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Battery ????

S

SVcummins

Well-known Member
What?s everybody using for a battery tester ? I?ve
seen they have a carbon pile tester for a fairly
reasonable price has anybody tried one ?
 
I have used high quality piles just fine. Be sure you get one that will provide 300-400 amperes load, unlike some really cheap load testers that won't even provide 20 amprere load.
 
I agree with JMOR.

Carbon pile testers are the best way to load test a cranking battery, but a good one is expensive. The HF ones with 8 or 10 AWG leads are not suitable for anything other than lawn tractor batteries.

The new computerized testers work well in the most common circumstances but are no substitute for a good carbon pile tester. False "Good" readings are rather common.

Dean
 
I have an AC Delco carbon-pile tester I bought 30 years ago and paid over $200. One of the most useful pieces of DC test equipment I own. I use it for more then testing batteries. I also use it for circuit testing.

Last year I picked up a Harbor Freight carbon-pile load-tester. Looks very similar to my old Delco an is also rated 500 amps for 12 volt circuits. Amazingly good build quality and it only cost $50.
 
The $50 HF carbon pile tester is a good unit for not only battery testing(500 amp), but also generator / alternator output testing.
Put a drop of heavy oil on the pile adjuster screw threads behind the knob, and the unit will do the job for a lifetime.
HF carbon pile battery tester.
 
For anything I test here i'd rather have something that loads the battery, than a computer. I know within a few odds if a batterys going bad, by it's age and the fact as soon as the sun goes behind the clouds a machine won't start. lots of batterys I test in Canadian winters cold are weak.

I had a new battery here wouldn't start the tractor on cold days. I tested it, it was junk the guys I got it from the computer survey said it was ok. I could put any other good battery on that tractor it would start perfectly. The battery supplier rep won the day for me, he load tested the battery and it was junk!, he told the parts guys don't ever rely on the computer 100% they lie sometimes .
Regards Robert
 
Hello SVcummins,

Carbon pile tester is your ticket.500 amp capacity about $50 at Harbor Freight. Don't forget your free coupon,

Guido.
 
I use a digital tester from Mac Tools that I bought a few years ago. Wasn't cheap, but has been extremely accurate, and more convenient than a carbon pile tester, for me anyway. It'll tell me if there's a surface charge, and will tell me the approximate crank amps it's at.

On my Western Star, I have four Group 31 batteries in it. When one battery lets go, I test them all, find the bad one, but also check the strength of the other batteries. Usually the rest of them are no longer full strength, but still strong enough to serve on other equipment for a couple of years longer.
 

I have 2. One I bought at a Homier tool sale and one from Harbor Freight. The HF one has been working fine for 8-12 years now, the other one just never worked very good. I find them especially handy for checking charging systems. The load tester in the HF job has worked good, never an issue and it seems accurate enough for what it is.
 
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