The first thing to do is make sure you can access the two terminals on the top of the battery.
How to check car battery health with multimeter.
Touch the red probe to the positive terminal and the black probe to the negative terminal.
How to use a multimeter to test a car battery.
Testing a car battery using your digital multimeter testing the voltage.
How to check car battery with multimeter.
If the initial reading is around 5v then your battery is working but is about to go bad.
How to test a car battery.
If your car battery is causing problems or you have an issue with dim headlights or delayed ignition a multimeter can come to the rescue.
First a multimeter only works on maintenance free batteries the kind without plastic caps on the individual cells the other type must be tested with a hydrometer.
Before you learn how to test a car battery there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
Set the dial to 20 which will allow you to accurately measure between 0 20 volts.
Test the cold cranking amps cca of a car battery with a multimeter in the above image the reading is 14 73 which is also a good number for the cold cranking amps value.
You can use a multimeter to find out if your battery has enough charge.
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.
The first test with your multimeter will measure dc voltage indicated with a solid line and a dashed line above a letter v.
Testing a battery with a multimeter is a simple process.
Second you should only test a battery after it s been sitting unused for at least an hour.
Fortunately you can check the state of charge of your battery using an inexpensive multimeter.
This product can also be used to check the health of heavy duty car batteries or alternators.
How to check a car battery with a multimeter.
You think the battery is your problem but you re not sure.
This test will reveal whether or not your battery is fully charged.