The battery in a car or truck needs to produce high amperes to power the starter motor and turn the vehicle s engine.
How to measure battery voltage under load.
The term used to describe the battery s power is cold cranking amps or cca.
If the voltage reading drops below 10 as the car starts the battery likely needs to be replaced.
That value will understandably be lower than the standalone voltage test.
Dead battery no load 1 4 volts.
To put this in perspective when this battery was discharged at 2x 2 5x your average cruising boat house loads the bank is crossing the 50 soc threshold at approx 12 1v.
If the battery bounces back to less than 75 percent state of charge 1 225 specific gravity or 12 45 vdc then recharge the battery and load test again.
Do not attempt to load test or charge a battery under 20 degrees.
The load from the starter will give way to the alternator producing a charge flowing into the battery once the car starts and the voltage reading will climb again.
Without a load it may show an acceptable voltage but when you actually try to use it the voltage drops because the battery is nearly dead.
A load tester is a specialized yet affordable piece of equipment used to determine the voltage generated by the battery while a load is placed on the battery.
If the battery fails the load test a second time or bounces back to less than.
It took approximately 9 hours at a 5 25a load to get to 50 soc and the under load voltage is still 12 11v.
Never remove load clamps while testing.
If the battery has not passed the load test remove the load wait ten minutes and measure the state of charge.
Be sure each test is completed before removing load clamps to prevent arcing and potential explosion from battery gasses.
So to see if a battery is really usable you must measure the voltage when the battery is connected to a load.
Dead battery load of 100 ohms 1 0 volts.