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Post by voicey on Jul 11, 2021 11:36:33 GMT 1
I'm thinking of getting one - any recommendations? I'd like to test every car in for service as I've just had the battery go on a car that recently left us. Client was OK about it but it would have been nice to have caught it whilst the car was with us.
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Post by studabear on Jul 11, 2021 12:04:10 GMT 1
Think ours is a Bosch 131 from memory, can check tomorrow.
More often than not we get greeted with "it starts the car ok" it's so so satisfying when you get a phone call that it's failed shortly after a service after they were told it needs replacing. 😀
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Post by Joepublic on Jul 11, 2021 13:56:42 GMT 1
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Post by valhalla on Jul 11, 2021 20:08:13 GMT 1
Might be worth talking to these people;
I cannot vouch for this unit (I use a Picoscope routine to assess battery performance) but at that price, worth a punt? The guys at Diagnostic Connections would be able to tell you more about it.
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remmington
Apprentice
Owns Spark Eroder
Posts: 4,971
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Post by remmington on Jul 11, 2021 21:15:03 GMT 1
I got two battery testers. 1. Midtronics - Very expensive - (and I did not even buy the wifi printer..)  2. Sealey BT2002 £150 ish But I have used a couple of these - Durite 0-524-74 - when I been doing jobs/helping in my mates garages - I reckon they were on offer at a local motorfactors as everybody local seems to have one. For £60 it does the job OK (the smart money).  www.ebay.co.uk/itm/383095507076?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338781477&toolid=10029&customid=Cj0KCQjwraqHBhDsARIsAKuGZeE4xMWJtAc3yfS2rDgfMz8c8AAPh8xAiVx9dOYDfEeu025dEzZqGSoaAqSvEALw_wcB&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1LXIf0PUERrmuWsW8t9grXQ59I have had several Durite battery chargers over the years and the quality of these have been good - they have lasted well.I have also used a ASTA A-BTT3UPG - this was OK - about £220? and has a built in printer. The real expensive battery testers - do load (CCA) and capacity (state of charge). There are other ways for testing a battery - inductive amp clamps/scopes - clamp meters - even volt drop with a multimeter. But a dedicated battery tester is handy - you can test batterys off a vehicle - they are quick and easy to use on the car as well - low set up time and no mucking about using the ignition key to crank. When I service a car - I do test every battery and record it on the service sheet (%CCA). But I too get the same stock answer mostly "car starts OK!" The only thing I can say about any electronic battery tester - they are not very accurate on small CCA motorbike batterys. However expensive the tester is! -------------------- I used to have a Bosch T12200 battery load tester (drop tester). This was basically - if you opened the big box - a carbon pile load with a moving coil volt meter. This generated so much heat it was unreal. If the battery in question was not flat - it would be after you tested it. |
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Post by voicey on Jul 16, 2021 7:58:30 GMT 1
Thanks for all the help (here and via PM). I did order the TopDon unit that Valhalla linked to but when it arrived the printer was DOA (I bought from a different vendor). That went back so I went with this after a recommendation elsewhere: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071F137P8So far so good....  |
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Post by wightdiag on Jul 16, 2021 21:48:45 GMT 1
Might be worth talking to these people;
I cannot vouch for this unit (I use a Picoscope routine to assess battery performance) but at that price, worth a punt? The guys at Diagnostic Connections would be able to tell you more about it.
Can you do the Pico set up using voltage or does it have to be with (their) big amp clamp? |
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Post by valhalla on Jul 17, 2021 0:35:53 GMT 1
Might be worth talking to these people;
I cannot vouch for this unit (I use a Picoscope routine to assess battery performance) but at that price, worth a punt? The guys at Diagnostic Connections would be able to tell you more about it.
Can you do the Pico set up using voltage or does it have to be with (their) big amp clamp? You can get away with just voltages, but to use the guided-diagnostic routine of Pico's, you need the amp-clamp. I always use the clamp, so that I have the full picture of voltage-drop versus the current that is being delivered during cranking - I don't always use Pico's guided diagnostic either, as I'm not 100% convinced it tells the true story. I would rather look at the traces in-detail, and make my own mind up about what is good, bad, and indifferent....
The main reason for using the amp-clamp, which doesn't have to be enormous for most applications, is that it can rule-out a dodgy starter-motor if the voltage dip at the battery terminals is excessive, or indeed an engine that is stiff-to-turn. A quick check on the battery-casing will give an idea as to whether the current-draw is beyond its spec or not.
The primary issue I see is loss of reserve-capacity in batteries that have been allowed to stand in a discharged state for too long.
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