thank you...this is the most informative video on battery testing i have seen in the HOURS of looking I've done for an answer to how you can check the CCA of a battery with plenty of voltage. great job keep it up please :-)
A weak battery can also overheat an alternator over time as it struggles to keep it charged and you end up having to buy an alternator as well. I would replace a weakened battery immediately.
Great presentation .my cheap voltmeter showed 12.6 and did not go below 10 volts when cranking but the car did not start .i took the battery to autozone and it was bad! Good multimeter is the best investment
Great video and information, my only suggestion is you should make sure you fully charged your battery before doing a CCA load test. My electronics teacher in high school in the 1980's taught us to use baking soda and water in a jar and soak the battery terminal in it for a few minutes to remove the corrosion before cleaning the terminal with a battery terminal wire brush, and he also said Vaseline Petroleum Jelly can be used to cat the terminals and help prevent corrosion, I have used it for decades, and never have corrosion issue's. I also use a Pulse Tech battery desulfator / Maintainer on my battery to reduce battery cell sulfation, the claim the patented frequency can desulfate batteries, and is used by the U.S Military on their vehicles.
Fantastic video I’ve certainly learnt a lot. Thank you so much for sharing your video one question I do have when you’re testing the cold cranking amps do you have to start the engine? Thanks
Thanks for making this video. Must have taken you ages. Who else is here from covid-19 lockdown wondering how your car batttery will fair standing unused for long periods?
Thank you for the great video. I have installed a new stereo and now my car cranks a lot before starting. I am assuming I must buy a battery with higher CCA. But I don't know how many amps. How can I discover this new value?
Nice sort and to the point video :) , i am at the point of buying a CCA tester i just seem to have bad luck with batteries. Although i have found that things like SCA and similar generic batteries seem to not last as long as big name batteries like Century or Excide or will die quickly if you are pulling a high draw on start-up in utes etc. What really gets me is places that want to keep your battery to charge and re-test, even when just failed the test's...should be like other things just replace it and sorry but its up-to the business to deal with battery company not you
Thanks for the info, but I noticed a problem at 1:46 in the video. Is it just me, or isnt the voltmeter hooked up incorrectly? You have the positive and negative terminals on the voltmeter reversed, which is why the reading is negative 12 v. Even though Australia drives on the left side of the road, I think red is still positive for you guys, right? LOL. But seriously, thanks for the info and your time in creating this.
I set commercial electric analog multimeter to 50 to test 12 V car battery and it read a lil over 10 close to 12 . Is that right ? I've also a slow charger at 1.5 amp slow charge . I cranked it soo much yesterday trying to get car started but nada . I had it towed . How long will this take ? I want to be able to crank car engine to work / test on car today
What is the minimum acceptable cranking voltage ? Eg if voltage drops from 12.4 to 10.18 v during cranking, then does this mean the battery is weak. My battery is 5 years old, so I guess 10.18v cranking voltage means it needs replacing ? It’s a 2 litre diesel Toyota. Thanks.
@@404notfound.....He showed the more expensive electric voltmeter shows micro secdrop of voltage around 8,that needs replacement. But later the OBD II blue driver live data shows crank voltage above 9.6V. The other better tester shows crank voltage below required in Watts. I guess,safer to just replace the battery😂
Got some misinformation there ! The voltage maybe dropping below the minimum due to a bad starter which is why they sell load testers, much cheaper to purchase than a Fluke multimeter.
We on lockdown and im going through this at present. Car battery is dead! wont even unlock the car. Battery is only 2 years old. I dont have a charger so will have to source one first.
I've had the same battery since new & its charge was 12.42 volts when I bought it new in 2016,its gravity has always been in the fair range (white) since brand new,its CCA rating is 420. AFAIK when the battery gravity is down in the red area,it either needs to be recharged or possibly replaced. I did this test to GM specifications which is at about 70°F (21°C) temperature with a fully charged battery :- 1. Disable the fuel & ignition systems 2. Connect the multimeter terminals to the battery terminals. 3. Operate the starter motor for no longer than 15 seconds 4. Observe the voltage which shouldn't reach below 9.6 volts,mine didn't reach below 10.3 volts during the time that I was cranking the engine over,so it must be o.k. I did try the minimum voltage setting on my multimeter & it got down to 9.2 volts when starting the engine but that was with a 12.26 voltage (half charged), apparently between the 9-10 volt range indicates that the battery is still o.k.
