Where to buy a descent non-expensive battery tester?

I am looking to buy a non-expensive battery tester (to see if its dead, how much juice is left, etc...). Any recomendations?

I have seen 2 at Radio Shack. Anyone know much about those?

I don't know about the radio shack ones but essentially the more expensive ones could tell you capacity left (estimate) most of the cheaper ones will either have a voltage comparator with colored LEDs for good/weak/dead or a meter and a load to give you a range or a voltage. I have had the colored LEDs, bar graph, analog meter with range and find my last one is the best. It is a digital LCD load tester. it reads up to 12v batteries ( I would think up to 19.99v) and has 3 load settings and is the size of a cigarette lighter and cost me $6 but you can probably find them for around $10.
http://www.eastsuns.com/EN/d.aspx?pht=690

I only have above ground battery testers. None that descend. I expect if you are looking for a burrowing battery tester, it will be expensive.

For cheap I prefer a voltmeter or multimeter. You can get the for $5 to $10 or even less sometimes and the voltage gives you a fair idea with most battery types. Add a low ohm resistor for cheap and you've got a load test meter.

Do you have a Harbor Freight Tools where you live? They have several inexpensive battery testers, including the LED comparator type as well as analog and digital meter types.

LuxLuthor - :twothumbs I lost a little Pepsi after reading your comment.

I don't know what the OP's idea of inexpensive is, but the ZTS mini testers found at lighthound and Battery Junction seem like good choices for under $30.

Well, I don't know what is an above ground or burrowing battery tester, but am lookng for one that handles your run of the mill everyday batteries for flashlights.

I noticed that the ones recomended here & the 2 I saw at Radio Shack, don't measure 3V batteries. Any idea why that is?

As for inexpensive, I was looking for around $15.

prof student said:

Well, I don't know what is an above ground or burrowing battery tester, but am lookng for one that handles your run of the mill everyday batteries for flashlights.

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Lux is having fun with your typo

descent - a downward inclination or slope

decent - adequate; fair; passable

prof student said:

Well, I don't know what is an above ground or burrowing battery tester, but am lookng for one that handles your run of the mill everyday batteries for flashlights.

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It is one that works with coal mining drill equipment when operated on battery backup emergency DC power mode.

prof student said:

Well, I don't know what is an above ground or burrowing battery tester, but am lookng for one that handles your run of the mill everyday batteries for flashlights.

I noticed that the ones recomended here & the 2 I saw at Radio Shack, don't measure 3V batteries. Any idea why that is?

As for inexpensive, I was looking for around $15.

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if you have a paypal account you can get one like I have for about $11 or $12 it is digital and can test from 0 to 19.99v dc with 3 load settings. the readout is numbers and not a gauge which I like the best.

one thing I have noticed on this forum is people asking where to get stuff that don't tell you where they are at.

Lynx_Arc said:

one thing I have noticed on this forum is people asking where to get stuff that don't tell you where they are at.

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Ditto.
I think that it should be a registration requirement to state your location and in simple terms for those of us who are challenged and don't understand the abstract references.

I got this:

http://www.thesource.ca/estore/Prod...2A79AC156B71A0ABA608136F04E3B175C574BD34ACF06

Good enough for my needs.

I also have this:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...hop&sName=Multi-Meters,+Testers+&+Accessories

Works really well too.

He's thinking, "I sure hope this coal dust doesn't wreak havoc on my lungs."

LuxLuthor said:

It is one that works with coal mining drill equipment when operated on battery backup emergency DC power mode.

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Turbo DV8 said:

He's thinking, "I sure hope this coal dust doesn't wreak havoc on my lungs."

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Yeah with the Lucky Strike deftly dangling from his cyanotic lips...I'm sure that's exactly what he is thinking. The most surprising thing is that he is bothering with hearing protection.

LuxLuthor said:

Yeah with the Lucky Strike deftly dangling from his cyanotic lips...

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He sort of looks like Mike Rowe in that photo. :huh:

Re: Where to buy a decent non-expensive battery tester?

Black Rose said:

Lux is having fun with your typo

descent - a downward inclination or slope

decent - adequate; fair; passable

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ugh....i get it now, :shakehead They need speel check on here

Re: Where to buy a decent non-expensive battery tester?

prof student said:

ugh....i get it now, :shakehead They need speel check on here

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use firefox.... built in spell checker

Re: Where to buy a decent non-expensive battery tester?

prof student said:

They need speel check on here

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I have another novel idea. How about a functional education system combined with personal motivation that leaves students with a modicum of rudimentary linguistic skills? We could start with requiring they know how to spell "spell" before moving on to monumental challenges of discerning tricky words like decent/descent, here/hear, or another of my favorites: lose/loose.

Radio Shack

Re: Where to buy a decent non-expensive battery tester?

LuxLuthor said:

another of my favorites: lose/loose.
Radio Shack

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Crap, I still mix these up while typing...
Firefox browser has a half-descent spellchecker, but it will not help much with grammar

BTW, the picture depicts something like a salt mine, the mainer looks too clean (maybe gray-collar manager posing for a picture?)