When experiencing problems with your vehicle's battery, a good test to perform is a battery load test. Battery load testing makes your car or truck's battery lose amps as if you were starting the engine. The test is simple to perform and the testers are sold by some of the most trusted brands in the automotive industry.
The first thing you are going to want to do is select your battery load tester. SPX Corporation, Auto Meter Products, Associated, OTC and SABRE all produce extremely well built battery load testers. The OTC3167 SABRE can scale all batteries including CCA, CA, AHR, MCA, JIS, and DIN up to 2000 amps. There is also the 500 amp ATMSB3 made by Auto Meter Products which has an accurate scale of 8 - 16 Volts and has is portable weighing only 12 lbs. For smaller vehicles, there are more economical options including the OTC3181 which handles up to 130 amp load and has a 0 - 16 volt range. This short list is only a fraction of the testers available out there, feel free to browse the website for a complete collection of our load testers.
Once you have been able to narrow down the battery load tester that best suits your needs, it is time to test the battery. Using your OTC, Auto Meter or Associated tester, hook your cables up to the batter terminals in your vehicle. You will then want to apply a load of one half the rating on your battery. So if you have a CCA rating of 500CCA then you would want to load test with 250CCA. You then test the battery for 15 seconds at the correct voltage and your optimal results will be between 12.8 and 13.0. If you have a shorter voltage reading then you most likely have a cell or two that is shorting out in your battery.
If you find yourself in a jam at any point during your load testing, there is normally a phone number on the battery which will connect you with the manufacturer who can help you with some of the testing procedures. As always, you can reference your factory service manuals, Chilton, Haynes, or eAutoRepair subscription for help finding the correct parts and repair procedures.