Great video mate , i measured 12.4v overnight, and after 3 days 12.2v , starts fine. Running voltage is between 14.2 - 14.v. Is this normal for a battery? Battery was replaced in August 21 , with a larger 480cca. Cheers.
@SimplifiedTruth It is a reconditioning cycle, because one day I left my map light on and it drianed the battery, it never got to full voltage until i bought the charger and charged it full cycle, brought it up back to voltage like new. Such great chargers the CTEK, some prestige car manufacturers provide them with the cars purchase 👍
wow so much to buy, yet better off just checking the volts with cheap multi meter and make sure its a sealed battery, with green or view window to show the condition of the battery, forget the rest, but also if the car does not start and the battery is good, then sometime disconnecting the battery and depressing the brake ,will re set the computer and any excess charge in the cars electrical system?
Some aspects of this video are very accurate but he's way off the mark in others. He's calling his tester a load tester, but this is just a simple resistance based tester and these are very inaccurate, mostly labeling bad batteries as good. A true load tester is going to be large because of the carbon pile load bank located inside and will have an adjustable load for various CCA ratings on various batteries. His battery charger looks like a jump box, not sure about that one. Also, you can not use the starter for testing the battery because a bad starter will begin to pull excessive amperage which would give you the same symptoms. The best thing to do is look at the voltage and age of the battery. If you know you didn't leave anything on in your vehicle that would have drained the battery, your voltage is under 12.6V, your terminals are clean and connections good, and your battery is more than 3yrs old, 99% of the time it's going to be a battery. Always go to an automotive electrical shop if possible for battery/starter/alternator testing as places like Autozone and Pep Boys are clueless and even many regular mechanics shops do not know how to properly check these things, especially the more complex systems on newer vehicles.
I took my battery to autozone and they said it was hood because it was reading 12.4volts. But they don't know about crank amps and how they work. My battery was reading good but not enough under load to start the car.
check the fuse and relay for window motor, if they're good then you can remove the door panel and unplug the connector for window motor. use a test light to see if you getiing power to the motor when as press the switch. manually supply power to the motor as well to if it works
funny I'm in New Zealand and recharging a battery from my fathers mobile home , that I imported from Australia the address Cobolt st Carole Park is exactly the same as the one I have , hahahaha.
@@JunkyDIYguy Thanks. I have a Veepeak scan tool. I can get a live graph of OBD2 voltage but can't see a way of reading the min and max values. Min after starting engine looks about 9.6v. Battery was charged yesterday to 13v.
you haven't mention THE MOST COMMONi issue with car batteries - battery draining from the inside... It will show up like your battery is due to have it's replacement, but doing it WILL NOT RESOLVE ANY PROBLEMS... You just gonna buy and then trash a new batterie in few weeks... To measure, how much your car is draining the battery when it's closed and parked, you need to pop the hood, then close your car like you normally would, then take off a negative terminal off it's post on the battery, then connect a multimeter set to measure amps in between the post and the terminal and wait about 5 minutes (usually between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, depends on a car model), and you gonna see, when the amps mesurement gonna drop - that means your car have switched of all of its electronics which doesn't have to run - then check the amps measurement and compare it too data available in the internet to see if it's not too high for your car model and equipment. YOUR WELCOME.
It can also be the alternator is bad if you crank the car a lot then your battery will be drained number one number two if your alternator is going bad it will not charge the battery so it will look like your battery is bad but it's the alternator number three it depends if the battery is top post or side post so you can measure the voltage drop across the terminals
Few reasons, loose connections can cause arching and arching can cause severe oxidation between the battery post and the terminal. Even seen wall outlets that don't work? just like that.. Corrosion can do that too, Corrosion is not always visible in every metal like in ferrous materials.
