I have this same tester and i tested my truck battery. It had a 33% life expectancy. It still held a charge but my truck wasn’t cranking correctly. When i changed it, my vehicle performed better.
I've got a simple Topdon tester and it has never yet failed to tell me that batteries need replacing. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't test a battery unless I suspected it had a fault - in other words, it just confirms what I already knew! I really should try it one that is working fine. Good features to have on a charger though. My 'Smart' charger that I leave on the motorbike battery turned it into a bloated, leaking football by overcharging, so a bit of remote charge-monitoring is a good idea.
By using your smart phone it obviously means less circuitry and no screen required so cheaper for them to make, probably cuts down on the size of the unit as well. A battery can show as fully charged but it cannot retain the charge as long as a good battery, it will rapidly discharge under load.
Hey Mike. Your new opening footage is captioned‘Britanica Restorations. See the error? I think Topdon has shares in battery companies so it will always say the battery is cactus. Lol. Cheers mate. 👍🏻🙏🦘
I guess the phone makes the charging tests a lot easier. I tested my charging with a Yuasa tester. It's a two person job to do what you need in the car and on the box.
I'm not allowed to play with battery's after charging a large and quite new Varta from my Audi , I decided (and this wasn't the best idea) that the kitchen was a good place, I charged the battery with no problems, due to laziness I unplugged the mains but left the battery connected to the charger, some hours later I was aware of panic from the kitchen, it seems that the battery back fed somehow, it heated the charger leads to red hot, these then melted through the battery casing where I'd neatly wrapped them round causing much acid to leak all over the kitchen floor, there was also a lot of smoke as my good old charger decided to catch fire and perform a small but impressive firework display to mark its own passing. I can now only enter the kitchen to make tea.... Every cloud has a silver lining 😇
You can't rely in testers. The AA came out to test my works vehicle battery which was causing poor starting. They used a Midtronics unit which said the battery was OK, but after the next visit I insisted that they change the battery even though it tested ok. The new battery cured the problem, so the original battery was definitely faulty. The best way I've found to test the battery is to fully charge off the vehicle, leave overnight, then check the voltage....if its below 12.7 then its no good.
My 300tdi 109 has 11.6 volts cranking and 14v run 100amp alternator had a vaxhall corset in last week it tested ok on a smart tester but went to 0v on a carbon pile tester internal burnt contact
I would like to see what the topdon reveals about a brand new off the shelf battery, or one that is known good. The topdon might be measuring the internal resistance of the battery , as the resistance goes up the capacity of the battery decreases.
Made me wonder, how good does a battery have to be for that thing to say 'good battery'? We'd like to use a battery until its completely past it, even if its for testing or some lighting. It might be very clever but im sceptical how it cleans the plates of sulphur.
The tester is testing for cold cranking performance, no idea how; whereas the traditional unit is testing a warm battery and should read better performance.
I have this same tester and i tested my truck battery. It had a 33% life expectancy.
It still held a charge but my truck wasn’t cranking correctly. When i changed it, my vehicle performed better.
I've got a simple Topdon tester and it has never yet failed to tell me that batteries need replacing. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't test a battery unless I suspected it had a fault - in other words, it just confirms what I already knew! I really should try it one that is working fine.
Good features to have on a charger though. My 'Smart' charger that I leave on the motorbike battery turned it into a bloated, leaking football by overcharging, so a bit of remote charge-monitoring is a good idea.
By using your smart phone it obviously means less circuitry and no screen required so cheaper for them to make, probably cuts down on the size of the unit as well. A battery can show as fully charged but it cannot retain the charge as long as a good battery, it will rapidly discharge under load.
Hey Mike. Your new opening footage is captioned‘Britanica Restorations. See the error?
I think Topdon has shares in battery companies so it will always say the battery is cactus. Lol. Cheers mate. 👍🏻🙏🦘
Let me check
It's designed for battery sellers
If it doesn’t start my landy its f@@ked that’s all I need to know 😂
Tech goes fovard I still do prefer old scool.
Cheers King Mike. 🥃
I guess the phone makes the charging tests a lot easier.
I tested my charging with a Yuasa tester. It's a two person job to do what you need in the car and on the box.
I'm not allowed to play with battery's after charging a large and quite new Varta from my Audi , I decided (and this wasn't the best idea) that the kitchen was a good place, I charged the battery with no problems, due to laziness I unplugged the mains but left the battery connected to the charger, some hours later I was aware of panic from the kitchen, it seems that the battery back fed somehow, it heated the charger leads to red hot, these then melted through the battery casing where I'd neatly wrapped them round causing much acid to leak all over the kitchen floor, there was also a lot of smoke as my good old charger decided to catch fire and perform a small but impressive firework display to mark its own passing.
I can now only enter the kitchen to make tea.... Every cloud has a silver lining 😇
Lol!
You can't rely in testers. The AA came out to test my works vehicle battery which was causing poor starting. They used a Midtronics unit which said the battery was OK, but after the next visit I insisted that they change the battery even though it tested ok. The new battery cured the problem, so the original battery was definitely faulty. The best way I've found to test the battery is to fully charge off the vehicle, leave overnight, then check the voltage....if its below 12.7 then its no good.
Not always true. I have an old battery that I use for my camping lights, shows 12.9 after a charge, but won't start my land rover.
My 300tdi 109 has 11.6 volts cranking and 14v run 100amp alternator had a vaxhall corset in last week it tested ok on a smart tester but went to 0v on a carbon pile tester internal burnt contact
Can I just point out the oxymoron.
If you are the sort of person who sends your battery status to your friends, you probable haven't got any friends.
I would like to see what the topdon reveals about a brand new off the shelf battery, or one that is known good.
The topdon might be measuring the internal resistance of the battery , as the resistance goes up the capacity of the battery decreases.
How did you get on with the TopDon OBD2 scanner. Could you try it out better now you have the puma about?
Doing another review soon!
I have the same old load tester
That’s an order of magnitude beyond anything I’ve seen.
Made me wonder, how good does a battery have to be for that thing to say 'good battery'? We'd like to use a battery until its completely past it, even if its for testing or some lighting. It might be very clever but im sceptical how it cleans the plates of sulphur.
The tester is testing for cold cranking performance, no idea how; whereas the traditional unit is testing a warm battery and should read better performance.