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I had thought of scouring the local ads for a second hand leisure battery. What is the way to test a battery's condition? Is it to measure the sg of the acid or to use a meter to measure the voltage?

[L.J.Thorpe]

i have mine tested at the wheel chair dealers where i buy my second hand ones from .They have to have the battery fully charged to start with and they need it for about 24 hours really any way they connect it to this computer gizmo that measures its capacity and charge holding ability thingy (thats a technical term ) and then give it a % rating to show how it performs

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Suppose you might be driving one this week?

[L.J.Thorpe]

balls smartarse worth a thought tho maybe i can get a "chairmount" serious tho look in yellow page for lcal mobility centre or maybe a caravan dealer they may have testing stuff for leisure batteries

[LWC]

halfords do a free battery test

and so should most garages, battery testers are mega expensive

[L.J.Thorpe]

halfords do a free battery test

and so should most garages, battery testers are mega expensive

very true but aint leisure batteries different ???i thought that car batteries are designed for a big high amp kick but leisure and wheelchair batteries are slowrelease low amp mind you i could be wrong

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balls smartarse worth a thought tho maybe i can get a "chairmount" serious tho look in yellow page for lcal mobility centre or maybe a caravan dealer they may have testing stuff for leisure batteries

Shouldn't laugh - i know exactly what it's like i have a history of back trouble going back over twenty years. I had the old pain down the leg trick for six months solid and seriously thought my working life was over. Still have physio once a month to keep it at bay. Strange thing was i couldn't walk for the pain but i could still cycle fairly pain free.

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Jeff1 will be here any minute to put us right.

[dai]

I bought a battery tester in Aldi's last week, they still had some today, £3 odd. To be honest, I wouldn't buy another second hand leisure battery, been there and done that. Once bitten. Dai

[jeff1]

Battery Testing can be done in more than one way. The most popular is measurement of specific gravity and battery voltage. To measure specific gravity buy a temperature compensating hydrometer (a couple of quid from halfords) and measure voltage, use a digital D.C. Voltmeter. A good digital load tester may be a good purchase ( I use an old cigarette lighter from a car and an old headlight depending on what I'm testing)  if you need to test batteries like sealed batteries.

You must first have the battery fully charged. The surface charge must be removed before testing. If the battery has been sitting at least several hours (I prefer at least 12 hours) you may begin testing. To remove surface charge the battery must experience a load of at least 20 amps for 4/5 plus minutes. connecting a car headlamp should do the trick. After turning off the light you are ready to test the battery.

State of Charge Specific Gravity Voltage
12V 6V
100% 1.265 12.7 6.3
*75% 1.225 12.4 6.2
50% 1.190 12.2 6.1
25% 1.155 12.0 6.0
Discharged 1.120 11.9 6.0
Hydrometer readings should not vary more than .05 differences between cells.
Digital Voltmeters should read as the voltage that is shown . The sealed AGM and Gel-Cell battery voltage (full charged) will be slightly higher in the 12.8 to 12.9 ranges. If you have voltage readings in the 10.5 volts range on a charged battery, that indicates a shorted cell.

If you have a maintenance free wet cell, the only ways to test are voltmeter and load test. Most of the maintenance free batteries have a built in hydrometer that tells you the condition of 1 cell in 6. You may get a good reading from 1 cell but have a problem with other cells in the battery.

So you can see battery testing isn't as easy as you may be led to belive it is, its much simpler to get it tested by someone with the corect test gear.
If you use the wrong test on the wrong battery, you run the risk of irreparable damage.

A battery tester is a discharge tester, so before you use it make sure the fully charged battery has been standing for at least 12 hours to gain an accurate reading when you test it.

[mattywig]

Mate they are only 60 quid brand new??

[philboy]

Testing the voltage of a battery will only tell you how much charge is in it at that time, the best way is to test it under load, for this you do a "drop test" (that doesn't mean drop it from a great height) get a garage to do this for ya, if it can cope with a drop test it can cope with most things. You could do a specific gravity test but if you don't know what ya doing you could get a false reading, and the meters you get from halfords aint much good.