Loose connections are a given, however the terminal is not " bad ".. clean the inside and outside of the terminal including the battery post and that should do it.. Honestly, I've never heard any kind of mechanic refer to a terminal as bad.. its just loose or corroded which requires cleaning or replacement if it breaks.
Not in this case, coz if you look closely, you can see inside the terminal, there's a second thin metal collar around the inner perimeter. Oxidation between the terminal head and the inner layer can't be cleaned as they can't be separated. This was an old design in Japanese made Mitsubishi"s is early 90s. If it was a regular solid terminal, then i agree with you. That's why in the video i showed how to clean terminals inside and out.
Battery terminals go bad all the time, most people neglect to clean or maintain their battery terminal connections and gassing from batteries causes severe corrosion. On the thinner terminals used on many newer vehicles the metal will get thin to the point where there is not even enough structural integrity left to remove it from the battery without breaking. It will even start to work it's way into the cable itself making it necessary to cut the cable back to get all the corrosion out. And the heavier old school lead type terminals can and will get stretched out to the point where they just won't tighten properly any more. They are also prone to stress cracks along the front where the tightening bolt goes through. This comes from the repeated over tightening of soft lead terminals. They should be tight to the point where they won't wiggle back and forth any more but no more. And they often don't get seated all the way down to the base of the terminal which causes the person to crank down on them even harder.
Finally, someone demonstrates how to measure voltage drop across connections. One of the best ways to pinpoint a problem. Nice job.
One of the the best "How TO" videos I came across. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this information with us, its great to see that there people who try to help others.
thank you...this is the most informative video on battery testing i have seen in the HOURS of looking I've done for an answer to how you can check the CCA of a battery with plenty of voltage. great job keep it up please :-)
A weak battery can also overheat an alternator over time as it struggles to keep it charged and you end up having to buy an alternator as well. I would replace a weakened battery immediately.
Great presentation .my cheap voltmeter showed 12.6 and did not go below 10 volts when cranking but the car did not start .i took the battery to autozone and it was bad! Good multimeter is the best investment
Great video! Your instructions are simple and clear. Thanks!
Thank you for making this content - I'm grateful for the knowledge you shared.
Thank you for all the detail info you give straight to the problem🎉
Great video and information, my only suggestion is you should make sure you fully charged your battery before doing a CCA load test.
My electronics teacher in high school in the 1980's taught us to use baking soda and water in a jar and soak the battery terminal in it for a few minutes to remove the corrosion before cleaning the terminal with a battery terminal wire brush, and he also said Vaseline Petroleum Jelly can be used to cat the terminals and help prevent corrosion, I have used it for decades, and never have corrosion issue's. I also use a Pulse Tech battery desulfator / Maintainer on my battery to reduce battery cell sulfation, the claim the patented frequency can desulfate batteries, and is used by the U.S Military on their vehicles.
Great video mate
Your videos are the best. Simply awesome.
Good very thorough video.
And we should disconnect negative first and vice versa
Your videos are very well laid out very informative this coming from a professional technical trainer well done keep up the good work 👌🏼
101>909 Car Battery testing Comments say it all......Gold Standard, best on Net, content & communication
Thanks man!
You are the legend! 👍👍👍
Best video on car batteries
Thanks
Fantastic video I’ve certainly learnt a lot. Thank you so much for sharing your video one question I do have when you’re testing the cold cranking amps do you have to start the engine? Thanks
Good video I liked the details of like if you get 1 click then nothing it's probably a connection and the voltage drop at the terminals
Very insightful video, thank you.
Amazing video, thanks!!
You're awesome bro! 😎👍
I love dhis channel help me a lot
Fantastic and so easy to follow
Fantastic video, well done
Thanks for making this video. Must have taken you ages.
Who else is here from covid-19 lockdown wondering how your car batttery will fair standing unused for long periods?
Such great videos to bad he hasn't posted for some time.
Very informative video. Very easy to understand.
