gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
Battery: Autocraft Gold, size 51R, 500CCA
Battery Date: 7/2013 (I wrongly listed the battery as 3-4 years old in a previous thread)
Background:
1. Battery is used in DD (2008 Civic LX)
2. 15 miles one-way commute
3. Never idles to warmup
4. Never left with loads on, engine off
5. Drained to dead once: left light on after getting back from travel; noted dead battery 36 hrs later
6. Immediately charged battery to full using 6A/2A Schumacker charger, followed by BatteryMinder Plus
7. Some very slow starts in -10F weather; immediate starts in anything > 20F
8. Charged battery from this past Friday night until this afternoon (~36 hrs)
-----a. On Schumacker's 6A mode (~16.1VDC), almost immediately began to gas (bubbles)
-----b. Switched Schumacker to 2A mode (~14.5VDC) and a small amount of gassing was still evident, but very little.
-----c. At ~13.5VDC on BatteryMinder Plus, no gassing was evident.
Battery Tester: Tronton 125A Battery Load Tester (cheap Northern Tool tester I picked up on sale not long ago)
Display and Selection Features:
1. Battery status indicator LED lights: indicates green (GOOD), yellow (WEAK), and red (BAD) status
2. Display (digital)
-----a. Indicates CCA selection: depressing the 'SET CCA' push-button will cycle through and allow selection of CCA (200-999)
-----b. Indicates battery voltage
Principal of Operation:
Tester is powered only by the test battery and works by energizing heating element (resistive load) for 5 seconds (listed as 125A), with the following precautions:
1. Wait 1 minute between tests for cooldown
2. Do not test more than three times in five minutes
Test Sequence:
1. Initial open-circuit battery voltage, immediately after charging 36 hours, was > 13.2VDC (surface charge)
-----a. Upon attaching the Tronton battery tester, the displayed indicated 13.2VDC
-----b. Battery status indicated as red (BAD) and would not allow me to change CCA nor initiate testing
-----c. After waiting for surface charge to dissipate down to 13.0VDC, battery status changed to green (GOOD) and selection of CCA was allowed. This must be an internal interlock, to prevent operation of the tester while the engine is running.
2. Set to 500 CCA by continually depressing the 'SET CCA' push push-button until 500 was displayed
3. Initiated test by depressing and immediately releasing the 'TEST START' push-button:
-----a. Battery voltage, as indicated on the Tronton display, rapidly lowered to 10.5 VDC and remained there for remainder of the five-second test
-----b. For the duration of test, the LED indicator changed to yellow (WEAK)
-----c. The Tronton heater elements became red hot, as seen through the vent slats.
-----d. START and END of test was evidenced by loud relay clicks (subjectively: sounded very solid, FWIW)
4. Immediately following the test (the relay clicked OFF and the heating element began to cool), the display goes through a little light dance that lasts ~10 seconds
-----a. No voltage is displayed, since the LED that would display the voltage are dancing around
-----b. Battery status indicator remains at yellow (WEAK) for the duration of the display LED dance
-----c. Fluke indicates slowly rising voltage as soon as the test is over, when the relay clicks OFF
5. Immediately following the display light dance, voltage indication returns:
-----a. Voltage displays 12.4VDC
-----b. Battery status indicates green (GOOD) status
6. Battery voltage recovers quickly to 12.6VDC within minutes
7. Repeated test 3X, with one minute between tests: results were the same for each test.
8. Fluke indicated min voltage of 10. 55VDC during test
9. Fluke indicated recovered voltage of 12.61VDC following test and before subsequent test
10. Fluke indicated close to Tronton tester voltage (with the Fluke having one more decimal place indicated)
Conclusion:
The instructions tell you how to start a test, but lacks in how you're supposed to interpret the results (it doesn't actually display anything other than a voltage indication and battery status light color, so I'm hoping some of you can help me out.
It seems as if the quick recovery to 12.6VDC following the test and change to green (GOOD) indication immediately following the display's little "I'm analyzing the data" light dance it does, is a good sign, but it doesn't really say so.
