Was thinking about adding a battery load tester to my tool box. Don’t want to spend a lot on this tool that won’t be used that often. Found this on Amazon. Any opinions whether this will be useful or is it a waste of $$?
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Battery load tester
- Thread starter bosco659
- Start date
Here in my area in the states ( MN )we have Batteries Plus and other stores that will check the status of your battery for free if that's all your looking to be able to do
My friend has an auto repair shop and his tester was too large for smaller motorcycle batteries, that’s why I thought the Amazon cheap tester may be of some use?
That's where I take my motorcycle batteries to see if they need to be replaced but then they are setup to test and or replace everything from remote start button batteries to truck batteries
Don't know what's in your are that would do it for free
Don't know what's in your are that would do it for free
Gets real good reviews. Like Mikey sez, most places do it free... but if I was lookin' to add to my "cool toys" collection, I'd snag it.
Hell, I never knew you could get one that cheap. I might consider it myself.
Hell, I never knew you could get one that cheap. I might consider it myself.
hovel
ol' stupid
I've had a heavy duty load tester for years and some times it has proven invaluable. Sure you can take a battery somewhere to have it tested, but not at 10:00 at night.
It’s raining here today so not much to do outdoors, so I ordered one. Noticed there was an $8.00 coupon so it was only $31.91 plus tax (free shipping). Should get it tomorrow. I’ll report on how hood it’s looks, feels, works.
Lookin forward to a review. Looks like it's a "toy I can't do without." 
ckahleer
XS650 Addict
I don't get it. How do you load test a battery without dissipating heat. Does it come with a large power resistor the goes accross the battery?
I test batteries using a headlight bulb (about a 5 amp draw). So a 10ah battery should last 2 hours. I don't want to kill the battery, so if the bulb is still burning bright at 50% of time, I call it good.
I test batteries using a headlight bulb (about a 5 amp draw). So a 10ah battery should last 2 hours. I don't want to kill the battery, so if the bulb is still burning bright at 50% of time, I call it good.
I wondered the same thing too. Modern mystery electronics I suppose. Different subject but I bought a digital thermostat to control the 4400W heater in my garage. This device switches the heater on and off at 16.7A at 220V AC, without any relays. Another example of electronics being able to do things that I can’t understand.
Well I received the tester today. Looked pretty good when unboxed. Battery clamps were nice with serrations on one side of the jaws to get a good bite on the battery connections. Tested my battery condition and it said it was good, then did a cranking test and again said good, then a charging test that passed as well. So my battery that I thought was weak, passed with flying colours 
.
The screen was bright and easy to read. Cables were long enough. Instructions were pretty straight forward although just from reading them you’d know the unit was made in China. Over and above the tests I conducted, the meter is supposed to be able to sense a dead cell.
I was about to buy a new battery but since this gizmo says it’s ok, I’m going to trust it and keep running with this battery. The unit cost about $40 and I didn’t buy a $150+ battery (for the Ducati) so I‘d say thus was a win.
Do I trust the results (some of which I don’t understand - what’s SOH, SOC and Ripple)? I’d say yes with a bit of skepticism. Any questions, ask away!
.The screen was bright and easy to read. Cables were long enough. Instructions were pretty straight forward although just from reading them you’d know the unit was made in China. Over and above the tests I conducted, the meter is supposed to be able to sense a dead cell.
I was about to buy a new battery but since this gizmo says it’s ok, I’m going to trust it and keep running with this battery. The unit cost about $40 and I didn’t buy a $150+ battery (for the Ducati) so I‘d say thus was a win.
Do I trust the results (some of which I don’t understand - what’s SOH, SOC and Ripple)? I’d say yes with a bit of skepticism. Any questions, ask away!
SOH is state of health. It's the difference 'tween the battery being tested and what the tester has been told a new battery looks like. 100% means it's health is as good as a new battery.
SOC is state of charge.... the amount of charge the battery has vs what it's capable of being charged to.
