Want to purchase a carbon pile:

[1693TA]

What do you guys use for testing batteries? When working I had a Ferret and it worked very well but too feature rich to justify for my lonesome use. Largest batteries I see any longer are groups 8D, 4D, and 31. Of course automotive batteries also. I built a little load bank and can test for ah draw and RC, but wanting to look at raw cranking amps.

I see several brands available, FJC, Clore, Solar, etc. many which appear to be produced by the same manufacturer and repackaged.

Thanks,

 

[Coaldust]

I use a capacitance tester. Midtronics is the standard, but way overpriced. The China knockoffs are surprisingly comparable, such as the Solar and Clore branded ones

I wish there was a quality made carbon pile available. The Chinese carbon piles you mentioned are really cheesy. I purchased a few when I was teaching at the University, but the students destroyed them almost immediately

Associated used to make a decent unit. Availably is slim and they are ridiculously priced. There were a couple places refurbishing and selling the Sun Vat28 & Vat40. That may be an option.

There are certain times where a carbon pile tester is very nice to have.

 

[Coaldust]

Cat used to sell a compact, portable,carbon pile with two cables and ammeter. It came in a green metal enclosure and had a hefty amp rating. I haven’t seen one in years.

I see Cat has a part number for a bench top unit. Looks like it’s made by Allied. CAT 4C4911 . That might be worthwhile to investigate. eBay perhaps.

 

[1693TA]

I had a VAT 28 years ago but it had limitations the Vat 40 addressed. Those used to be in a lot of shops when starters and generators/alternators along with regulators were rebuilt local. Very good machines I'd grab if found reasonable.

 

[Coaldust]

Me too. They have all, but disappeared. I almost scored one, but was a few hours late when the last electrical shop in my area closed.

 

[1693TA]

That Ferret meter was slick. It would do wet cell, AGM, VRLA, and all sorts of battery types. Lot of external sensors to plug into it monitoring ambient temperature, negative battery post temperature, discharge rate, and several other functions I really never needed. Had an Alber' meter to do internal resistance checks and this also worked slick but that test equipment was very high end and expensive. Used to do UPS checks and upgrades, (Uninteruptable Power Supply) backing up processing racks that simply could not go without power so these would carry loading till emergency backup generators took over.

 

[willie59]

I scored a good used Autometer SB5 for $375 from Ebay 20 yrs ago, still use it today.

sb-5 autometer for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for sb-5 autometer at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!

www.ebay.com

 

[1693TA]

Those SB-5 series are what the local Interstate Battery dealer has and uses. They are very reliable and stand up to abuse well. I had two 31P batteries in and tested this morning with them. No problems, just wanted them tested as three years in service this month.

The 11 year old one from my 1845C was replaced as knew it was weak. Not bad in service time with that one but it's kept on a maintainer.

 

[Truck Shop]

Autometer SB5

That's what we used in the shop--old unit but was very reliable.

 

[Truck Shop]

Clore 1000 Amp 6/12/24V Carbon Pile Battery Tester - 1876

Clore 1000 Amp 6/12/24V Carbon Pile Battery Tester - 1876. Usually ships in3 days. Buy it and Save at GlobalIndustrial.com

www.globalindustrial.com

*
Then there is HF.

 

[1693TA]

Clore 1000 Amp 6/12/24V Carbon Pile Battery Tester - 1876

Clore 1000 Amp 6/12/24V Carbon Pile Battery Tester - 1876. Usually ships in3 days. Buy it and Save at GlobalIndustrial.com

www.globalindustrial.com

*
Then there is HF.

Global isn't a bad company. Still use them from time to time. Have looked at that Clore unit and it is right on par with HF in quality and the reason I don't own one. The Associated branded ones are looking appealing to me but am looking for a bit less outlay:

Associated 6036B Battery Load Tester, Carbon Pile, 0-16 Volts DC, 0-1000 Amps

Buy Associated 6036B Battery Load Tester, Carbon Pile, 0-16 Volts DC, 0-1000 Amps with an everyday low price and fast shipping! JB Tools

www.jbtools.com

The same Clore:

Solar 1876 1000 Amp 6/12/24V Carbon Pile Battery Tester

Buy Solar 1876 1000 Amp 6/12/24V Carbon Pile Battery Tester with an everyday low price and fast shipping! JB Tools

www.jbtools.com

I've purchased a lot from JB Tools and they are very reliable to use.

 

[Acoals]

I have the Solar unit that TS linked to. I have been very happy with it.

 

[1693TA]

I have the Solar unit that TS linked to. I have been very happy with it.

