How to Tell if Batteries Are Dead Readings
Having battery troubles? Yep, nosotros hear you. Almost everyday, nosotros receive calls and comments well-nigh batteries that "won't concur a charge" any more. Maybe you've been in that boat before. To articulate up a misconception: a battery isn't similar a water canteen. You tin't use up half at present, so look and employ half later. It's not a tank of electricity. Also, batteries don't "leak" power like h2o can. What we're dealing with is a lead acid battery in a plastic box that encases a fragile remainder of chemicals which are ready to interact with each other to produce electricity when the load is applied.
If your battery is having trouble property under load, and then chances are it'southward a chemical consequence.
How to examination a battery:
Here are some means to test your battery at home, and determine if it's bad:
1) Inspect the Battery
Sometimes you tin can tell if your bombardment is bad by only taking a good wait. There are a few things to inspect:
- Broken last
- Bulge or bump in the case
- Crack or rupture of the plastic
- Excessive leaking
- Discoloration
Broken or loose terminals are dangerous and tin can cause a short circuit. If a short did occur, there would be some indication of burning or melting. When a battery short circuits, all the power is unloaded in an instant. That produces a lot of heat, and sometimes fifty-fifty causes the battery to explode.
If the battery is notwithstanding intact, but there is a bulge in the instance, this is usually a result of being overcharged. Other signs such equally physical openings in the case are often acquired by mishandling. Cracks, splits, and holes will non crusade a battery to stop working, but for prophylactic reasons the battery should exist labeled unsafe to use.
With wet-cell (flooded) batteries, h2o levels must be maintained. If they are low, ordinarily refilling them with distilled h2o volition help. Simply, if the cells within the battery have been exposed to air for a long time, it tin crusade a problem. When the plates inside each prison cell are exposed to oxygen information technology tin can rapidly dry the paste that surrounds the lead plates. When the paste has dried it creates a barrier that prevents the chemical reaction within the battery. This can also cause the sulfation that has already occurred to harden leading to a sulfated battery which is the number 1 crusade of early on battery failure. Nosotros strongly recommend checking the h2o levels prior to charging a wet cell battery since charging a dry bombardment volition burn information technology up. If your battery has plenty of fluid in the cells, just the color is dark, or brownish, this is as well an indication of a bad battery. Even if i cell is chocolate-brown, it is rendered useless and therefore the unabridged battery is, too. Time to supervene upon your battery!
2) Take a Voltage Reading
The voltage of a battery is a good way to determine the state of charge. Hither'due south a handy table with the breakdown:
| State of Charge | Voltage |
| 100% | 12.7 - 13.2 |
| 75% | 12.iv |
| fifty% | 12.i |
| 25% | 11.vii |
| Discharged | 0 - 11.6 |
If your battery is:
- Reading 0 volts, chances are the battery experienced a short circuit
- Cannot achieve higher than 10.5 volts when being charged, and so the battery has a dead cell
- Fully charged (co-ordinate to the battery charger) only the voltage is 12.4 or less, the battery is sulfated
Sulfation is the natural byproduct when the battery discharges. Naturally, re-charging the bombardment will reverse the sulfation crystals and turn information technology back into electrolyte, prepare to produce ability again. But if a battery sat, uncharged, severely discharged, and/or drained for extended periods of time, the sulfation will increase in size and harden onto the plates. This covers the surface surface area of the plates, removing the chemicals needed to produce power.
Sulfation decreases the potential to reach a full accuse, and it cocky-discharges the battery quicker than normal. Charging a sulfated battery is like trying to wash your easily while wearing gloves. At this point, charging lonely will not restore the battery to a good for you condition. The majority of replacement bombardment purchases occur when the original battery has reached this point.
iii) Load Test the Bombardment
Your local automotive shop is more than than able to load test your bombardment, simply it's quite easy to do at home and all you need is a digital voltmeter. For any load test to be accurate, the battery must be fully charged and left to sit 12 hours earlier load testing the battery. A recently charged battery will hold a residual charge from the charger, so letting the battery sit for 12 hours volition release that residual charge and give you a more accurate sense on how the battery will perform under normal circumstances. To the test...
Let's utilise a motorcycle battery for an instance:
- Remove the seat and expose the battery in your bike so that you lot have admission to the terminals. Exercise not disconnect the battery because you lot will attempt to commencement the cycle.
- Hold the prongs of your voltmeter to the correct terminals on the battery.
- Now push the start button and watch what the voltage drops to. It doesn't matter if the bike starts or not, what you're looking for is a voltage reading.
A good for you 12 volt battery should maintain a voltage range from 9.6 - x.five volts under the load for a practiced xxx seconds straight.
For starting batteries nosotros don't look you to run the starter for xxx seconds, and then if you see the voltage meter drop inside the voltage range and information technology sounded like a proficient potent get-go, and then you probably just had a discharged battery. Withal, if under the starting load the voltage drops beneath ix.6v, and so it is most likely time to supervene upon the bombardment.
For deep bicycle application if the battery holds under load for a few seconds then voltage starts to steadily drop this would point a problem with the battery. If the voltage instantly drops to 0 volts, that is as well a problem. We call this the open cell. On a new battery, this tin can be a outcome of manufacturing flaws, but it also may exist caused by sulfate crystal buildup.
A mutual occurrence with open cell batteries is that under the intense heat of the load, one or more of the weld pieces connecting the cells together is coming loose and separating. This volition cut the current, and voltage will drop. When the battery cools off, the pieces volition bear upon, barely giving a complete connection. This gives yous a false voltage reading. Batteries with open up cells may read fully charged in idle, but they fail nether a load test every time. One time a battery reaches this point, at that place is no going dorsum. The best thing to do is recycle the matter.
How to tell if a bombardment is bad or proficient: These 3 steps volition help you exam and make up one's mind if your battery is truly bad or getting there. Sometimes information technology's obvious if there is a failure, but other times it's not. Flooded batteries make it possible to simply look inside the cells and make up one's mind if the battery has a physical defect. But for sealed AGM and Gel batteries, it requires testing. The but tools you really demand are a battery charger and a digital voltmeter. If your bombardment experiences any of the symptoms described in the steps above, then maybe it'south fourth dimension to replace the battery.
Look no further. Nosotros've got a broad pick of powersports batteries for your motorcycle, ATV, scooter, jet ski, or snowmobile. But we also deport batteries for lawn mowers, wheelchairs / mobility scooters, UPS systems, RVs, and marine applications. Whether you need a starting battery or a deep cycle battery, we have the stuff. And all of our replacement batteries come with warranties to ensure that yous won't accept any of these problems with your new bombardment.
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Written on by Stoney DeGeyter with BatteryStuff.com 
Modified on
How to Tell if Your Battery Is Bad in three Easy Steps
Source: https://www.batterystuff.com/blog/how-to-tell-if-your-battery-is-bad.html
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