Help! Battery being drained periodically, can't figure it out

[heymccall]

This one (manufacturer's page) http://www.esitest.com/720.html
Electronic Specialties 720
Ebay has the one I pictured for $106.
I paid $85 for mine 7 years ago.

If there is one drawback, it's the simplicity.
When connected, you get the voltage reading.
Press "enter"
SAE comes up, press enter again (if testing an SAE battery, as most are)
Press "enter" again, and 500 shows on the screen.
At this point, you have to use the UP arrow to, not so quickly, get to the number to match your CCAs.
Press "enter" again for the results.

The complaint (and it's a minor one) is that it takes so damned long to get to 1100 when testing larger batteries, especially when testing a pallet full.

Again, it has NEVER been wrong, EVER.


Just tested two new Deka batteries here, @750 CCA ea, got 788CCA on one and 791CCA on the other.
Beings that most everything has two or for batteries, it comes in really handy for doing something that EVERYONE says not to do, and that's mix old and new batteries. If they CCA within 30 of each other, I'll mix batteries, with good results, all day long.


BTW, I just now found out that it has a 9Volt battery in the back. Duh.

[k9duramax]

Cool, thanks! That's a pet peeve of mine as well with the scrolling up- even going to 750-800 CCA is kind of a hassle; but all things considered I guess it's worth it in the end!

[Tom S.]

It's $111.30 at amazon with free shipping.

ESI 720 Digital Battery Tester : Amazon.com : Automotive

ESI 720 Digital Battery Tester : Amazon.com : Automotive

[BIF1]

Originally Posted by heymccall

Any tester (of value) will post the actual CCAs of the battery.....not it's voltage. Old school carbon pile loader tester are not reliable enough to test marginal batteries.

My local Napa, O'Reilly, and Autozone all have the same tester. They just put a load on it and tell you if its bad or good. They don't read CCAs. Like I said, the O'Reilly tester said the batteries were "BAD". I guess I don't mind dropping $300 on new batteries, if in fact I knew that to be the issue, but wish I could find someone to confirm that yes in fact the batteries are bad........

There's a well known auto electric shop in town, but its way across town. Might try to make it over there soon....

[JC1843]

If the batteries are around 3 years old, just replace them-- that is the normal life anyway.

[BIF1]

Originally Posted by JC1843

If the batteries are around 3 years old, just replace them-- that is the normal life anyway.

They are a little less than 2 years old. Manufacturing sticker says Jan 2011

They are Les Schwab batteries, they were in the truck when I bought it. I called Les Schwab and they won't warranty them without the original paperwork, which I didn't get. So no waranty on them.

[Tom S.]

Originally Posted by JC1843

If the batteries are around 3 years old, just replace them-- that is the normal life anyway.

If you didn't have so many posts, I'd accuse you of being a troll. 3 years the average life? BS. My factory Delco's were 6 years old when I replaced them - and they are still being used elsewhere. My daughter got nearly 10 years out of her Delco before I had to replace it. Strangely, the only battery I've had die in less than 5 years was an Optima. Nor do I live in a climate that is battery friendly. If your batteries are only lasting 3 years, you have a problem.

[diesail]

Originally Posted by Tom S.

If you didn't have so many posts, I'd accuse you of being a troll. 3 years the average life? BS. My factory Delco's were 6 years old when I replaced them - and they are still being used elsewhere. My daughter got nearly 10 years out of her Delco before I had to replace it. Strangely, the only battery I've had die in less than 5 years was an Optima. Nor do I live in a climate that is battery friendly. If your batteries are only lasting 3 years, you have a problem.

I have said it many times before and I will say it again. The life of a battery is directly related to how it is used (or not used). Buy me a battery and I will kill it for you in a month if you would like, or I can keep it good for 15+ years. It is all about the discharge cycles and the depth of them. The life is exponentially related to the discharge cycles, if you only discharge it slightlyh and charge it it will last a long time, if you discharge it greatly it will last a short time. What most people do not take into consideration is a battery just sitting will self discharge, in four months it will be dead. Now attach it to a truck and it will be dead in 2 months. Repeat and it will be toast in no time.

So the fact that the batteries are only 20 months old mean nothing unless you can tell me what they did for the past 20 months. And in this case I am betting they sat.

[BIF1]

Originally Posted by diesail

I have said it many times before and I will say it again. The life of a battery is directly related to how it is used (or not used). Buy me a battery and I will kill it for you in a month if you would like, or I can keep it good for 15+ years. It is all about the discharge cycles and the depth of them. The life is exponentially related to the discharge cycles, if you only discharge it slightlyh and charge it it will last a long time, if you discharge it greatly it will last a short time. What most people do not take into consideration is a battery just sitting will self discharge, in four months it will be dead. Now attach it to a truck and it will be dead in 2 months. Repeat and it will be toast in no time.

So the fact that the batteries are only 20 months old mean nothing unless you can tell me what they did for the past 20 months. And in this case I am betting they sat.

I bought the truck in July of 2011. Batteries were manufactured in Janurary 2011, so they could have been in the truck for anywhere up to 6 months. The guy I bought the truck from did say he didn't drive it much anymore. Since I bought it (17 months ago) I have not driven it a ton, but its never sat more than a week without being started. So all the sitting would have been the 6 or some months before I bought it. I don't really care who's right here, I just hope to get a definitive answer before I drop money on the wrong thing.........

[ieetgluu]

Sounds about right. I bought a truck a month ago with batteries dated 1/12 and 2/12. They seem to both be in bad shape, and the PO said he didnt drive it much. Carfax showed he put about 4000 miles on it last year(between inspections). However, my issue is that he supposedly had a dieing truck before he replaced the batteries, and now it does the same thing. I wonder if his first set went to sh*t from not driving it much, then the next set the same thing. hmm