Ripple is the amount of AC voltage it sees from the alternator. Alternators put out AC. That's rectified to DC. Rectification is never perfect and a slight amount of AC voltage gets passed on. Your test says 40MV of AC is passed on to the battery. That's very good... says the rectifier is working just fine.
SOC is state of charge.... the amount of charge the battery has vs what it's capable of being charged to.
Ripple is the amount of AC voltage it sees from the alternator. Alternators put out AC. That's rectified to DC. Rectification is never perfect and a slight amount of AC voltage gets passed on. Your test says 40MV of AC is passed on to the battery. That's very good... says the rectifier is working just fine.
Just sat down and looked at the instruction booklet in a bit more detail. Pretty sad. The instructions only tell you how to test battery condition but there are no instructions at all for testing battery while cranking or charging when the engine is running. I guess I must have fumbled through the menu when using it in the garage.
I find many offshore products (Chinese in particular), are really messing up the reputation of their products by not having a person on staff who is fluent in English, who can put together a proper instruction manual. Maybe they cheap out by using Google translate?
I find many offshore products (Chinese in particular), are really messing up the reputation of their products by not having a person on staff who is fluent in English, who can put together a proper instruction manual. Maybe they cheap out by using Google translate?
I got a carbon pile analogue meter load tester from Harbor F... It;s quite nice. It was 40 buckies...now "improved"> it's 200!
If I needed to buy one for bikes, now, well the "100 amp" $21.99 job might be ok.
IMHO it is not possible to test lead acid agm or flooded batteries without a load test. Every manufacturer would have a test protocol standardized by some professional association.
FYI, I have had newish batteries with intermittent internal open, followed by internal dead short, which obviously pulled down the system voltage and caused engine to stop. Such defects can result in H-O explosions. I have seen precisely one. If a battery is acting funny, be alert to possible explosion, locate the water hose in advance, and the fire extinguisher...
Stainless steel has a high resistance - it's easy to dope up a load, bunch of stainless in a bucket of water.
I'd watch craigs list for the old carbon pile type tool.
(carbon, unlike metals, increases conductivity with increase in temperature, so it's fairly stable in load testing, carbon blocks set in a kind of vise)
My one-off open/short battery tested 100%, until it didn't. I had to call Honeypie and the trailer...
Best!
If I needed to buy one for bikes, now, well the "100 amp" $21.99 job might be ok.
IMHO it is not possible to test lead acid agm or flooded batteries without a load test. Every manufacturer would have a test protocol standardized by some professional association.
FYI, I have had newish batteries with intermittent internal open, followed by internal dead short, which obviously pulled down the system voltage and caused engine to stop. Such defects can result in H-O explosions. I have seen precisely one. If a battery is acting funny, be alert to possible explosion, locate the water hose in advance, and the fire extinguisher...
Stainless steel has a high resistance - it's easy to dope up a load, bunch of stainless in a bucket of water.
I'd watch craigs list for the old carbon pile type tool.
(carbon, unlike metals, increases conductivity with increase in temperature, so it's fairly stable in load testing, carbon blocks set in a kind of vise)
My one-off open/short battery tested 100%, until it didn't. I had to call Honeypie and the trailer...
Best!
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In the end it worked out as a cheaper option to buy the gadget and be confident. If you ever suspect poor battery performance in future and the gadget says "Good" you know to look elsewhere for a fault.
It will be nice to see what the gadget says about a known poor battery if you find one some time.
Exactly what I was thinking. Would be good to test the gadget on a sick battery. I’ll stop by my friends repair shop to see if he has one.
Just saw this tester on sale at our Canadian equivalent to Harbour Freight. So cheap that I have to get one. Add it to the tool rabbit hole. Lol.
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Bought the $20 tester. Didn’t do the bike yet but checked a couple of “good”, in service car batteries and they both read weak. Lol. What to believe?
Bike battery tested good. Slow crank = starter issues? Wiring ok from what I can see. Anyway enough testing. I’ll ride it until it leaves me stranded lol.
Bike battery tested good. Slow crank = starter issues? Wiring ok from what I can see. Anyway enough testing. I’ll ride it until it leaves me stranded lol.
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