SOLAR BA5 100-1200 Cold Cranking Amps Electronic Battery Tester

• Test 12-volt batteries from 100-1200 CCA, operating range from 7-15 volts
• Test multiple battery types, including conventional, AGM, gel cell, spiral wound, and deep cycle batteries (with a starting rating)
• LED indication of battery and system pass or fail (as applicable), plus derived reading for the battery tested
• Easy to use--the device guides you through each step in the testing process
• Bright 4-digit LED display is great for bright- or low-light settings

I am a professional auto technician for a german auto dealer. I was looking for a battery tester to keep within reach to quickly test customer batteries during scheduled services. I was close to purchasing a $400 Snap On battery tester, but when held in hand felt very cheaply built in comparison to the price tag. I found this battery tester for a fraction of the price and decided to give it a try. The tester came as pictured, with an included orange silicone bumper cover around the device (edges). The quality of this product is great, the feel of the buttons and build is very nice. The unit is very small which is an added bonus, fits easily in any drawer of your tool box. Testing of batteries literally takes 1 second. And it tests DIN rating!! It is very accurate. Another great feature, the tester remembers the last options you chose (ex: type of battery tested, test rating CCA, DIN, etc). For the price this product is amazing. The LED read out display does have an orange plastic cover over it which can make it a little harder to read in sunlight. But, a razor blade can easily take care of this issue. ;) Two words: Do It!

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It does seem to do the test I want, reserve capacity, which is harder to test than a basic load test or state of charge. A car battery can be fully charged, pass the load test, and still be old and sulfated enough to have very little reserve capacity.

One major verification I got was when I tested some smaller lead acid batteries I use in my uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The new battery passed with a reading of over 100 cranking amps. The bad ones showed a reading of about 5 amps, even though a voltmeter showed nearly 13v (full charge) on one of them. The 13v bad one passed the test that the UPS does when you turn it on (!), but it failed to keep a computer going at all when I cut the power to it. So this Solar tester beats the UPS's own test.

I'm also planning to use this to see if my desulfating battery charger can revive some old or junked car batteries.

**See Comments below for an update the Solar BA5 got "fooled" by a failed car battery with low capacity.

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I am a power supply technician for a local cable company and test up to 75 batteries a day. This unit makes my job much easier without having to lug a cumbersome load tester to all my units every day. The digital readout is easy to read and tests are quick. I recommend this to anyone who has any type batteries to test.

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We had a 3 year old battery die in the middle of the summer on one of our cars. The dealer warned me that the battery was weak when it was in for service. I assume they tested it with some kind of meter like this, so I started looking for a way to test the batteries in the other cars before winter. One of our foreign cars has a battery that is 5 years old that costs $320 installed, so I really wanted to avoid replacing it unless necessary.

I used the tester to check the Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) on all of the cars. The new battery tested above the rated CCA and the most of the others were also close to the rated CCA. But the 5 year old foreign car battery tested at 50% of the rated CCA, so according to the meter, I SHOULD have replaced it. But I didn't, because the car needed new rotors and pads on all 4 wheels for around $1400, so the battery got put on hold.

So every cold morning, I go out and start it and hold my breath. The car with battery with 50% of the rated CCA has started with minimal cranking at temperatures down to 0 deg F, which is as cold as it gets around here. So I am a little suspect about the validity of this meter. I probably should replace a 5 year old battery, but I suspect this battery meter would have caused me to replace it earlier than I needed to. The problem is I don't know of any other place to have the battery tested that I really trust. Seems like they all want to sell you a battery. So the jury is still out on whether or not you can use this meter to decide if you should replace your battery.

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This digital battery analyzer is well made, easy to use and is impressive. I like it and the current price is very reasonable.