experienced marine electric technician fully charged and then equalized the batteries, then tested them with a Midtronics tester.

The battery in the worst shape was still close to the CCA ratings of the battery on the Midtronics tester, the best battery of the 3 still tested at 100CCA over the Spec'd cca.

All three batteries are capacity compromised and far from healthy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBNoIOOl37I&index=11&list=UUoPqTkOluQsuu3RpGnxVwFw

 

[oilstudent24]

The Battery is probably 4 Months old and seems to be holding a good charge.