Check for Battery Leakage Current by Measuring its Voltage
Reasons for Car Battery Failures
There are many reasons a car battery is drained, including normal wear and tear of the battery, alternator failure, and starter malfunction. One other reason is external leakage currents, which can be caused by a number of factors including battery terminal contamination or oxidation, car wiring insulation failure, or even incorrect connection of after market equipment like car radios and alarm systems. After conducting initial visual tests, the battery can only be checked with additional testing equipment such as a DMM or clamp meter.
Professional Testing
At large service stations and professional garages, more advanced equipment that delivers consistency and testing efficiency helps increase productivity and accuracy.
When a voltmeter with relatively low input impedance is connected to an automobile battery, enough current flows through the voltmeter to overwhelm the capability to measure leakage current. For adequate sensitivity to the weak currents to be measured in such cases, only a voltmeter with higher input impedance can make measurements in a state close to actual specifications.
The MR8741 along with the Digital Voltmeter Unit MR8990 exhibit exceptionally high input impedance for a voltmeter, making it significantly more sensitive to abrupt minute current variations than common logger voltmeters having input impedance around 1 MΩ.
System Recommendations
MEMORY HiCORDER (DMM LOGGING STATION) : MR8741
DIGITAL VOLTMETER UNIT : MR8990 x 8 (16 channels)
TEST LEAD : L2200
(Although not depicted in the photos, test leads are required for each measurement channel.)
(Although not depicted in the photos, test leads are required for each measurement channel.)
Benefits of using the MR8741
The MR8741 can simultaneously measure 16 voltage channels, all independently isolated. Measured data can also be recorded and displayed as waveforms. The sister model MR8740 measures up to 54 voltage channels.
