Anyone have a load tester?

[kis]

Anyone in the Gatwick sort of area have a battery load tester / analyser that I could borrow?

 

[bladeowner]

Sorry, not near you but I have one of these - very cheap but works OK to put a good load on the battery and then see how it holds up. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6V-12V-100Amp-Car-Auto-Battery-Load-Drop-Tester-Charging-System-Analyzer-Checker/143015623936?epid=8023990925&hash=item214c653d00:g:QmwAAOSwCgVb7r~9:rk:43f:0

For the amount of times I will need to use it quite adequate.

 

[kis]

Will get one of those, thanks for the positive feedback! I saw them previously but wrote them off. But I guess you're right no point spending more on something that will be used so infrequently. Cheers fella

 

[ph001]

The above is from China of course so you may be in for quite a wait. Silverline do the same product for about £16 in the UK. It will give you a ball park reading but the result is very dependent of how good a connection you get on the battery terminals. An accurate test requires a 4 point battery connection (2 red, 2 black) like this jobbie... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-Auto-Battery-Load-Tester-Car-Battery-Analyzer-Tool-100-1100CCA-Ancel-BST200-/253744999333?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

Note, the latter also from China but states UK stock.... take that with a pinch of salt!

 

[Mark R]

Hi, another option is to take your battery into somewhere like Euro Car Parts I had an issue once and they said bring it in and we will put it on our tester for you, this was for a battery that went bad after 18 months.

 

[kis]

An accurate test requires a 4 point battery connection (2 red, 2 black)

I thought both (out of the examples) have the 4 points? :?

Hi, another option is to take your battery into somewhere like Euro Car Parts

Thanks for the suggestions mate but not viable for me as I'll prob use this over a few of the cars we have as they don't get used now. Also one is sorn so wouldn't be able to do it! Hopefully useful for other readers tho

 

[ph001]

I thought both (out of the examples) have the 4 points?

I think the cheaper ones just have two thick power leads. What these meters do is take a large pulse of current from the battery and then measure how much the volts drop. Essentially they are measuring the battery resistance which is a good indicator of battery health.

The problem is that the sort of resistance you are measuring is very low - typically less than 0.01 ohms, the power leads probably have a higher resistance than that (lets say for the sake of argument 0.1 ohms) so what you actually end up measuring is the battery and the leads together. 10% of your answer is the battery and 90% is your leads (plus how good a connection you get on those leads to the battery terminals).

The correct way to do it is to have a second set of 'voltage sense' wires that terminate on the croc test clips. This way, you take a big pulse of current down the thick wires but no current down the thin voltage sense wires, so the voltage you measure is the voltage actually at the battery terminals and the thick wires are excluded from the answer.

But as Bladeowner says, the cheaper ones will give you a rough approximation and often that's all that is needed for the home mechanic.

 

[kis]

Ordered up a BST200 and I would highly recommend it. Used it on a few cars and it's highlighted a battery in dire need of replacement in one car (down to less than 150cca from 550cca). Might have been why I was having issues with it so frequently! :lol: