Conductance-style battery testers?

[Whoaru99]

Anyone having or using a conductance-style battery tester, do you find they're good/reliable at telling you the battery condition?

Or, is there nothing like a good, old-school load test?

[jmd1]

Medtronic's is the one i used for the fire dept.  We would test each battery 6 per truck at every service.  You do have to make sure you have a good connection, you can fake the device to think the battery is bad if not.  I liked it because if i had a warranty issue, i could print out a ticket on the load and provide my testing method.  Good luck.  

[Jeremy airjer W]

It is all we I have used for the last 10 years or so. The Vat is great for determining a batteries ability under load but the conductance is great at telling you the condition of the battery.

[Whoaru99]

We have one of those at work so I borrowed it and it showed the battery should be replaced. After further digging, I found out the battery was only 3 yrs old (Interstate Megatron MT-34) so I was a little skeptical of the result and because it seemed to take a good charge.

Problem was the battery got too low to start the van after 3 - 4 days of not driving. Charging voltage with all accessories and lights on was strong 14.6V. Parasitic draw settled down to ~38mA after 5 minutes, give or take, after key off. There was no further drop (nor rise) checking 1/2 hour later. So, all that seemed OK.

Since the battery was still in warranty,  brought it to the local Interstate dealer and they tested it with a similar tester. Theirs showed the same result so they prorated it. Walked out with a new battery for roughly $70.

Will see how it goes over the weekend.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Whoaru99

[BoxMN]

I have a Solar BA7 and it seems to work very well, and easy to use. I do not do this for a living, so not can't say for sure how good it really is, but the reviews are pretty good on it from the big A store. It is nice and small too.