What is the best method of testing a battery?
Although the ‘drop testers’ or ‘spikes’ are still used in some areas for testing a battery, it is now commonly thought that this actually harms a good battery. The main reason for this is that the ‘shock’ and drain that a drop tester causes a battery can actually disturb some of the active material on the plates within. It is the active material pasted onto the plates in conjunction with the chemical reaction with the battery’s sulphuric acid which gives the battery its electrical charge and power. It has been said that a drop tester could even possibly cause a break in circuit or even a dead cell – these are not guaranteed outcomes but views of some experienced battery handlers. Nowadays with the introduction of completely sealed batteries, something as simple as a voltmeter or circuit tester can tell you the basic health of a battery. A good battery should always read somewhere between 12.4 and 13 volts. A voltage reading between 12 and 12.4 volts requires a recharge with no long ter
