This is a great gadget, and it really works. A little arm swings up to accommodate the battery, you place it between the two points, and the easy to read display tells you instantly whether you have a dud, or if you can eke out another few minutes of battery life. Best of all, it can fit in your pocket, so you take it anywhere you have battery operated equipment.
One side of it handles AA, AAA, C and D batteries, and on the other side, there are two buttons for testing those pesky 9 volt batteries, so you'll have no more tingling tongues from the old fashioned "tongue between the terminals" checking method.
Don't expect any fancy packaging, or even the same color as advertised (mine is a dull yellow), but if you have kids and/or lots of battery operated gizmos and gadgets, you'll need one of these - and at the price, why not?
Amanda Richards, August 17, 2005 Sinometer BT558 Self-powered Battery Tester
The problem with this battery tester is that it only checks for voltage remaining in a battery. Even a 90% used battery can show nearly full rated voltage. It is only when a load is placed on the battery that a true assessment is possible.
For example, a dead alkaline battery and a fully charged rechargable battery (NiMH full charge = 1.2 volts) both read the same low (yellow).
Look for one of the more expensive units that tests under load.
It works! And it saves me tons of money, lots of kids, lots of electronics , lots of batteries everywhere. Now I know which ones can be saved and which to recycle. I covered my cost already the first use!
I'll be ordering more of these as little Christmas gifts for family. I like to give obscure yet very functional items, and this fits that description. It's very useful! Compact and handy!
Now I can safely throw away a couple of electronic items that don't work anymore without worrying whether I had tried replacing the batteries or whether the replacement batteries are working.
The Battery Tester tests button batteries too! The product description wasn't too clear about that -- I think it shows up in one of the product photos. The arm lifts and lowers to adjust to the different battery sizes. It's great that it doesn't require a battery itself!
This tester can identify a totally dead battery, but it can't distinguish a 90% spent battery from a fresh one---both will read "good". In some very low drain applications, like a clock, a relatively spent battery will work, but in many higher drain applications it won't. My electric toothbrush, for example, will stop working with batteries that still read "good" using this tester. When testing batteries from a flashlight where the light is so dim anyone would say that the batteries are "dead", this tester shows that the batteries reach the "good" zone. I've actually never seen this tester report a battery in the yellow "low" zone. You can use this tester to determine whether a battery can still be used for very-low-voltage applications, but in most cases it's useless.
Alkaline batteries are designed to continue to deliver 1.5 volts right until they're exhausted, even though there may be very little reserve power left in the battery. Think of a battery as a huge steel water tank, with a small spigot at the bottom of it that is barely open, allowing just a trickle of water to come out all the time. If you look at the trickle coming out, how full is the tank? You have no way of knowing. If all you need is a trickle, you really don't need to know how full it is. But if you need to open the spigot to get a strong stream of water, you need to have enough water in the tank to provide pressure. Seeing the trickle doesn't tell you how much you'll get when you open the spigot.
This tester can only tell you that the battery is capable of producing a trickle; it says "good" for any battery that has even a drop of power left in it. Just like the tank, that may be good enough if all you need is a few drops, but if you need to open the spigot further and get some real flow going, this tester is incapable of telling you whether the battery has that capacity or not.
I was really excited about this product, and when it arrived I tried it out immediately. Unfortunately, none of my brand new batteries ever scored in the yellow or green - it's like the tester couldn't register that high. I have tested them again with a new different battery tester which worked properly and it was a much different experience. I'm not sure if the one that was sent to me was just a bad egg, or if they are all too cheaply made to work properly.
Very useful meter. It checks all small battery types even the button types. This is something everyone should have... Simple to use...
Makes a great inexpensive gift that anyone would love...
I bought two of them, one for the shop and one for the house..
Had one of these in the past that got lost in a recent move. Couldn't find a replacement locally so was thrilled to find it here on Amazon. We go through a lot of batteries around our place and the kids seem to throw them away waaay too fast. This allows me to double check them for strength before they hit the trash and saves me tons of money. A toy with 8 batteries could stop working due to one bad battery (hence one gone and 7 saved). I have found accuracy of readings to be right on. Nice small unit- doesn't require another power source to operate.
This battery tester is not very accurate. Most of the AA batteries that I test fall under the good range, even when it needs to be recharged.
It is also a little tricky to clamp battery being tested.
I am not satisfied with this product. - Battery Testers - Battery - 9v - Aaa'
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