#BATTERY TESTER PDF#
pdf version of the owner’s manual (for the BT100, courtesy of Schumacher).īasically, you connect the tester, read the voltage, then start the bike and see if the voltage drops. I won’t go through the entire instruction set, which is pretty basic anyway. So for that reason alone, this battery tester is pretty much out of contention. I’m not sure why they need such big clamps, but anyway, that’s what you get. The ground/negative terminal on the Versys is semi-hidden under the rear fuel tank mount, so the Brobdingnagian ground clamp can’t get a purchase on the terminal with these monster-sized clamps. Impossible as in the webBikeWorld 2015 Kawasaki Versys 650 LT Project Bike (Blog). Let’s just say that clamping these babies on a petite motorcycle battery is difficult at best and impossible most of the time. I didn’t realize this until I tried it on a motorcycle for the first time. They’re made by and for Godzilla’s Peterbilt battery. However, the biggest problem with this tester is the size of the clamps. And it will smoke the first 2-3 times it’s used, as the coating or something burns off the resistance coil. Which brings up a caution: this thing gets hot, so be careful. This one basically tests “static” battery voltage and then it acts as a crude load tester so you can see if there’s any voltage drop when you start the bike.Īctually, I thought at first that it was a real load tester - something that can be connected to the battery to run a battery (hah!) of stress tests to get a good check on the battery’s health.īut in fact, it’s just a resistance-type tester, with a big resistance coil underneath those vents. In fact, I think you’re better off with a cheap multimeter, because it’s much more useful and it can do a heck of a lot more when you’re messing around with motorcycles.
But, a vehicle battery is pretty much a vehicle battery, whether it’s a car, motorcycle, ATV, etc.Īnd while we’re in disclaimer mode, as far as I can tell, there really isn’t anything you can do with this battery tester that you can’t do with a multimeter. See Also: More Motorcycle Battery & Charger Reviews & Favorite Productsįirst of all, it’s important to know that this tester was not specifically designed for motorcycles. So let’s take a real quick look to see whether it’s worth a shot.
For one thing, it comes with huge terminal clamps, which are difficult to use on a motorcycle, as I discovered.īut it should work with any powersports battery over about 175 CCA (Cold Cranking Amps), which means motorcycles, ATVs, lawn equipment and more. Somebody slaps their brand name sticker on it and calls it done.Īnd by the way, this battery tester was designed for cars, not motorcycles. Schumacher makes full-on battery chargers (yes, I have one of those also) and other value-priced electrical testing equipment.Īnd the NOCO brand name is familiar to motorcyclists we reviewed the NOCO Genius G750 maintenance battery charger not too long ago.īut this generic battery tester and its clones are probably all made in the same Chinese factory. This one is the Tractor Supply “Traveller” brand, but it’s also known as the Schumacher BT-100 the NOCO BTE118 the Milton 1260 as well as a half-dozen other brand names. I wasn’t quite sure what it could do or why I needed it, but it looked pretty cool.Īnd the price… OK, I’m a checkout-line sucker, I’ll admit it.Īnyway, I thought maybe it was some type of heavy-duty load tester?Ĭome to find out that this particular type of battery tester is a very generic device and it’s sold under a whole bunch of brand names. They were having a big sale and it was $17.95 and I was on the checkout line so I thought “Why not?” It seemed like a pretty good deal. I found this “Traveller” brand 100 amp battery tester at the local Tractor Supply farm store.