Battery Date: 7/2013 (I wrongly listed the battery as 3-4 years old in a previous thread)
Background:
1. Battery is used in DD (2008 Civic LX)
2. 15 miles one-way commute
3. Never idles to warmup
4. Never left with loads on, engine off
5. Drained to dead once: left light on after getting back from travel; noted dead battery 36 hrs later
6. Immediately charged battery to full using 6A/2A Schumacker charger, followed by BatteryMinder Plus
7. Some very slow starts in -10F weather; immediate starts in anything > 20F
8. Charged battery from this past Friday night until this afternoon (~36 hrs)
-----a. On Schumacker's 6A mode (~16.1VDC), almost immediately began to gas (bubbles)
-----b. Switched Schumacker to 2A mode (~14.5VDC) and a small amount of gassing was still evident, but very little.
-----c. At ~13.5VDC on BatteryMinder Plus, no gassing was evident.
Battery Tester: Tronton 125A Battery Load Tester (cheap Northern Tool tester I picked up on sale not long ago)
Display and Selection Features:
1. Battery status indicator LED lights: indicates green (GOOD), yellow (WEAK), and red (BAD) status
2. Display (digital)
-----a. Indicates CCA selection: depressing the 'SET CCA' push-button will cycle through and allow selection of CCA (200-999)
-----b. Indicates battery voltage
Principal of Operation:
Tester is powered only by the test battery and works by energizing heating element (resistive load) for 5 seconds (listed as 125A), with the following precautions:
1. Wait 1 minute between tests for cooldown
2. Do not test more than three times in five minutes
Test Sequence:
1. Initial open-circuit battery voltage, immediately after charging 36 hours, was > 13.2VDC (surface charge)
-----a. Upon attaching the Tronton battery tester, the displayed indicated 13.2VDC
-----b. Battery status indicated as red (BAD) and would not allow me to change CCA nor initiate testing
-----c. After waiting for surface charge to dissipate down to 13.0VDC, battery status changed to green (GOOD) and selection of CCA was allowed. This must be an internal interlock, to prevent operation of the tester while the engine is running.
2. Set to 500 CCA by continually depressing the 'SET CCA' push push-button until 500 was displayed
3. Initiated test by depressing and immediately releasing the 'TEST START' push-button:
-----a. Battery voltage, as indicated on the Tronton display, rapidly lowered to 10.5 VDC and remained there for remainder of the five-second test
-----b. For the duration of test, the LED indicator changed to yellow (WEAK)
-----c. The Tronton heater elements became red hot, as seen through the vent slats.
-----d. START and END of test was evidenced by loud relay clicks (subjectively: sounded very solid, FWIW)
4. Immediately following the test (the relay clicked OFF and the heating element began to cool), the display goes through a little light dance that lasts ~10 seconds
-----a. No voltage is displayed, since the LED that would display the voltage are dancing around
-----b. Battery status indicator remains at yellow (WEAK) for the duration of the display LED dance
-----c. Fluke indicates slowly rising voltage as soon as the test is over, when the relay clicks OFF
5. Immediately following the display light dance, voltage indication returns:
-----a. Voltage displays 12.4VDC
-----b. Battery status indicates green (GOOD) status
6. Battery voltage recovers quickly to 12.6VDC within minutes
7. Repeated test 3X, with one minute between tests: results were the same for each test.
8. Fluke indicated min voltage of 10. 55VDC during test
9. Fluke indicated recovered voltage of 12.61VDC following test and before subsequent test
10. Fluke indicated close to Tronton tester voltage (with the Fluke having one more decimal place indicated)
Conclusion:
The instructions tell you how to start a test, but lacks in how you're supposed to interpret the results (it doesn't actually display anything other than a voltage indication and battery status light color, so I'm hoping some of you can help me out.
It seems as if the quick recovery to 12.6VDC following the test and change to green (GOOD) indication immediately following the display's little "I'm analyzing the data" light dance it does, is a good sign, but it doesn't really say so.