I looked at one a local guy had and it had something loose in it and was brand new. No outside damage to the case, or box I could see. Have no idea but think it was sent back for replacement and I've not checked back.

 

[Welder Dave]

Huge price difference between the Clore/Solar and the Associated. I think Solar is generally a pretty decent brand.

 

[1693TA]

A large disparity for certain. Is it worth the difference? I don't really know but Associated has had a good name in professional shops for a lot of years. One of my shop floor battery chargers is Associated and it's every bit of 30 years old and could be 40 as I purchased it used 20+ years ago. Works flawlessly. I have their 800A clamps on my booster cables and they are solid copper jaws. Doesn't take long to jump start a car with those. Little things like that are still very good to have. I also have a Solar shop floor charger from 1972 IIRC given to me not working. I rebuilt all four germanium rectifiers in that one and it works as new. I like that one as it has 6/12/24VDC charge settings. No timer and all manual.

Now all that said, I purchased a 10/2A Associated bench charger and it's a piece of crap, or at least the first one was and this is a replacement. It is however still made here. Decent cables and copper plated steel clamps and it does a good job being fully automatic but is definitely a "Joe Homeowner" special.

I have both 24VDC, and 36VDC "Lester" battery chargers and they are first rate and I can't say that more fair. Excellent support from that small Nebraska company but they don't cater to the retail store sales. Not cheap either but both mine were purchased used from a golf cart repair company. The 24VDC charger had a blown fuse when I got it. Called them up, told them what I had and needed and $16.00 later I had an upgraded fuse and holder setup that looks original to the unit. Nice people to boot telling me to ensure some certain areas were not showing degradation given these things are used a lot outdoors and not protected for that.

 

[Welder Dave]

A large disparity for certain. Is it worth the difference? I don't really know but Associated has had a good name in professional shops for a lot of years. One of my shop floor battery chargers is Associated and it's every bit of 30 years old and could be 40 as I purchased it used 20+ years ago. Works flawlessly. I have their 800A clamps on my booster cables and they are solid copper jaws. Doesn't take long to jump start a car with those. Little things like that are still very good to have. I also have a Solar shop floor charger from 1972 IIRC given to me not working. I rebuilt all four germanium rectifiers in that one and it works as new. I like that one as it has 6/12/24VDC charge settings. No timer and all manual.

Now all that said, I purchased a 10/2A Associated bench charger and it's a piece of crap, or at least the first one was and this is a replacement. It is however still made here. Decent cables and copper plated steel clamps and it does a good job being fully automatic but is definitely a "Joe Homeowner" special.

I have both 24VDC, and 36VDC "Lester" battery chargers and they are first rate and I can't say that more fair. Excellent support from that small Nebraska company but they don't cater to the retail store sales. Not cheap either but both mine were purchased used from a golf cart repair company. The 24VDC charger had a blown fuse when I got it. Called them up, told them what I had and needed and $16.00 later I had an upgraded fuse and holder setup that looks original to the unit. Nice people to boot telling me to ensure some certain areas were not showing degradation given these things are used a lot outdoors and not protected for that.

Maybe you could help me. I have a manual battery charger with a booster that quit working. It was working fine but I was using a generator to power it. Now it has no output and trips the breaker on the generator. I'm wondering if it could be something simple or if there's places you can take a battery charger to get fixed? I got it on sale for $100 quite a few years so it might not be worth trying to fix.

 

[1693TA]

Dead short in the charger someplace. Photos and serial number of the unit is a good place to start. Hopefully not something built by Schumacher of which many consumer chargers are these days. If so, seldom worth repairing.

What does a lot of the lower end chargers in is cranking the engine while the charger is working. This drives the internal currents to "surge" levels becoming almost a dead short in the transformer windings until something melts. This may, or may not be the scenario you have experienced.

Long and short is shut the charger off when cranking the engine if the charger does not have a "Boost" selection on the dial.

 

[Vetech63]

 

[1693TA]

Good ole "Carbon Pile" base ingredients right there. Pulverize it into a powder, mix with an adhesive base and mold into several discs with a hole in the middle for an insulating sleeve, with a nut and bolt to run through, a couple of insulating washers and heavy copper lugs or bar type material to attach leads to and you have a very effective battery load. Squeeze it tighter and the resistance goes lower increasing your current flow through the carbon. Run this output through a shunt resistor to drive a meter and you have basically what we are talking about in the thread in basic form.

 

[1693TA]

This is a pair of spare booster cable ends I keep to cover one of those "Ah Sh^t!" Moments: