Beginning (finally) to get into solar. I am looking for a good battery tester that can do load testing of different AH batteries and differently constructed batteries. any recommendations? Have several older not used much deep cycle batteries I would truly like to test to see if they are worth keeping and thinking of the future.
Ener Battery load tester
- Thread starter WiWatcher
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BornFree
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IMO load testers are only good to see if a battery will put out a few amps for a short period of time. They indicate if a battery is flat out shot. But they are not so good at telling you the overall condition of a battery. Not unless you have some fancy expensive one that runs a long test on the battery.
Just charge it up. Hook up an inverter and run a known load on it until the battery gets low. Then you can figure out the amp hours it will deliver. If you load it with a 100w incandescent light bulb running off an inverter. Then I believe it will draw about 10 amps off the battery continuously. Maybe a little less.
Just charge it up. Hook up an inverter and run a known load on it until the battery gets low. Then you can figure out the amp hours it will deliver. If you load it with a 100w incandescent light bulb running off an inverter. Then I believe it will draw about 10 amps off the battery continuously. Maybe a little less.
OzRural
Inactive
The inverter idea is a good one, you can also find an appropriate load, like a 12V 10A draw spotlight for testing say a 100AH battery, and connect that in conjunction with a voltmeter. Check the voltage before you attach the spotlight and then note it in a book at regular intervals of 5 or 10 minutes say. Time V voltage. That will give you an idea of what the battery is like but a full test, down to say 70% would take a while.
Obviously for a 20Ah battery you would use something like one or two, 2-Amp bulbs. Never use too big a load, good way to damage a deep cycle. There are discharge curves online for many batteries BTW.
Here is one chart, the C rating refers to the amount of current drawn compared to the AH rating of the battery, the lower the figure the better for the battery BTW. C=1 would be like a 20 amp drain on a 20AH battery, something I would never do unless it was a LIPO so be careful not to kill those babies
www.batteriesinaflash.com
Obviously for a 20Ah battery you would use something like one or two, 2-Amp bulbs. Never use too big a load, good way to damage a deep cycle. There are discharge curves online for many batteries BTW.
Here is one chart, the C rating refers to the amount of current drawn compared to the AH rating of the battery, the lower the figure the better for the battery BTW. C=1 would be like a 20 amp drain on a 20AH battery, something I would never do unless it was a LIPO so be careful not to kill those babies
Battery C Rating Explained and Demystified
A battery c rating is used to find out what is the max safe continuous discharge rate and how long it will handle that discharge. Formulas explained
www.batteriesinaflash.com