DIY Battery Load Test With a Multimeter, Video

In this video I show you how to do a load test on your Lead-Acid Batteries, car battery, RV, Marine battery or whatever. Just using a Multimeter, in this case with the feature Min Max (Fluke 789). In this video both a normal classic lead battery (Biltema) and a AGM battery (GNB Sprinter) is load tested using my trusted Toyota Starlet engine motor starter as load. And also the lights.


Tested batteries:

Biltema BATTERI SMF 12V 44AH

VRLA 12 V 56.4 Ah GNB Sprinter XP12V1800 NAXP12180

Looking for a new car battery for the Starlet (again)...

Had a car breakdown, but it wasnt the Toyota Starlet parts that broke, it was the Tudor Battery.. Had to get a new one, even though the Tudor was only about 2-3 years old.

The Tudor Dual battery was crap. Dont buy it for use in a car. Trying to get it to work with the CTEK MXS 7.0 but no luck. Using a Fluke 789 to measure voltage.

Went to Autoexperten in Bromma (Sthlm) and they only sold Varta. The plus pole is on the wrong side..

Then I was planning to buy the Biltema Silver-kalciumbatteri since they have 4 years of guarantee, I thought this 62A battery for 799 SEK would fit but the plus pole was on the right side. Need it to be left side if I dont wanna extend the cables..

This is Biltema Veddesta, near Barkarby.

Replaceing and moving car battery on Starlet

Replacing car battery and moving it..

Yes that´s what I did. Since my battery was really bad it is time to replace it. Since I already have a pretty fresh leisure battery I decided to test if that would work!
I can tell you, When I was at the yearly car inspection (mandatory here in Sweden), the car didnt even start after the inspector had fibble with the lights (when the engine was off). A bit humiliating it was..

Ok, so this is what I did:

OLD Biltema 44Ah was worn out.. Not the best stuff. Removed it from the car Bredd [mm]: 175 Höjd [mm]: 190 Längd [mm]: 207

Changing to this one: Tudor dual TR350 Marine & Multifit by Exide 350Wh 80 Ah Coldstart up to 510A Height: 220 mm Lenght: 260 mm Width: 175 mm

Car battery gone! Now it´s emty were the battery use to be. I have connected some bigger cables to the "poles". The red and brown ones.

I´ve wired the cables through the "torpedo wall" into the inside of the car. Will do a better job with stripes and taping the cables better to get rid of electronic and magnetics fields. Also do it more secure.

Here the new battery is conneted, trying it out. Works like a charm

As a fuse, I use a 3-pole 50 ampere automatic fuse and use all tree of the connection so that about 150 ampere can run trouch when starting the car without the fuse going.

Put the battery inside the car temporary to try it out. Will eventually move it to the back carrige room if it seems to work out ok. Now I have almost double the battery power in the Starlet! Yes!

That´s it, hope you have some use of it. :-)

Charging the car battery with a Ctek

The battery in my car is going bad slowly. I use a CTEK charger to amp up the power in the battery from time to time..

The Biltema lead battery is going sour on me. When the car not have on the road for a couple of days, the start engine is slow in the beginning.

I use this CTEK Charger M100 and are happy with it.

The battery size is Biltema 44 A. LxBxH = 207,5x175x200 mm  and there seem to room for a bigger battery, I don't know what the original one is for a Toyota Starlet. Anyone know?

This M100 charger has an output of 7A so it charges a battery in a say 5-6 hours depending on how low the charge of the battery is. Its for lead batteries.

The charger adapts and has different kind of "steps". Here the battery is ready. Green light.

A nice feature of the CTEK is that you can change contacts if you want. Different sort can be bought.