Waeco HDC 190 12/24 volt fridge freezer

Get yourself one of these and you can test your batteries in situ. Only about $80, and don't weigh much.



Bob

Yeh those old toaster battery load testers are better than nothing ...... had one for years ...... but they are hopelessly inaccurate.

I have a carbon pile and a digital analiser for comparison ........ the toasters will show bad or poor batteries as good more often than not particularly if they are bigger batteries.

there are hand held digital battery analisers that are pretty reliable and way way cheaper than they once where.

OR .... charge it up and take it to you friendly battery shop ..... most of them will have either carbon pile or a digital analiser or both.

cheers

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In the 'Good Old Days' when the batteries had the cell links on the top we used one of these:
Tested each cell individually.
Ahhh, the Good O'l Days!

Yes folks .. that is what a "Tong Tester" looks like ..... a clamp meter is not a tong tester.

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Errr, did someone say it was?

Its a motorhome.

remember a couple of things.

IF you have multiple batteries connected in paralell, it is wise to charge and test them separately from time to time. one battery may get lazy or die and drag the others down.
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Make sure that if you have multiple batteries in paralell ..... that the cables connecting them present equal paths.
if you connect the supply cables to one battery, then paralell to and other then another ........ the very small resistances in the cables can cause the near battery to cop most of the load and receive most of the charge, while those down the line don't pull their weight or charge as efectively.
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Sorting this is easy with two batteries side by side .... connect positive to one battery positice, connect negative to the other battery negative and paralell both negatives and positives with identical jumpers.
With three batteries the best you can do is jumper all 3 in paralell with identical jumpers and connect positive and negative, one each to the outside batteries.

cheers

OH hell .... lots of good batteries will go well below 12 volts when cranking an engine .... depends on how big the battery is and how hard the engine is to crank.

BUT yes you need to load a battery to get any reasonable indication of its condition.

What represents a healthy voltage depends on the size of the battery and the load applied.

The only realy reliable methods are ... Carbon pile ammeter and a suitable battery annalizer.

Using headlights will give some indication.

cheers