Thank you for the great video. I have installed a new stereo and now my car cranks a lot before starting. I am assuming I must buy a battery with higher CCA. But I don't know how many amps. How can I discover this new value?
Fantastic, informative video. Thanks
keep it up.Thank u for sharing lots of important tips like Multimeter latency , good working terminal etc
you deserve move views my firend !
Nice sort and to the point video :) , i am at the point of buying a CCA tester i just seem to have bad luck with batteries.
Although i have found that things like SCA and similar generic batteries seem to not last as long as big name batteries like Century or Excide or will die quickly if you are pulling a high draw on start-up in utes etc.
What really gets me is places that want to keep your battery to charge and re-test, even when just failed the test's...should be like other things just replace it and sorry but its up-to the business to deal with battery company not you
Great video! If you just installed a bnew battery (1 or 2 days old), what should its readings (range) in the voltmeter be normally?
Thanks for the info, but I noticed a problem at 1:46 in the video. Is it just me, or isnt the voltmeter hooked up incorrectly? You have the positive and negative terminals on the voltmeter reversed, which is why the reading is negative 12 v. Even though Australia drives on the left side of the road, I think red is still positive for you guys, right? LOL. But seriously, thanks for the info and your time in creating this.
You are right, he has the leads reversed at the meter.
Very well explained...useful information👍🏻
You make great videos. Thanks for sharing.
you're welcome
Very good battery info!
Top video, well done.
Good video.
Excellent video!
Your videos are very informative, but please do something about the music. It's a iit too loud making it difficult to hear and understand you.
New videos doesn't have any music now
Really informative video, but you didn't really measure the cold cranking amps
Great video. Thanks
Why not have a Fluke 86 or 88? Just wondering... great video!
what is the name of obd2 self - diagnostics to mobile phone ? Thank you 🙂
Great insight. Very informative mate! Cheers!
Thank you
hi great video. how is my best way to load test a 36 volts lithium battery 10.4 ah
Very good and profesional . Thanks!👏👏👏
Battery made in Australia, can't get any better than that, but then I'm an Aussie !!
before to top up with distilled water must mesure acid density, it is a must,you can refill with acid 1.28 maximum density.
THANKS
thanks alot you were helpfull
I set commercial electric analog multimeter to 50 to test 12 V car battery and it read a lil over 10 close to 12 . Is that right ? I've also a slow charger at 1.5 amp slow charge . I cranked it soo much yesterday trying to get car started but nada . I had it towed . How long will this take ? I want to be able to crank car engine to work / test on car today
What is the minimum acceptable cranking voltage ? Eg if voltage drops from 12.4 to 10.18 v during cranking, then does this mean the battery is weak. My battery is 5 years old, so I guess 10.18v cranking voltage means it needs replacing ? It’s a 2 litre diesel Toyota. Thanks.
If it drops below 9.6 V when cranking, the battery has to be replaced.
@@404notfound.....He showed the more expensive electric voltmeter shows micro secdrop of voltage around 8,that needs replacement. But later the OBD II blue driver live data shows crank voltage above 9.6V. The other better tester shows crank voltage below required in Watts. I guess,safer to just replace the battery😂
hello i have the same meter as you the 87V but when i try and use the min/max function when measuring the DC voltage it just overloads..... any ideas?
Thanks!
Does it matter where the red and black lead are connected on multimeter?because I've seen the black connected to COMMON
Many thanks
Nice. My battery reads 12.85 volts with the engine off. With the engine running it reads 13.80. These are good numbers to have.
Great vid wow
Got some misinformation there ! The voltage maybe dropping below the minimum due to a bad starter which is why they sell load testers, much cheaper to purchase than a Fluke multimeter.
Can't the clicking also mean the starter is starting to go bad?
Yup!
We on lockdown and im going through this at present. Car battery is dead! wont even unlock the car. Battery is only 2 years old. I dont have a charger so will have to source one first.
Thank you buddy
Thank You for such a great informitive video
Do not use baking soda to neutralise an acid burn! This may exacerbate the injury! Just run under plenty water to dilute.
Turn the lights for at least 30 sec.
