I have the exactly same tester. I tested three 12v 480A,520A and a 400A CCA . I had them all on trickle charge as I used the occasionally on my cars on weekends. Two said they needed replacing as their around 7 yrs old but their still going good start every time never let me down. I question the accuracy of the tester that's all cheers
Even expensive ones will be inaccurate, cause if a battery has for ex. 500Amps of CCA, and the measured is just 380CCA, the tester says: replace. They have a specific treshold between the nominal, and the measured amperage according the tempetature, technology, voltage etc. In fact, 380 CCA will even start a smaller diesel engine.
Thank you for the review :)) Be careful when connecting devices to batteries : first POSITIVE, then negative. The opposite when disconnecting : first negative, then positive.
@@rommelpaculdas1853 - sparks may be generated at the positive terminal ( not the negative terminal ) . Therefore, you don't want a live connection while connecting/removing the positive connection. The sparks are harmless but they might ignite an explosion - the reason for the precaution.
@@tocrob I think that's bollocks. I've connect my battery charger (powered off) and it can spark whichever way I make the connection (positive or negative last). It's not a great charger - I have others that never spark. But my point is it sparks which you say shouldn't happen. Also, they say to connect positive jumper leads first and then negative donor battery to ground point on receiving vehicle - because of risk of sparks - which shouldn't exist according to your statement. Personally I find it hard to get a ground point in a modern compact car so I just use the receiving battery negative terminal anyway - we have flame arrestors these days and a flat battery isn't likely to have been making hydrogen any time recently! There is often a suggestion to disconnect grounded (usually negative) side first when connecting/disconnecting batteries, I thought that was simply to avoid risk of accidentally shorting your loosening tool against the chassis or other grounded point, while removing the positive connection. I mean so a long spanner being used on the positive terminal doesn't accidentally strike the negative frame and cause a battery short with all the fun that that entails. If that were to happen working on the negative terminal first (as is advised) there is no short potential. And of course there is none when you subsequently loosen the positive. But I think your advice is a bit scaremongering.
It would have been interesting to see what the charging and cranking tests do, since a "good" static battery can produce almost no output when loaded, which it doesn't seem this tester can do since there's no heavy resistor inside to simulate a load. I'm guessing it takes voltage and resistance readings and uses them along with the inputted CCA to calculate _expected_ health (and CCA number) to create the percentage figures.
I believe these type of digital testers use a "Conductance" test. As a retired electronics technologist, I can't even explain the full test, except that the internal resistance of a battery relates to it's overall health and capacity. For a full technical discussion, go to the BatteryUniversity website at: batteryuniversity.com/learn/archive/why_do_different_test_methods_provide_dissimilar_readings
You should try that last battery(the one that said replace 26%) again but with the cables off. They looked in very bad condition and these testers typically must have a good solid connection to give accurate results. Poor connection = higher internal resistance reading = lower readings all around.
I believe you're using device wrong. First plug it then wait, when it tells you to turn lights on, you should turn them on now. Not before. If you do this your way, it will never see any voltage difference and will think it's perfect battery 🤔😉 it's self calibrating on every start up.
turning the lights on and off after 10 seconds is to remove the surface charge before doing any testing so you don't get artificially high readings. you can do it anytime before hooking up the tester, and when it asks you, you just agree its been done.
You could have tried to put the right clamp upside down in the last test - probably you'd have doubled the connecting points on the tapered terminal. 😉 The presentation itself was very good! 😃👍
I have seen these type of analysers and I habe often wondered how it pulls a load on the battery? I know this video is a couple years old, but are you still using it? Have you upgraded to a different model?
These types of testers don't pull a load. They're a 'conductance tester' if you want to look up more about them. Don't have experience myself but apparently they can give a reasonable estimation of a battery's ability to put out amps. They need a very good solid connection - can't have the crocodile clips loose etc or it messes up the resistance reading which is needed. Thanks for the video, I hadn't seen one of these testers so cheap before.
Hi I have this tester also. Its great but the CD software is a different version and it wont let me select printer com port. Do you have a copy you could send to me please. I cant find a download on the internet anywhere.
@@InternetDude It seems like alot of fiddling around for a battery tester. It says it can print but the printing info is so small that there is no point printing anything even if the tester had bluetooth, better to take a pic on the phone. Could you update it and see if there is a difference in features, battery range or speed?
Great review sir. It is great that you have used it with a variety of situations, and excellent camera work too. I think the battery with a remaining 325A of CCA is still OK for summer usage isn't it, despite the suggestion to "REPLACE?"
Draining that battery is a bad thing but using a trikel charger helps to de sulfate bad spots on the plates... Sometimes it increases after weeks of charging.... ..
Interesting. I watched a review of Harbor Freight's "Centech 100A 6/12v Battery Load Tester" - 2 times cheaper, 5 times bigger in size. That thing has a huge heater (resistor) inside, i assume just shorts the battery and loads it for a short period of time to measure it correctly. How does this little BA101 actually load test the battery? Can't imagine so many amps flowing through this itsy-bitsy red toy without melting it :D Now i have to find a teardown of this peculiar device :)
That is NOT how you test a battery, not for critical situations: i have seen batteries with good internal resistance,showing "GOOD" on those mickey mouse testers, and still failing intermittently; these were cases of bad workmanship,in which the internal connections were not done well,they were sensitive to shock and vibrations; junk,in one word; a load tester is much more reliable than those .