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Battery dead cell check

Another way of checking each individual cell is to use your voltmeter.  Put
one lead to the + or - and then stick the other in the holes where the acid is.
Count how many caps you have and divide that by the total of your battery.
Ex.  a 12 volt battery may have four caps.  then there are three volts per cell.

Lets say you have the black lead of the volt meter to the negative post of
the battery.  Then you put the red lead into the first cell and it reads 3
volts, that means that cell is good.  Then the next cell reads 3 volts/good.
The next cell reads 1.3 volts and that one would be bad.
If you wanted to check to see if the last cell is bad then put the red lead
on the positive, and put the black lead into the acid and see what that reads.

If all cells add up to the total voltage of the battery, then the battery is all good.

I admit this is a simple test, and it still does not put a load on the
battery, but it lets you find a bad cell.

Chris
'83 Yamaha Venture XVZ1200
 
 

All car and bike batteries I have seen have 6 cells of 2 volts each.  If
you keep one lead on a terminal and move the other lead progressively up
the cells, you should read 2,4,6,8,10 volts, and finally 12 with each lead
on a terminal.  If a cell isn't contributing, it's dead and so is the
battery.

Jeremy