How To Test A Car Battery With A Multimeter

If the car is running when the battery is tested with a multimeter the charge from the powered alternator will skew proper readings.

How to test a car battery with a multimeter. I have always advocated for a reliable multimeter to be one equipment that should always be in the toolbox. Your multimeter should read anywhere between 13 8 volts and 14 4 volts. How to test a car battery without a multimeter. This is achieved by measuring the dc voltage of the battery in parallel with the multimeter.

Set the dial to 20 which will allow you to accurately measure between 0 20 volts. See the video below. How to check car battery with multimeter. Here we check the charge or voltage of your car battery.

A multimeter is a device that you can use to check the state of your battery regarding voltage and current. Touch the negative black battery terminal with the negative black meter probe. Set the multimeter to 15 20 volts. Touch the red probe to the positive terminal and the black probe to the negative terminal.

A very simple way to check. Your battery may be failing but for you to be sure you need to know how to test a car battery. Here are two other methods used by car owners and mechanics. First set your voltmeter to 20 dc volts.

Connect the multimeter to the positive and negative battery terminals. First a multimeter only works on maintenance free batteries the kind without plastic caps on the individual cells the other type must be tested with a hydrometer. You can use your digital multimeter to find out in a minute whether your car battery has enough juice to get your car going. Second you should only test a battery after it s been sitting unused for at least an hour.

The first test with your multimeter will measure dc voltage indicated with a solid line and a dashed line above a letter v. Other than trying to start the engine to see if there s. Check it with the engine running at idle speed this time. Step 2 place the red multimeter lead on the red positive battery terminal and the black multimeter lead on the black negative battery terminal.

Using a multimeter to test a car battery. How to test your car battery s charge using a multimeter. If you are looking to test for amperage draw parasitic draw testing amps in series we cover that process in this guide. There are other ways to test your car battery aside from the multimeter.

Either way you can proactively inspect and prevent further battery troubles when you know how to check the status of your car battery. You can use a multimeter to check the state of your car s alternator. Perform the same test as in how to test a car battery with a multimeter. Before you learn how to test a car battery there are a couple of things to keep in mind.