Battery tester

If you are looking for a small battery tester this is the one I have, from Amazon it sells for $45. It will test 12 volt Conventional SLI (starting, lighting & accessory), Maintenance Free, AGM, Gel Cell, Deep Cycle and Marine batteries. You will need to know what the CA (Cranking Amps) or CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) rating for your battery. If you have dual 6 volt GC2 batteries you will have to come up with a CA or CCA. In searching the internet some people use 600-750 as a reference point for their dual 6 volt battery set ups. It uses AC impedance (or conductance) to test the battery by running an AC voltage and frequency thru the battery. The impedance is the resistance of the flow of AC current thru the battery as a result of the resistance and inductive and capacitive reactance in the battery.   I use the meter to monitor my trailer battery and record the readings I get, so over time I can see if the battery is getting weaker. I have used this on my cars and it showed that on my wife’s car the battery was week. On my truck I got readings all over the place, so I thought I had a bad meter. Both of our vehicles are Honda’s so we drove them over for their free battery check. Their expensive tester showed the battery in my wife’s car was dying so we brought a new one. When they hooked up their tester to the truck they had the same weird reading as my $45 tester was showing me so they replaced my battery under warranty. When I check them now they test great.

SOLAR BA5 100-1200 Cold Cranking Amps Electronic Battery Tester