Close it before measuring ?? Or leave it on while measuring ??
Close the lights
I've had the same battery since new & its charge was 12.42 volts when I bought it new in 2016,its gravity has always been in the fair range (white) since brand new,its CCA rating is 420.
AFAIK when the battery gravity is down in the red area,it either needs to be recharged or possibly replaced.
I did this test to GM specifications which is at about 70°F (21°C) temperature with a fully charged battery :-
1. Disable the fuel & ignition systems
2. Connect the multimeter terminals to the battery terminals.
3. Operate the starter motor for no longer than 15 seconds
4. Observe the voltage which shouldn't reach below 9.6 volts,mine didn't reach below 10.3 volts during the time that I was cranking the engine over,so it must be o.k.
I did try the minimum voltage setting on my multimeter & it got down to 9.2 volts when starting the engine but that was with a 12.26 voltage (half charged), apparently between the 9-10 volt range indicates that the battery is still o.k.
small DVM leads are reversed on meter end showing readings as negative....
So my battery reads 12.66DC but sometimes struggles to turn on. It's a 2006 camry. Could it be the switch?
Great video mate , i measured 12.4v overnight, and after 3 days 12.2v , starts fine. Running voltage is between 14.2 - 14.v. Is this normal for a battery?
Battery was replaced in August 21 , with a larger 480cca. Cheers.
Mine is doing the same. How did your battery hold up?
@SimplifiedTruth I ended up buying a CTEK charger and used a recon mode and it has made a massive improvement on battery life, starts are great 👍
@@DECKARD263354BR Awesome. Recon mode? That's a mode of the charger Or vehicle?
@SimplifiedTruth It is a reconditioning cycle, because one day I left my map light on and it drianed the battery, it never got to full voltage until i bought the charger and charged it full cycle, brought it up back to voltage like new.
Such great chargers the CTEK, some prestige car manufacturers provide them with the cars purchase 👍
Bravo ! Excellent explication. Thanks
Thx
How fo i check my 2000 Pontiac_ sunfire srlrctroc window motor is eorkin
Where do you live!? Can you be my new mechanic? lol
How am I supposed to see what the voltmeter shows while I'm turning the key? The voltmeter will be under the hood and not visible to me.
Two man operation.
It seemed like it would be a good video but hard to understand and too fast. Thanks for doing it though!
I agree. Talk SLOWER and we all can understand better. Thank you
That why there a turn on subtitles feature
wow so much to buy, yet better off just checking the volts with cheap multi meter and make sure its a sealed battery, with green or view window to show the condition of the battery, forget the rest, but also if the car does not start and the battery is good, then sometime disconnecting the battery and depressing the brake ,will re set the computer and any excess charge in the cars electrical system?
Some aspects of this video are very accurate but he's way off the mark in others. He's calling his tester a load tester, but this is just a simple resistance based tester and these are very inaccurate, mostly labeling bad batteries as good. A true load tester is going to be large because of the carbon pile load bank located inside and will have an adjustable load for various CCA ratings on various batteries. His battery charger looks like a jump box, not sure about that one. Also, you can not use the starter for testing the battery because a bad starter will begin to pull excessive amperage which would give you the same symptoms. The best thing to do is look at the voltage and age of the battery. If you know you didn't leave anything on in your vehicle that would have drained the battery, your voltage is under 12.6V, your terminals are clean and connections good, and your battery is more than 3yrs old, 99% of the time it's going to be a battery. Always go to an automotive electrical shop if possible for battery/starter/alternator testing as places like Autozone and Pep Boys are clueless and even many regular mechanics shops do not know how to properly check these things, especially the more complex systems on newer vehicles.
😊
I took my battery to autozone and they said it was hood because it was reading 12.4volts. But they don't know about crank amps and how they work. My battery was reading good but not enough under load to start the car.
How many amps does a battery have when it says 710CCA?
Issue is with the car running the battery voltage jumps around wildly from 14v to 9v to 2V to 12V etc.. while running idle. any guesses?
