Imagine a few situations where your car has been giving problems. Question will arrive in your mind that ‘How to Test a Car Battery with a Multimeter or Load Tester?’. What are the various possibilities that you can take to in order to have it fixed?, Let’s explore:
- Take it to the Mechanic and have the part replaced.
- Take it to the Mechanic and have some minor adjustments made so that you don’t have to spend too much immediately.
- Have the problem ignored
- Decide not to use your car until you have enough money to have the repairs done
- Test your car battery with a multimeter on your own by following our guide below.
While all these are seemingly nice possibilities, there are situations where the problem does not come with the prior warning. It may also happen at such a place where there is no help at hand. What would you do then? In times like these, people wish that they had taken precautionary measures.
Testing with a Multimeter and Load Tester
The biggest example of taking precautionary measure is with regard to the battery. A lot of people find themselves in a situation where the car just refuses to start because the battery is low. Most cars, even the latest ones with technologically updated gadgets do not have indicators to show the status of the battery. It is something that has to be done manually.
It is in this regard that a lot of people are becoming curious about How to Test a Car Battery with a Multimeter and Load Tester. The reason behind this is simple.
Multimeter and load tester are used to measure the electric current of household installations. So why not use them to measure the status of the car battery for the damage? If it works, it is perfectly possible.
Related Pick: 7 Simple Tips on How to Do A Car Battery Maintenance
Testing a Car Battery with a Multimeter
Your multimeter’s initial test will measure DC voltage, which will be shown above the letter V as a solid line and a dashed line. You can measure between 0 and 20 volts with accuracy if you set the dial to 20.
Connect the black probe to the negative (black) terminal and the red probe to the positive (often red) terminal. There will be + and – marks on the terminals. If the reading you receive has a negative sign (-12.6 instead of 12.6), it indicates that the probes are oriented incorrectly.
Ideally, the resting voltage shouldn’t be any less than 12.6V. When a battery shows 12.2V, it is actually only 50% charged; anything below 12V is considered discharged.
One thing to keep in mind is that all modern automobiles suffer from “parasitic loss,” which is the phenomenon wherein the battery gets exhausted by an electrical source even while the engine is off. Thus, devices like computers, alarm clocks, and clocks use electricity. You could choose to disconnect or remove the battery completely if you think this is destroying it while it’s being stored.
You should detach the battery and use a battery charger to completely charge it if the multimeter shows less than 12.6 volts. Next, give it an overnight rest. If it’s still charging while it’s not attached to the automobile, something is using the battery much more quickly than the digital clock and computer memory.
Related Pick: How to Take Good Car Care during Winter?
Further Assistance
There are alternative ways as well to Assess a Car Battery, the following resources may be of assistance:
- Leading online testimonials and reviews are the best place to gather information. There is lots of information that is available online, and anybody can access it just as long as they have the Internet at their fingertips.
- Furthermore, there are electrical and training classes where people are brought up to speed with the way different gadgets can be used to have a better understanding of the maintenance work.
- Another thing that a lot of people do is go through the instruction books and manuals because that is where all the fundamentals lie. If somebody has the tenacity to read and understand those, chances are, he or she will have no problem in understanding how to check car batteries with different devices.
A lot of people are actually skeptical before venturing into tasks such as this. They are not completely aware that there is no rocket science involved for which they have to put in a lot of effort. They think of changing the vehicle’s battery as a first thought instead of assessing the main problem. Also if at any time your battery may stop working, you must know how to jump a car battery and this as well isn’t a difficult task. It just requires a bit of focus and understanding to get a hold of things. Furthermore, taking the help of friends and family can be a good idea to understand it better.
