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Multi-meter settings. DCV-20 vs. Battery load-20V.

Carter Turk

Carter Turk

Forum Sage
Charter Member
Went for my first ride in about a month on the Kat. New stator, rectifier and battery.
Didn't start as usual, starter motor seemed slow, brushes and plate renewed recently.
12.46V at rest. Bumped it and off on 50 mile ride.
Cold, high 30's, saw some slush on some of the shady corners.
I stopped once after riding a bit (40 miles), thumbed the starter button at it started easily.
Since the bike was giving me "the business" when I left, I didn't do any electrical tests.
When I returned to the garage I checked dcv-20 on the meter with a reading of 13.35V engine off.
When I set the multi-meter to Battery load 20V a reading of 13.06V showed.
Can anyone explain the difference between these 2 settings?
Or was I supposed to use the Battery setting when the bike is running? Thanks
 
usually load test is done while cutting out the ignition. crank without engine actually being able to start. you did it right with the voltage check. oh yeah, you are not supposed to do a load check with charging system running....thought I would say that.
 
What mulitmeter do you have that has a battery load setting? :-k

I would not think that a (handheld?) multimeter could put enough of a load on a battery to test it properly.
The only load testers I have seen have a resistive load, so are rather large, much larger than any multimeter I have seen.

.
 
There are a lot of new in expensive battery load testers that operate at high frequency putting low impedance loads across the battery but only for a short period. While under load, you measure voltage and current and compare that to resting voltage to get effective internal resistance of the source. The question is what do you do to display the information back as a voltage? Maybe they assume full scale amp load and give the equivalent voltage under such a load without doing it on a continuous basis.
someone should read their manual.
 
Last edited:
Steve said:
What mulitmeter do you have that has a battery load setting? :-k

I would not think that a (handheld?) multimeter could put enough of a load on a battery to test it properly.
The only load testers I have seen have a resistive load, so are rather large, much larger than any multimeter I have seen.

.
Click to expand...

It's a Innova 3310 (www.iEquus.com) Multi-meter has a green labeled area 12V-1.5V + DCA 2m-20m-200m. (BAT. load test)
 
Carter Turk said:
Who would that someone be?

I been told never to "should" a person.
It's difficult to do when consciously thinking about it.
Click to expand...



No one else can read the manual for the undisclosed product now can they? Clearly it is a rhetorical proposition not even a question; one that is designed to illuminate the situation. Should we all think that is bad? Enlightenment?

If you come here asking questions, should we believe that we should not answer those questions lest we tell you what you "should" do?

I think you are proceeding to dig your hole deeper than it already is.
 
I'm glad there's a place to ask questions and more intelligent people to answer them, if they choose.
Just about every electrical question I've asked here, someone has been willing to give advice, all much appreciated.
 
Not sure how that meter works. Apparently it is no longer available, so there is no chance of seeing one in action.

Back to your original question: since we don't know exactly how that meter works, why not just stick with the tried-and-true method of simply measuring the voltage. In Posplayr's "Quick Test", there are easy tests that use known sources and loads, so just use them for consistency.

Your 13.35 right after a ride sounds just a little high, but not that bad. Instead of using the "Batt. Load" feature on your meter, keep it in the volts mode, but turn your ignition ON and see what happens. Then turn the lights ON and see what happens. If you get results similar to what you saw with the "Load" feature, you might get an idea how relevant the information might be. Otherwise, we will ALL be guessing.

.
 
Thanks Steve,

I've usually used the DCV to check battery voltage, but recently tried to measure with the battery 12V load side, thinking maybe I was supposed to be doing that the whole time.
The load side gave a smaller reading (.29V), so thats what prompted the question.
 
Well, nobody else on the forum seems to have a meter with a load function, so just use the regular volt scale like everybody else. And, it is logical that the voltage would be lower with a load on the system, the problem seems to be that the "load" in an unknown quantity.

I have a carbon pile load for testing car batteries. It puts about a 100-amp load on the system. I have tried it for a few seconds on a bike battery, boy, does it draw it down FAST.

Maybe you can do some testing, as I suggested earlier, to see how the meter's load corresponds with a known, actual, load, like ignition coils and lights.

Let us know what you find.

.
 
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