Carbon Pile Load Testers

[cgrutt]

Posted another thread about issue I was having testing a car battery and it took a tangent about carbon pile load testers. Surprisingly didn't find many reviews or comparisons so figured I'd post what I found doing a bit of research. No experience with any of these and quite frankly many appear as if they are identical aside from the branding and price. Here's what I found no particular order feel free to add or comment on your experiences good or bad with any of these. Note the tester I was researching were 500A or better to enable load testing of car batteries up to 1000 CCA (test at 50% CCA rating.

Hope this helps someone sometime. I'll add pics later.

 

[cgrutt]

Solar/Clore 1874



500A
12V
1000CCA
* HD clamps
* 1 yr warrant
* imported
* $132

 

[cgrutt]

Associated Equipment Corp 6034



500A
6/12V
1000CCA
* dual analog meters
* 2.5' 4AWG cables
* buzzer after 15 second test
* 1 yr warranty
* Clamps rated at 400A for 15 sec
* HxLxW 7x12.5x11
* 10 lbs
* $148

 

[cgrutt]

FJC, Inc 45115



500A
12V
1000CCA
* solid copper cables
* HD clamps
* dual analog gauges
* 1 yr warranty
* $180

 

[cgrutt]

Solar/Clore 1876



1000A
6/12/24V
2000CCA
* heavy duty clamps
* 1 yr warranty
* imported
* $339

 

[cgrutt]

Autometer SB-3



500A
12V
1000CCA
* temperature compensation scale
* automatic safety unloaded dial
* vented cooling
* imported
* $641

 

[cgrutt]

FJC, Inc 45118



1000A
6/12/24V
2000CCA
* HD clamps
* dual analog gauges
* solid copper cables 4.5'
* imported
* $700

 

[cgrutt]

Associated Equipment Corp 6039



600A
6/12V
1200CCA
* dual digital gauges
* spring loaded knob shuts off automatically
* curved carbon discs prevent hot spots
* HD clamps
* Flexi Springs
* 1 yr warranty
* Made in USA
* clamp rating 500A
* (HxLxW) 11x19x14
* 17 lbs
* $930

 

[u2slow]

Ours at work is a Solar 1876. 1000 amp.

IMHO, they are a simple device. Don't overthink it.

I use a cheap 'toaster' style at home. Its still useful to screen out larger batteries that have problems.

 

[cgrutt]

Autometer SB-5/2



800A
6/12V
1600CCA
* automatic safety unloader know
* 15 sec time
* switch override for fan
* fan cooled
* imported
* $970

 

[cgrutt]

Associated Equipment Corp 6036B



1000A
6/12V
2000CCA
* curved carbon discs prevent hot spots
* high rpm fan cooled
* dual analog gauges
* narrow thread shaft for fine tuning
*1000A clamp rating
* voltage sensing leads buried in cables to prevent damage
* 5" cables
* (HxLxW) 18x18x18
* Made in USA
* 32 lbs
* $1,636

 

[cgrutt]

Associated Equipment Corp 6036B-24



1000A
6/12/24V
2000CCA
* curved carbon discs prevent hot spots
* high rpm fan cooled
* dual analog gauges
* solid state auto-ranging
* narrow thread shaft for fine tuning
*1000A clamp rating
* voltage sensing leads buried in cables to prevent damage
* 1 yr warranty
* 5" cables 2AWG
* (HxLxW) 18x18x18
* Made in USA
* 32 lbs
* approx. $1,700

 

[cgrutt]

Viking (Harbor Freight) 58933



1000A
6/12/24V
2000CCA
* audible signal after 15 sec
* HD copper clamps and cables
* ventilation fan
* reverse polarity protection
* 2AWG 4.5' cables
* imported
* 25.6 lbs
* $199

 

[General Geoff]

Posted another thread about issue I was having testing a car battery and it took a tangent about carbon pile load testers. Surprisingly didn't find many reviews or comparisons so figured I'd post what I found doing a bit of research. No experience with any of these and quite frankly many appear as if they are identical aside from the branding and price. Here's what I found no particular order feel free to add or comment on your experiences good or bad with any of these. Note the tester I was researching were 500A or better to enable load testing of car batteries up to 1000 CCA (test at 50% CCA rating.