Weak connections
@@Izzyfoshizzy710 thx for input, but no. battery died when it got colder outside! 6 year old one :D
What's up with the hand animation?
can u make a video u saying battery like 1000 time.
Nice1..Junky & thank u
How to tell if door's power window motor still works
check the fuse and relay for window motor, if they're good then you can remove the door panel and unplug the connector for window motor. use a test light to see if you getiing power to the motor when as press the switch. manually supply power to the motor as well to if it works
Not sure
funny I'm in New Zealand and recharging a battery from my fathers mobile home , that I imported from Australia the address Cobolt st Carole Park is exactly the same as the one I have , hahahaha.
Junky what app are you using to view control module voltage?
it's the app for my scan tool call "blue driver"
@@JunkyDIYguy Thanks. I have a Veepeak scan tool. I can get a live graph of OBD2 voltage but can't see a way of reading the min and max values. Min after starting engine looks about 9.6v. Battery was charged yesterday to 13v.
you haven't mention THE MOST COMMONi issue with car batteries - battery draining from the inside... It will show up like your battery is due to have it's replacement, but doing it WILL NOT RESOLVE ANY PROBLEMS... You just gonna buy and then trash a new batterie in few weeks...
To measure, how much your car is draining the battery when it's closed and parked, you need to pop the hood, then close your car like you normally would, then take off a negative terminal off it's post on the battery, then connect a multimeter set to measure amps in between the post and the terminal and wait about 5 minutes (usually between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, depends on a car model), and you gonna see, when the amps mesurement gonna drop - that means your car have switched of all of its electronics which doesn't have to run - then check the amps measurement and compare it too data available in the internet to see if it's not too high for your car model and equipment. YOUR WELCOME.
I thought battery had to stay above 10v during cranking?
your leads are in the wrong socket on the meter.. its showing negative volts
battery tester aren't that expensive and it's more accurate than Multimeter
When I start my car it's a slow crank? Is it my battery or alternator or my starter is going bad I'm trying to figure it out
sounds like a weak battery, take you car to an auto parts store and have them do a battery and an alternator health check for free,
It can also be the alternator is bad if you crank the car a lot then your battery will be drained number one number two if your alternator is going bad it will not charge the battery so it will look like your battery is bad but it's the alternator number three it depends if the battery is top post or side post so you can measure the voltage drop across the terminals
What if the battery reads -12.40
Try to start your car after the airbag lights go out so the ecu knows if hot or cold
Cool
I got 7.90 v while cranking thats way to low but battery is 25% and it did not even start
How does a terminal go " bad " ??
Few reasons, loose connections can cause arching and arching can cause severe oxidation between the battery post and the terminal. Even seen wall outlets that don't work? just like that.. Corrosion can do that too, Corrosion is not always visible in every metal like in ferrous materials.
Loose connections are a given, however the terminal is not " bad ".. clean the inside and outside of the terminal including the battery post and that should do it.. Honestly, I've never heard any kind of mechanic refer to a terminal as bad.. its just loose or corroded which requires cleaning or replacement if it breaks.
Not in this case, coz if you look closely, you can see inside the terminal, there's a second thin metal collar around the inner perimeter. Oxidation between the terminal head and the inner layer can't be cleaned as they can't be separated. This was an old design in Japanese made Mitsubishi"s is early 90s. If it was a regular solid terminal, then i agree with you. That's why in the video i showed how to clean terminals inside and out.
Battery terminals go bad all the time, most people neglect to clean or maintain their battery terminal connections and gassing from batteries causes severe corrosion. On the thinner terminals used on many newer vehicles the metal will get thin to the point where there is not even enough structural integrity left to remove it from the battery without breaking. It will even start to work it's way into the cable itself making it necessary to cut the cable back to get all the corrosion out. And the heavier old school lead type terminals can and will get stretched out to the point where they just won't tighten properly any more. They are also prone to stress cracks along the front where the tightening bolt goes through. This comes from the repeated over tightening of soft lead terminals. They should be tight to the point where they won't wiggle back and forth any more but no more. And they often don't get seated all the way down to the base of the terminal which causes the person to crank down on them even harder.