How to test a car battery 

Very good demonstration; direct and accurate , Thanks

Price of that load charger is now £16.53 on Amazon so I will be ordering one. Thanks for the best no nonsense video which I liked.

Great video....clear. concise and to the point! Im buying one of these after work! Thank you!!

Awe thank you kindly from the Caribbean

I’m stunned that you were able to get a voltage reading on the multimeter without the black lead being in the COM port. Actually had to try it on my own multimeter and to my surprise it actually worked! Not that I’m going to do it again. I might blow he socks of my coworkers tomorrow though with that trick. Anyway, good video. Thank you.

thanks .... nice and straight forward explanation

Thank you for your video from Los Angeles ca USA

Thank-You Right-2-The-Point :O) I just picked one Up(Duralast) at the Auto Zone and the associate Had No Idea!! how to show me how to use it. Came home straight to YT and found You....THANK GAUUUDD!! You got a New Subbie LOL TFS :o)

Thanks for this.Was exactly the information I was looking for.ATB.

thank you Very clear and concise

A great vid and very helpful thanks

Thanks, very helpful, from the Philippines...

Excellent illustration. Keep up the good work.

Thanks a bunch really helpful

Very helpful. Thanks

Ty friend needed to see this

I did it on my car today the multimeter only method that GM has,the car has the 5.7 litre Chevy LS1 V8 engine fitted,the battery is almost 3 years old (used for 2) ,it's a 420 CCA battery & the battery voltage was 12.42 volts, I tested it this way :- 1 - Disable the fuel & ignition system (pull the ECU relay out) 2 - Connect the multimeter leads up to the battery terminals with it set to the volts DC scale 3 - Crank the starter for no longer than 15 seconds, observe the voltage, it shouldn't be lower than 9 -10 volts. In my case, it read 10.3 volts under load,so my battery is still o.k.

very helpfull video - thank you

Thank you, great video! What was the resulting Cold Cranking Amps or it is just the amps in the battery?

Hello sir, Is that a high rate discharge test? Is the battery load test is the same with high rate dischage test? please reply. thanks

Thank you for the help ,Sir..🙂👍

Your video was very good on performing the procedure, but I have a couple of comments. I have one of those resistive load testers. They do not simulate the current draw of a typical starter motor! Mine draws about 50 amps on a good 12 volt battery. It will be 1/2 of that on a 6 volt battery! A starter can draw from 300-650 amps cranking a cold engine. You should see only a volt or so drop during the load test on a good battery. If tester shows 10.8 or less on a 600cca or higher battery, suspect a weak battery, or it needs a good charge. The reason they tell you not to hold the test button for over 10 seconds is that the cheap resister element can burn out. Ya, I use mine, because I don't have one of those fancy rigs that tests conductance (internal resistance).

Thanks. I am looking for a fairly inexpensive one to test household batteries. I like that red one you showed at 00:59, but cannot find it online. I did find an LCD digital readout one that says it has a low battery voltage indicator. Do you have any idea what sort of indicator that would be to indicate low battery for those of us who would not know based on the read out? And can you recommend an analog one like your ref Radio Shack one at 1:00 in your video?

very helpful nice guy knows

Good vedio we’re did y bay that Batry tester machine

If under load it falls below 11 volts slightly into yellow weak range should I replace ? My starter having a hard time starting when I crank it.

Could you desulfinate or do a restore on the bad battery?

Wow @ 7:21 spark. Always turn off the charger first before connecting or disconnecting clamps. Hydrogen gas is extremely volatile.

backyardmech, can a battery lose voltage not connected to anything in cold weather?

Can I use that tester on the go, in my boat, powering a trolling motor as my ONLY motor?......What I mean is this: When my battery is full and i set out across the water, will this meter tell me when i'm 3/4 charged? 1/2? etc......I have no alternator, just a min kota and a battery....Thx

I would say that your 2nd battery also failed the test. It's hard to see but it looks like the battery is rated for 760 cranking amps, while tested your load tester shows that it's putting out around 200 cranking amps which is about 25% of its rated output. Might get away using that battery on a small engine in the summer, but on a really cold Canadian day it might leave you S.O.L.

Why do you have to hold the load button for 7 secs, seems just 2 or 3 would be enough to see the condition of the battery ?

thanks that was great

can you use the load tester with the cable or leads on the car still connected !

Can you check the battery it is while connected to your car?

ALWAYS CONNECT POS(+) LEAD FIRST, BEFORE ATTACHING NEG(-) LEAD. THEN REVERSE THAT ORDER WHEN REMOVING ! ! ! Did you see the sparks fly when you removed the pos charging lead before you removed the neg lead on the 2nd battery? That's enough to IGNITE battery fumes and CAUSE AN EXPLOSION! I know this from personal experience, only took once for me to become a believer...

Thanks alot

ive been searching for answers for over a week. been repaired several times, a couple of times for two whole days. then back to square 1. im good with sparks from either post. if it sparks a fire then at least i wont be broke down in this weather with no heat. and i will finally be done with it. in case of no sparks, ill take a lighter, just in case.

thanks !!

I used one of these on a new battery and it just tipped into the weak area. I agree that the markings are a bit high.

If you charge a battery and it fails to start your car then it fails the load test. Just wondering why this machine is necessary at all.

Can you use the crank test unit while battery is connected to the car or will it mess up alternator ?? And fuse box?

Next time it would be nice for you to show what a bad battery looks like. When they just need to charge and one that has bad cells and can’t be charged.

Whats make and model of the tester?

thank you . may 21 2023 los angeles (i always like to know who is watching from where. =)

Most of mine pull down to 10 and they work great

Nice video, but you missed first important step. Always read the battery Cold Cranking Amps or CCA at your battery to know which scale you will gonna use when cheking how good your battery is. Example if the battery is CCA 200 then you will use 200 scale on your Battery load tester. Battery load tester CCA scale is 200 to 1000.

Good but a little drawn out I could have bought a battery bye this time

Very important to unplug the charger before disconnecting the cables from Battery : if you do not unplugged charger does cause a mild spark and the battery Has mild acid fumes from charging coming off of the battery and that will cause it to blow !!!! Yes Right in your face .. I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE !! I always now shut power off and or unplug the charger before disconnecting the cables.

Sorry dear author of the video. You are wrong to use a multimeter. The black wire should be attached to the socket "COM" and red to the right outlet, where it is written "V, (the Ohm icon), mA". Thank you for your attention.

straight forward chart. 12vdc a discharged battery

just read the answer cheers

Unawezaje. Kurepea tests battery.

Man....just use your multi meter..plus you can check your alternator output. Just try to get a m-meter with a min/max setting. ...cheaper easier. Then ideally you turn on your lights for 2 min to discharge surface voltage, then load test etc. ...

Great video. I love test equipment with needle and scale systems as opposed to digital multimeters, you are limited to what can be done with the DMM. Thanks for posting!

That is stupid why are you using a multimeter when a load tester shows you the voltage of the battery?

after you charge battery if it's in the yellow replace the battery it's only 50 per sent charged

You need to get rid of that Castro Bastro Diketator of O Can-A-dauh. GOD SAVE CANADA!

Who make this load tester you keep blocking out the brand name.

👍🌪️👉

Prueba también con esta manera ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lQ2SFLMPfew.html

Slow start after driving ? Lol grrrr

Yeah he's not sure himself to run the demonstration , need more practice

speed it up buddy, cut out half the time

Too much talk. Get to the point!

get to the point, use less words...

A car battery that is fully charged and without any load on it, should be from 13,7V up to 14,5V. When a battery is at 12,8V like these 2, are only charged at about 75%.

You talking too much bro