Checking Car Battery Voltage With Multimeter

How to check a car battery with a multimeter.

Checking car battery voltage with multimeter.

Set the dial to 20. For readings that are over 12 5 volts it means that your battery is fully charged and it is in good condition. The battery ratings vary a lot from car to car but choosing 15 20 volt is good enough. How to check car battery with multimeter.

Load test a car battery using a multimeter. Any reading of voltage below 9 5 volts or if the battery holds a good record for a while and steadily drops or even when it falls instantly to 0 volts then it means there is a problem and the battery. You can use a multimeter to find out if your battery has enough charge. Using your multimeter you want to measure dc voltage this is indicated with a solid line and a dashed line above a letter v.

Set the dial to 20 which will allow you to accurately measure between 0 20 volts. Allow us to give you a piece of advice here you should keep the headlights on for a few minutes before checking the battery. The temperature outside affects the voltage of the battery. How to test a car battery.

At about 80 degrees a fully charged battery will be around 12 5 12 6 volts. In modern vehicles a load test is a better way to tell if your battery is good or needs to be replaced. To be more specific. This will allow you to accurately measure 0 20 volts.

Touch the red probe to the positive terminal and the black probe to the negative terminal. The first test with your multimeter will measure dc voltage indicated with a solid line and a dashed line above a letter v. We selected 20v before proceeding to measure the level. A fully charged battery ideally measures at 12 66 volts and above but 12 6 volts at 80 degrees 12 588 degrees at 30 degrees and 12 516 volts at 0 degrees are.

Connect the multimeter probes to the car battery. With the headlights on at 80 f there should be a voltage drop of at least 11 8 volts 25 charged and ideally 12 5 volts between the positive and negative terminals. A car battery s voltage is dependent on the outside temperature so assuming it s 27 degrees celsius here s what you should make of the readings you see on the multimeter display.