harbour freight battery tester

[raaizin]

Is this good for light duty home use??

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90636

 

[robshelton]

I have one and it works fine. Some will say a 100 amp draw isn't enough but I think it works ok for most problems. Dead cell, etc.

 

[SecondMonkey]

As a help to something like that, since 100 amps is kinda low, you can turn on your headlights and everything else you can find that uses the battery.

 

[03cvpi]

It should work fine, I think the leads are a little thin for 100 amp load testing. The 100 amp load test is a benchmark for testing battery drain and recovery from many years ago. It was 100 amp load to make the math easier. 10 seconds - 100 amps and note the voltage drop and recovery time. The formula escapes me, I haven't used it in 25 years. But if it doesn't dip into the red and returns to 11.4 to 12.8 volts, the battery is good. I would not use the load tester on a running vehicle nowadays. Some of the electronic regulators will fail with an abrupt 100 amp load. In testing a 67 Hyster forklift with a 36amp alternator, I actually melted the charge contacts together in the mechanical regulator many years ago.

 

[brianl703]

I have one..it doesn't work anymore. I think one of the connections to the load failed.

Too bad, as I was gonna test it with my clamp-on ammeter to see if it actually draws 100 amps.

Maybe I'll try to fix it.

 

[ocrstar]

I have the carbon pile load tester from HF and it works great. Puts as much load as you need on the battery to determine condition. Not that pricey either.