Cheap battery load tester?

[HarryT]

Mgray70;
The Harbor Freight unit is good for a one cart owner. I went through 3 of them in a year testing our fleet. The shaft goes through an thin aluminum threaded plate that pushes down on the carbon pile. After testing a bunch of batteries the threads strip and you can't buy another plate.
I have been using the steep hills and volt meter for the last couple of years and it works best. You may have to run up the hill many times before the bad battery drops down. I usually wait until someone complains that the cart has slowed down before I test.
Harry

[scottyb]

Speed up the test process by inviting as many BIG friends as possible to ride along

[yurtle]

And load up the dead carbon piles in back. Make them earn their keep.

[Cobra,1]

When I was testing my unknown battery condition on the used cart I bought.
It passed the the full charge at rest pack voltage and separate battery voltage test. However when driving it up minor grades and hills it would drop below 40 volts(48volt cart) under load according to fluke Volt meter connected to pack while driving. After rest recovered to 48.0 before charging.After 40 minute drive time.
I used this test to determine 5 year old batteries needed replacement.
Was this not a prober accurate “load test” of batteries ?
Trying to learn 😊
Thanks

[HarryT]

I test the whole pack and if it drops below 44 volts, I suspect at least one weak battery so I then check the batteries one at a time to find the weak ones.
I then individually charge the bad ones and repeat test. If it has more than 2, I replace all the batteries.
Harry

[catmcaw]

What is the point you consider a battery bad while testing? Maybe something like a drop below 10 volts?

[yurtle]

For me, I just made sure they were all about the same, and drove it until it failed to suit my needs. I got nine years to the month out of mine. Hill climbing became very slow, but it never left me stranded, due to bad batteries. I'm sure a real load test would have said I was due for replacement a lot sooner than I did it.

NOTE: stock DCS controllers are known to fry if the voltage drops too low. I had a series, so voltage drop wasn't a concern for me.

[cgtech]

If they drop 42.0v while accelerating, they either are discharged, or there is problems with one or more battery. So, if that happens right after charging, you have battery problems.