What can batteries do in your car?
Car batteries, an extremely important component in your vehicle, are vital for the normal operation of the electrical systems in your car. You need it when starting your car, turning on the air conditioner, washing the windshield on rainy days and turning on the headlights at night.
However, its health status is one of the easiest aspects that vehicle maintenance often overlooks. The unexpected dead battery can be a huge problem, especially on the road and in cold days. A car battery tester is a fast and efficient way to test your battery, ensuring it’s in good working condition before you start the engine.
What’s a battery tester?
A battery tester is an electronic device intended for testing the state of an electric battery, going from a simple device for testing the charge actually present in the cells and/or its voltage output, to a more comprehensive testing of the battery's condition, namely its capacity for accumulating charge and any possible flaws affecting the battery's performance and security.
Why and when should you test your battery?
Since you may need to use the electrical systems in your car constantly, it is crucial that you check the condition of your car battery from time to time to prevent your car from being stranded in the parking lot when you need it. There are some obvious symptoms for a failing battery. Whenever you notice the starter motor cranking the engine unusually slow, maybe that’s a sign to check the condition of your car batteries before it’s too late. Sometimes you can tell by the illuminated battery/charging warning lamp on the dashboard. Dimmed headlights is another indicator of battery problems.
To avoid being stranded due to a battery problem, it’s recommended to have the battery inspected frequently and make sure the cables are clean and tight. If you’ve already used a battery for around three years, you may need to test it annually. The test will help identify if the battery has reached a point where a replacement is needed to prevent an unwanted failure.
Three main factors that affect your car’s battery life
A car’s battery life is affected by three main factors: time, heat and vibration.
Car batteries age over time. Even in ideal operation scenarios, it’s common that batteries will deteriorate gradually as time goes by, which leads to its failure to provide enough power to start the engine as it should. Different usage behaviors also contribute to battery aging.
Heat also speeds up the rate of battery degradation. It’s reported that a battery may last around five years or longer in cool weather. To last a longer life, some automakers install batteries outside the engine compartment, like under the trunk floor.
Frequent vibration leads to the breakdown of a battery’s internal parts. Therefore, special tie down hardware is used to secure batteries in the right place to prevent them from moving around. To some extent, the hardware can help lessen the impact of vibration.
Important indicators that reveal the health of your car battery
If you need to do a battery test for your vehicle, there are several indicators you may need to refer to.
The top indicator of a battery health is its capacity, representing its energy storage. Theoretically speaking, a new battery should deliver its full capacity, which indicates end of battery life.
State of charge (SoC) is the level of charge of an electric battery relative to its capacity. The units of SoC are percentage points (0% = empty; 100% = full). SoC is normally used when discussing the current state of a battery in use.
State of health (SoH) is a figure of merit of the condition of a battery (or a cell, or a battery pack), compared to its ideal conditions. The units of SoH are percent points (100% = the battery's conditions match the battery's specifications).
A battery’s SoH will be 100% before it’s used and will decrease gradually due to time and use.
What can a car battery from OTOFIX do?
If you notice your vehicle has symptoms of a deteriorating battery and you are ready to do a test for your car battery, OTOFIX BT1 is the go-to battery tester to fulfill your goals.
OTOFIX BT1, an intelligent and efficient tester, features accurate battery diagnostics, extensive vehicle detection coverage, and highly efficient automatic recognition methods.
Designed with convenience and user-friendliness in mind, OTOFIX BT1 is ultra-lightweight, intelligent, and easy-to-use with a large and easy-to-read screen. It also supports 15 languages, including English, Chinese, Italian and Korean. It is compatible with multiple battery types, including Flooded, AGM and AGM Spiral.
Compacted with a solid set of features, OTOFIX BT1 accurately detects low-capacity batteries and recognizes potential battery problems in advance, quickly detects batteries under voltage and reduces battery retest, diagnoses low capacity batteries, and supports diagnostics for all-systems, including the read/erase codes and live data functions. This diagnostic feature is one of the key features that make it stand out among other products.
You can register a battery on it too. Its all-in-one 53-system battery registration and diagnostics feature reduces your costs and needs for extra equipment. You can register batteries in one click and reset electrical systems with step-by-step instructions, greatly improving garage efficiency.
You can refer to the latest battery detection report in the history app when needed.
Its smart system detection methods, AutoVIN and Scan VIN, automatically identify battery parameters, freeing you from manual input. Use the graphic instructions to view battery position and the guided battery replacement procedure with prompted memory reset to help you replace batteries.
Compared with other products on the market, OTOFIX BT1 improves bad battery test accuracy rates to 100%, diagnoses low-capacity batteries quickly, reduces the need for battery charging and reduces the chances of misdiagnosis with an accuracy rate at 95%.
Its battery registration covers 53 vehicle makes, which far exceeds most products.
