Using Battery Analyzer

[D_E_Bishop]

Okay, I'll admit WLA batteries are not something I know a lot about. I have always sort of relied on either they work or they don't, they hold a charge or they don't. Now on my second rig and running into the chassis battery not seeming to fully charge on say a two hour run between campgrounds and not holding a charge overnight, I thought why not avail myself of Harbor Freight Tools and their 20 to 25 percent off coupons and buy an analyzer. Following the instructions(something we men are accused of never doing)in the box, the analyzer shows the battery is not holding a charge even after an overnight on a battery charger.

I am kind of accepting the reading on the built in meter in our rig that shows the voltages (and by inference the charge rate) that the alternator is working well and therefore, the battery is reaching the end of it's life.

My question is, can I use the analyzer on the two GC2 house batteries that are in series the same as a single 12v battery?

Logic tells me that two sixes in series are electrically the same as a single 12v battery. But it raises the question, what CCA figure to I use? Is it the CCA of one battery or are the CCAs additive?

Once again logic seems to dictate that the CCA will not exceed the capability of one battery, that by putting two in series just doubles the how long the current will flow not the level of current. I don't know if that is clear or not but my meter's instruction says only test a single 12v battery and the first thing to do when checking the battery is enter the CCA. So enter the CCA of one or double the CCA?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

480 CCA is what I use for flooded GC220 batteries.

[dougrainer]

This is what the instructions state for the tester. Doug

Test a single 12V battery only. Do not connect this
analyzer to a series of batteries or an electrical
system containing more than one 12V battery.
Do not connect to any other electrical system;
damage to the analyzer will result.

[dougrainer]

2oldman wrote:
Wet Lead Acid ( I think)

Sounds good to me. 37 years and have never heard that term. Doug

[2oldman]

Wet Lead Acid ( I think)

[dougrainer]

What is a WLA battery? The only WLA I am familiar with is for HD motorcycles. OLD HD motorcycles. AS to testing batteries. You never test as a bank(2/3/4/5/6/7/8/). You test individually. You NEVER replace the one defective battery in a battery bank. If 1 is bad, you replace all at the same time. Doug

[Chum_lee]

How old are the batteries? What is the final charge voltage (after resting a few hours) and how much does it drop overnight? More that 1 volt without any substantial/nuisance loads is a bad sign. Are you having trouble firing up the genny in the morning?

We were always taught to do a voltage drop test with the subject batteries under load to see what happens. For example: Crank the genny with the initial charged voltage at say . . . 12.8 volts. (for +-10 seconds) During cranking, what happens to the battery voltage? With good batteries, it should stay at or above about +- 9 volts. (genny cranks at normal speed with plug wire off) If the cranking voltage drops to below +-6 volts, suspect bad cables/connections and/or start pricing new batteries. Someone can easily do a voltage drop test on known good batteries to get a baseline voltage drop. Things may have changed over the years.

Chum lee

[KJINTF]

The HF 65892 CEN-TECH Battery Analyzer actually does a good job
I consider it a good enough tool to have two of them
Works very similar to a proper capacitor ESR meter which
Sends out a high frequency (typically about 150KhZ) AC signal then reads the response through the four connections on the battery clamps. Then on to a few rather simple calculations/look ups
Nothing special Standard - Voltage measurement
Battery internal resistance - uses the four connectors on the clamps and does a good job most of the time
CCA value - a best guess but actually very close if given the proper input when doing the reading

Yes two 6VDC batteries in series can be considered a single 12Vdc battery. Even a series parallel combination of 4 or 6 or even 8 GC 6VDC batteries can be considered a single 12VDC power source. As others stated series voltages adds and current stays the same, parallel current adds and voltages stays the same.

Enjoy the new meter

Check out the "reviews" on the HF web site for the tool

[MrWizard]

What did you buy
Electronic analyzer

Or
The 500 amp carbon pile load tester

The electronic version does some kind of 'impedance' measurement response
The load tester measures amps output and voltage drop over a 15 second period, then you recharge the battery

I have the 500 amp load tester

[D_E_Bishop]

Thanks, a convoluted question and very simple and logical answers. And no AGM's at this time, rig came with WLA. Maybe in the future, after solar power.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

If you are looking for a baseline CCA on 6 cells of AGM in series try 700 CCA and see where that puts you...

[2oldman]

Series adds voltage, parallel adds amps.

[time2roll]

CCA adds only if the batteries are in parallel. No change in series.

Consider a Trik-L-Start combiner to keep the chassis battery up whenever the house battery is getting charged.