So I took my battery to my local AutoZone last night to be tested, and they told me they can not test my battery. Is that true, or did I just speak to one of auto zones finest?

How do you guys test your batteries? I just want to verify under a load test, but my machine is currently not running until my parts come in that I ordered.

Thanks for any input

 

The manual says to test a battery you need a hydrometer (looks like a turkey baster) to measure the specific gravity of the electrollyte. A full charge reads 1.260-1.280 and a good enough charge is 1.230-1.250. anything below 1.140 is no good. They do not recomend the hydrometer with color codes.

 

I would have thought auto zone would have a load tester. Who knows though. I will say this. At my old job we had a prehistoric carbon pile load tester that worked fine. Then several years later the car dealership next door made the feds angry and they shut him down(an I mean like walk in there and tell everyone to leave and not come back) Everything was left in the building including and nice newer digital battery load tester. So I started using it and it didn't test these little batteries very good. Not sure why, but I traded it back for the analog carbon pile tester. Maybe they had the same issues?

Anyway i looked in a 2004-2006 400-450-500 service manual and it says this(which would be easier for most people since they don't have load testers or hydrometers like TLC showed)

A battery may indicate a full charge condition in the OCV
test and the specific gravity test, but still may not have
the storage capacity necessary to properly function in
the electrical system. For this reason, a battery capacity
or load test should be conducted whenever poor battery
performance is encountered. To perform this test, hook
a multitester to the battery in the same manner as was
done in the OCV test. The reading should be 12.6 volts
or greater. Engage the starter and observe the battery
voltage while cranking the engine. Continue the test for
15 seconds. During cranking the observed voltage
should not drop below 9.5 volts. If the beginning voltage
is 12.6 volts or higher and the cranking voltage drops
below 9.5 volts during the test, replace the battery.

 

What you could do is first completly charge the battery,then let it stabilize for an hour, then hook a meter to the battery and crank the engine for 10 seconds watching the meter,assuming the battery is at full state of charge at 12-13volts it should not get near 10 volts at all,then try 10 seconds with the low beam headlights on,if it stays away from 10volts you might have some life left in it..............................

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I think the answer I was looking for was the load tester. Maybe just a cheapie load tester from Harbor Freight may do the trick.

I will look into the gravity tester and how it works. I have seen them, but with the car parts places doing free battery checks, I have taken full advantage of that and just dropped them off to them, and let them take care of the testing, but I would like to get the equipment to do the battery testing myself.

Thanks again, I was just kinda scratching my head when they told me they could not test my battery, because I thought all they did was charge it, let it set, then put a load test on it.... I didn't know if I was overlooking something.

 

Trouble reading? Read the OP, AutoZone told me they could not test the battery. My main question was if that was true or not.

 

the old style testers won't read/load test because they don't go down that low, but i just had mine done at the parts store(friends works there) and he used the electronic one(about $350 to buy it) which does go down low enough to test. mine tested low charge but was fine. charged it for serval hours and it worked fine.

 

I'm thinking they don't know the spec's for the battery or your starter. The idea of a load tester is to see if you can draw your machines starter amperage out for 10 to 15 seconds and see if the voltage can still hold up to at least 9.6 volts.

I think you should do as do as 94harley discribed above. Perform your own load test using your machines starter.

Understand these test should be performed at room temp, as freezing temps kill a batteries capacity to produce amps.

The only problem with this proceedure is the assumption that the starter used in the test is not bad.

 

I bought a new RZR today for pickup on Thursday. I didn't even look at the battery, but assumed it will be a sealed, non serviceable, battery like most lawn mowers have today. I think that would mean you can't do a specific gravity test with a hydrometer. I always used the multi meter test on my batteries but I also carried a dead battery into auto zone a couple weeks ago and they load tested it for me.

I hope my battery is sealed. I've had my ATV's upside down on top of me before. I don't like the idea of battery acid dripping on me from a non sealed battery.

Ted

 

Your battery should be sealed, but all you have to do is peel the sticker off, and gain access to the holes if I am not mistaken.

Maybe I will invest in a load tester eventually I will have to wait on my new solenoid to come in before I can use the starter. I guess I could just jump wires on the solenoid, and hold the probes on the battery, but I think I will just wait for my parts to come in.

Thanks guys.