Hope this helps someone sometime. I'll add pics later.

I use a smaller 100A Schumacher BT-100, it does the job just fine for my needs, which is admittedly more motorcycle battery testing than car battery testing.

 

[L.Cheapo]

I use a small Associated one at home. You don't need to pull more than one or two hundred amps from a car battery to see if it's bad. It'll be evident pretty quickly--and unlike the electronic testers--it'll be accurate too.

 

[cgrutt]

Electronic Specialties 710



500A
12V
1000CCA
* imported
* $151

 

[cgrutt]

OEM tools 24336



500A
12V
1000CCA
* buzzer after 15 sec
* dual analog guages
* imported
* $125

 

[cgrutt]

Quick charge C1600 Plus



800A
6/8/12V
1600CCA
* high volume continuous duty
* LCD volt meter
* chemical proof start/stop switches
* 2 continuous cooling fans
* two continuous cooling fans
* 2AWG 4' cables
* (LxHxW) 8x14x11
* 20 lbs
* 1 yr warranty
* 2x5x6 carbon pile
* Made in USA
* $1049

 

[General Geoff]

Quick charge C1600 Plus

Talk about the Cadillac of load testers!

 

[cgrutt]

Ha! Seems I exceeded my post edit more pics tomorrow...

 

[zendriver]

I pulled out the HF special to test Wife's Highlander 4yo WM battery, after oil change.

Always thought if the needle didn't move much after applying load, it was good to go. Seems good to go.

This obsession with amperage seems like over-kill, IMO. CCA is really meaningless for the load test anyway, since it is rated for a 30 second duration. Does not seem like a good idea to load testing for that long(or even half), with test equipment, to avoid burning it up.

Always though a few seconds, was enough.

 

[General Geoff]

I usually load test for 5-10 seconds, modern fuel injected cars and motorcycles generally start within 5 seconds of cranking anyway so anything beyond that isn't useful for its application.

 

[mikegt4]

The OEM tools 24336 is currently $90 at Summit Racing.

OEMTools 24336 OEM Automotive Tools 500 Amp 12 V Battery Load Testers | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - OEM Automotive Tools 500 Amp 12 V Battery Load Testers with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Battery Testers at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

 

[B_Bimmer]

I too have the small schumacher and have used it a lot. It works very well and I have never been confused about a battery's status. I'd still buy a big one if I stumbled across it cheap but it hasn't seemed necessary.

 

[cgrutt]

Added pics

 

[nh_yota]

I use a smaller 100A Schumacher BT-100, it does the job just fine for my needs, which is admittedly more motorcycle battery testing than car battery testing.

I have the same one and I use it mostly on snowmobile and boat batteries.

 

[ronkz650]

I have the Harbor Freight 1000A, and the Solar 100A. They work great, and seem identical to many other brand offerings. The digital testers are decent as well, but can give false information. The Carbon Pile is more or less foolproof to test a battery 100% of the time unless operator error in the testing.

 

[American Locomotive]

Seems like the different brands of "imported" load testers are all the same in a given amp range. They literally have the same boxes, gauges and dials. Just different art work. I'd probably just pick the cheapest one at that point.

 

[richfinn]

Posted another thread about issue I was having testing a car battery and it took a tangent about carbon pile load testers. Surprisingly didn't find many reviews or comparisons so figured I'd post what I found doing a bit of research. No experience with any of these and quite frankly many appear as if they are identical aside from the branding and price. Here's what I found no particular order feel free to add or comment on your experiences good or bad with any of these. Note the tester I was researching were 500A or better to enable load testing of car batteries up to 1000 CCA (test at 50% CCA rating.

Hope this helps someone sometime. I'll add pics later.

We phased out our carbon pile testers 20 years ago (switched to Midtronics)

This is also about the time that decent quality DC amp clamps started to become affordable, our test procedure now relies on those two tools using the vehicles starter motor/compression as the load!!!!

I personally would recommend you purchase a Brymen BM037 clamp meter and a used Midtronics unit from eBay and rely on the Engine to provide the load