Best household battery tester

[Poe34]

Can anyone recommend a decent household battery tester? After reading reviews on Amazon, it looks like most testers do not test the battery with a load and reads all batteries as "good."

 

[torqueman2002]

I have an older model similar to this --> Midtronics PBT200 Battery Tester with Charging System Test. It tests the capacitance of a battery, and ability to accept and hold a charge.


It is best used in conjunction with a load tester, like Clore Automotive Solar 1874 500 Amp Carbon Pile Battery Load Tester.


Wait, did you mean household batteries? Like AA, AAA, C, D, 9V?

 

[Eric29]

MBT-1. Tests batteries under load

 

[TuxThePenguin]

https://res.cloudinary.com/iwh/image/upload/q_auto,g_center/assets/1/26/AmprobeBAT-250_DataSheet.pdf

Amprobe BAT-250, which is like ~$6.50 at the site I checked, tests 1.5v batteries at 4 ohms nominal impedance

Amprobe is owned by Fluke, though this is just some rebranded Chinese product. But it does test under load.

 

[matt_i]

MBT-1. Tests batteries under load

Strangely there are 2 different MBT-1 testers...one for dry cells and one for 12v auto style wet-cells....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FQG1XE/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://www.specialized.net/pulsete...YJFPCCIA_UH5ZkXaHcPliotC7a6ho7_EaAsYhEALw_wcB

 

[richfinn]

Household batteries or Vehicle batteries??

Are we talking about the same thing??

 

[Eric29]

Interesting. I was talking about the one from ZTS though because I thought the question was about batteries found around the house. ZTS has some less expensive testers that do not test as wide a variety of batteries but they do test them under load. I do not think that the inexpensive testers test under load. I think the inexpensive testers are voltage testers. I don’t think that for $7 you’re going to get the circuitry to test a battery under load.

Strangely there are 2 different MBT-1 testers...one for dry cells and one for 12v auto style wet-cells....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FQG1XE/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://www.specialized.net/pulsete...YJFPCCIA_UH5ZkXaHcPliotC7a6ho7_EaAsYhEALw_wcB

 

[MaximRecoil]

I've yet to see a battery tester of any kind that was any good. The best test is to just use the battery and see how well it works.

A couple years ago I had a cheap Walmart "ValuePower" battery tested at my local Advance Auto. They had a fancy computerized tester which printed out the results on paper, which I assume was all kinds of expensive, and it reported that my battery had a dead cell. I took out my multimeter and showed the kid that the voltage was 12.6, and asked him to explain how it's possible for a battery with a dead cell to have a voltage higher than ~10.5 (a 12v car battery has 6 cells in series, ~2.1 volts each). He had no answer. I'm still using the battery today and it's fine.

I've used professional battery testers like the old Snap-on YA201 and had batteries that tested good (including on the load test) yet they could barely crank an engine.

 

[JRC3]

I was born with a 9volt tester.

 

[M6erfan]

Household batteries or Vehicle batteries??

Are we talking about the same thing??

This, is the question...

 

[Davefr]

Sometimes there's beauty in simplicity. This is the best one I've ever used for 1.5 V batteries.

You could also try WC Fields's nose but an LED doesn't put enough load on a battery compared to an fillament bulb.

My tongue does a decent job on 9 V batteries. (no image)

 

[richfinn]

Vehicle batteries I like to use the amp clamp method to see if they will absorb current when discharged (this is partially what a midtronics unit does if it comes with a clamp)

Small batteries out of keyfobs and watches etc. I like to use a regular multimeter set to D.C. volts and then apply a load with my loadpro test leads

 

[mfewtrail]

The old "free" HF meters which I don't believe are free anymore have a battery test function that puts a small load on them.

 

[TuxThePenguin]

I don’t think that for $7 you’re going to get the circuitry to test a battery under load.

I literally linked the datasheet shows that it is testing under load.

If you don't want the $7 tester, that's totally fine.

But it does test under load.

Do you want to test under a higher load than 4 ohms (which at 1.5v means 375mA and about half a watt or so)? I can see how you might want to do that with C and D cells. I think 375mA should be reasonable for testing AA and AAA at least.

The ZTS might fill a gap between the cheap testers and the expensive battery capacity testing stuff (or electronic load) though.

 

[SeisMec]

If you're asking about an automotive/motorcycle/riding mower/... battery tester, I am very happy with my ANCEL BA101 (for 12v lead acid batteries rated 100 - 2000 CCA). I've had it about a year and a half now. ANCEL also makes a $10 cheaper BST200 (for 12v lead acid batteries rated 100 - 1100 CCA).

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

I don’t know of any modern ones I use my dads Diehard from Sears it is a tester and charger he bought it new in 1983 never had any issues with it


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[Eric29]

I own that tester. It doesn’t give accurate readings on batteries and I don’t believe the data sheet.

Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that I don’t care what the data sheet says. The tester doesn’t work.

I literally linked the datasheet shows that it is testing under load.

If you don't want the $7 tester, that's totally fine.

But it does test under load.

Do you want to test under a higher load than 4 ohms (which at 1.5v means 375mA and about half a watt or so)? I can see how you might want to do that with C and D cells. I think 375mA should be reasonable for testing AA and AAA at least.

The ZTS might fill a gap between the cheap testers and the expensive battery capacity testing stuff (or electronic load) though.