Bought a new Yuasa battery online from Tanya Batteries recently. Unpacked and tested it and it showed 80% SOH, got back to the company and asked for a replacement and a few days went by so I tested it again and it had dropped to 72% SOH. And has 720 CCA of 820 CCA
Reply from Tanya batteries was that the voltmeter isn't a correct way of testing a battery, that the green light built in was green so it was clearly a good battery. And that batteries have mood swings (direct quote) and we can't really be sure what their readings are.
So do I have a crappy battery or do I need to play some soothing music to it, read it a book detailing a path to success while it's on recharge, and maybe hook it up with a backup battery for when its feeling down?.
I think I made the right decision to move to another country this year.
Just a normal Autool voltmeter like Scotty has.
I have one of those as well. Like other inexpensive battery testers, those don't do accurate SOH testing. They check voltage and internal resistance then use a lookup table to determine what they think the "State of Health" of the battery is. A really good battery tester that does thorough testing can cost $1000 or more.
I use the Autool to get an initial impression and back it up using a resistance load tester to check battery performance under actual load. Between those two you can get a pretty good idea of battery condition most of the time.
Also, although the Autool tester does a cursory alternator test it does not check for excess ripple, assuming you have the same model that I do. I use an oscilloscope for that purpose.
@chucktobias That's interesting, I didn't know that. I shouldn't have said voltmeter (the guy called my battery tester that and I got confused) it's a normal tester where you enter battery details and it summarizes with SOH, SOC, CCA, etc. But from an unqualified layman's perspective I've been using this for 20 years on at least 10+ batteries (family&friends) that were all 97%+ SOH new, then dropped 10-15% on charge and went back to 98% SOH or so after they settled. And all batteries that dropped below 70% SOH 98%+ SOC would go from "good battery" to "replace" when tested. So it's just from that perspective and baseline that I get suspicious when I get a new battery that drops from 80% to 72% out of the box, and then doesn't go above 73% after a charge.
I don't buy car batteries online since there's no way to check the production date until it's received. My last couple of battery purchases were lead-acid Everstarts from Walmart with recent codes.Bought a new Yuasa battery online
@hixster They don't show the date now as far as I can tell. UK battery.
@alex-g in the local Wally Worlds , each battery has a tag displaying production date. This holds true for most parts stores also.
I've got my 5+ year old JDM car battery that's at 100% SOH all the time
Then your tester is kind of useless.
@imperator Alway appreciate you direct responses. I didn't want to write an essay, but I replaced the electrolyte with new, and recharge it as needed, and although it drops SOH on recharge, it always goes back to 100% everytime and I can leave it over the winter in -0 temperatures and it always goes back to 100% SOH and only gradually dischages its charge over weeks.
How are you testing it?
it always goes back to 100% everytime
It's impossible for a 5 year old battery to have 100% SOH, despite what your chinese tester tells you. Then lead plates deplete. Especially if you're throwing away the solution with the PbSO4 ions. Replacing electrolyte is not a thing.
Just a normal Autool voltmeter like Scotty has. It's outside of the car and I haven't used it. In a nice warm environment. Tried charging it yesterday, took the transport/vent plugs out, and when it was done charging I left it for 12 hours and it dropped to 63% SOH and was still at 98% SOC. But the 63% didn't improve in over 12 hours. In comparison, my 4 year old Toyota Battery is at 84% SOH and will drop to 70% or so after a charge, but will come up again to 80-82% after 6-12 hours or so.
Then I've got my 5+ year old JDM car battery that's at 100% SOH all the time. Winter, -5 temps it doesn't care. I'm replacing the 4 year old battery as I remember Scotty Kilmer saying when they start to get old and lose their charge they will burden the alternator.
So over a couple of days of working on the car and just driving it on ramps in the driveway I tested both batteries for real world comparisons in the car. The old Toyota battery started the car x5 times and was slightly hard to start on the fifth. The new battery started the car x3 times and was harder to start on the third. This was also reflected in the readings from the battery recharger.
The new battery also dropped to 61% SOH & 97% SOC on recharge (reading 'replace battery') and on imidiately installing seemed harder to restart after I drove it a short distance, which was in line with the older batteries I've had with diesel engines in the past.
So I'm going to assume the battery tester may not be an elite soldier but it seems to be pointing me in the right direction. And I'll carry on using the older Toyota battery until I can physically test a new one in a shop.