affordable battery tester

If your looking for something simple and inexpensive you can use a plug-in voltmeter combined with one of the battery tables already posted. I keep something similar plugged in all the time so I can monitor my converter -- rig needs to be disconnected and battery rested b4 trying to measure status of batteries.

2oldman wrote:
It's close enough.

Marginally better than OEM panel with indicators Full/Empty for black tank and batteries.

What he wants - handheld digital SOC meter - doesn't exist, except for once a day with a rested battery.

there is no hand held soc meter, except a hydrometer

you need a meter mounted inline, that counts the amp hours

you fully charge the batteries to the point that they are accepting less than 1 amp per battery at 14.8v,
now fully charged you program the meter with the total ampHr capacity of the bank

now that meter will display the SOC by counting ampHrs in / out and compute the percentage

get a meter that reads 75% all the time. a little test done by BFL shows 65%-100% when the voltage is 14.4v!

Almot wrote:
Voltmeter for SOC is like a broken clock that is right twice a day..

It's close enough.

What red31 said.

Voltmeter for SOC is like a broken clock that is right twice a day.
With voltmeter it will be only once a day, - after 12 hours rest.

dtappy3353 wrote:
Looking for a hand held battery tester which give volts and "state of charge".

Accurate SoC:

While being discharged at some unknown rate?
While being charged at some unknown rate?

dtappy3353 wrote:
Thank you very much for the charts...they are the paper version of what I'm seeking.

Looking for a hand held battery tester which give volts and "state of charge".

Handhelds are for checking things occasionally, when you suspect that something could be wrong. Get a reliable multimeter to measure volts and consult the chart. It will tell the correct charge only after battery had rested 12-24 hours. You need a good multimeter anyway.

Voltage by itself is a very approximate measure of charge, cheap digital voltmeters are often inaccurate, the net result might be no better than OEM lights panel Full/Half/Empty. If it reads both volts and % of charge, then both volts and % will be inaccurate, be it a handheld or permanently installed.

For accurate on-the-go data, install battery monitors like those in Time2roll links. They measure not just volts, but also amper-hours in and out, and calculate the remaining charge.
If money is a problem, here is a cheaper device for the same purpose: Drok AH meter. Reads volts, remaining AH, and % of charge. Drok is more-less known brand. Ebay sell knock-offs that look similar, can't comment on those.

dtappy3353 wrote:

Looking for a hand held battery tester which give volts and "state of charge".

Don't make this harder than it IS.

Just print out a half dozen copies of that chart in the previous post, buy yourself an inexpensive digital multi-meter or two......and you are done.

I bought one of these;
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-Battery-120V-300A-LCD-Voltage-Current-Watt-Power-capacit-Digital-Combo-Meter/162144298635?hash=item25c08da68b:m:msNz_Ko6X9OlmwwnCn2IGLQ

A little thinking to set up, but man, it will tell you everything you need to know on the state of charge for the battery and it's over all condition.