How can I check the car battery charge at home?

The battery is the most important thing in any car. It is this element that gives the starting current to the starter. It is thanks to the battery that a quick and trouble-free engine starts. But it does not always happen. In order not to experience difficulties with starting, you need to periodically check its charge level. There are several ways to do this.

How can I check the car battery charge at home? The answer to this question you will find further in our article.

Methods

There are several ways how to check the car battery's charge:

• on the indicator;
• with a fork;
• multimeter;
• by measuring the density of the electrolyte.

Each of them has its own characteristics. Let's consider the listed methods in more detail.

Built-in indicator

Most imported batteries havebuilt-in indicator on which you can check the charge. For the first time such batteries appeared in Japan. Then European manufacturers began to practice a similar chip.

What is its essence? On the battery cover there is a transparent window (a peephole). If you look at it, you can see that it is painted green. But it does not always happen. The green tint in the window will only be if the battery is fully charged. If the window is transparent or white, then the battery has lost part of the charge. The worst case is a black window. In this case, the battery has sat down "to zero", and it needs to be urgently charged.

For information, this is one of the easiest wayshow to check the battery power of the car without a voltmeter and other devices. After all, all you need is to open the hood and look into that very window. But it is worth noting that such an eye is not on all batteries (especially if it concerns domestic). Therefore, to determine the level of charge, you need to know other methods.

Load fork

This is perhaps the most professional waycheck the battery status. Usually this method is used in SRT. What is its essence? The device is connected to the battery terminals and gives a short-circuit current.

That is, the load plug simulates the workstarter and shows how many volts the battery accumulates when the driver tries to start the engine. To date, this is the most accurate scheme for checking the condition of the battery. To correctly read the readings, remember that after the load, the voltage on the battery must be at least 10 volts. If the battery sinks to 9 or lower, then it is already weak. Such a battery will be quickly discharged in winter.

We use a multimeter

It is an indispensable device that must beevery motorist. It allows not only to check the voltage level of the battery, but also the resistance of the sensors, the load of the on-board network in real time and many other important parameters. You can buy this device for 300-700 rubles, which is 2-3 times cheaper than the load fork. It is very easy to use this device.

How can I check the vehicle's battery charge with a multimeter? To begin with, it is necessary to assemble it. We perform the following actions:

• We connect two wires with positive and negative polarity to the corresponding connectors.
• At the ends of the wires are probes. We put them on the battery terminals.
• Pre-set the device in the voltage measurement mode and set the rotary switch to 20 volts.
• We connect the terminals of the multimeter to the battery and look at the result. In this case, the ignition of the car must be turned off.

Read the data from the multimeter

Which indicator is normal for the battery? Specialists note that a fully charged battery should produce a voltage of at least 12.5 volts. In case the multimeter showed the figure exactly 12V, then the battery is half discharged. The fact that the battery needs to be urgently charged is indicated by an indicator of 11.5 Volts and below.

Electrolyte

There is another way to checkcharge the car battery with your own hands. Especially it is relevant in the run-up to winter. As is known, with a drop in temperature, the density of the electrolyte decreases. Accordingly, the charge and performance of the battery decrease. How can I check the vehicle's battery charge? For this we need a hydrometer. Below is the detailed instruction:

• So, open the hood and use a minus screwdriver to unscrew the battery banks alternately. There are only 6 of them.
• We immerse our hydrometer inside and wait until it is filled with electrolyte.
• Then we take out the device and look at the readings.
• After a short time, the floatwill pop up to the desired level. There will be several divisions on the scale. The normal value is 1.23-1.27 grams per cubic centimeter. If the density of the electrolyte is 1.2 grams, then the battery is discharged by about a quarter. The deep discharge is indicated by an index of 1.1 and less gram per cubic centimeter.

It is also worth checking the level of electrolyte in each of the "cans". If it is insufficient, it should be resumed. This can be done with distilled water (it is also diluted with a cooling liquid).

Do not ignore the insufficient level of electrolytein the battery. This can cause frequent loss of charge and shedding of lead plates. As a result, the battery will become unusable, and with any attempts to recharge, the liquid will boil.

How do I check the battery power of the car charger?

On each storage device there is a scale definingbattery voltage. In the absence of a multimeter, loading fork and hydrometer, you can use it. How can I check the vehicle's battery charge in this way?

It's very simple - we connect the memory card terminals to the battery terminals and press the test button. It is not necessary to connect the device to the outlet - in this case it will charge, and the readings will not be lower than 13 Volts.

Can I charge at home?

In the absence of a garage,recharging batteries in the apartment. But it's better to do it on the balcony. During this process, the electrolyte releases harmful to human sulfur dioxide and oxygen chloride. Drowsiness and nausea may occur if inhaled. Therefore, we charge in the most remote and well ventilated room. Also, monitor the state of the electrolyte.

You can not allow the battery to boil. This reduces its resource. On average, a 60-ampere battery is charged for 7-8 hours. At the same time, it is necessary to set the minimum current to the memory. For the battery, stress loads are harmful. If the battery takes a long time to charge, or one of the cans boils in half an hour, then it has become unusable.

Finally

So, we figured out how to check the chargecar battery. One of the simplest ways is a multimeter. As for the hydrometer, this is a preventive measure. Yes, with such a device it is possible to measure the "rest of life" of the battery. But, for the most part, it is a diagnostic device (equivalent to a load fork). Therefore, each device is good in its own way.