HOW TO USE A DIGITAL MULTIMETER ON A CAR BATTERY

Learn how to use a digital multimeter on a car battery. Understand how to get accurate voltage readings to diagnose if your car battery is healthy or not.
Learn what could be the possible reasons for a faulty battery and tips on how to keep your car battery in good shape. Also learn about-
the DC setting on a multimeter and how to choose the correct setting to test your car battery which is 20V DC, as opposed to 200V DC or 600V DC
battery corrosion and how to clean your car battery terminals with sand paper or a terminal cleaner
the red and black leads on a multimeter and where to connect them on your car battery
how the cells and plates in a car battery can be damaged by too much vibration
Sign up for the email list. Grab some great tools and supplies while supporting the channel @:
www.caliber8.com
Best picture hanging tool:
www.exactac.com
#Caliber8Tools #voltmeter #carbattery

[@Caliber8Tools]

Join the Caliber8 Tribe to get a free ebook on 10 simple ways to beautify your home plus more home improvement and diy tips- join.caliber8.com Get the Ultimate Utility Bag use coupon code Tools- www.caliber8.com/product/caliber8-ultimate-utility-bag/

[@bobbrightman2245]

100% great info and saved me from buying a new battery. Dirty terminals was the culprit. THANK YOU!!!

[@Caliber8Tools]

Great. Glad it helped.

[@YTLuc]

Thank you very much for this excellent tutorial. I suffered doubts after watching so many multimeter tutorials that failed to help me comprehend the task of reading a car battery until I found your video. Thanks!

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@rabidclean]

Thanks so much for this video! It helped me a lot, I'd never used a multimeter before and the manual did not do a good job helping to explain how to use it on a car battery.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@rabidclean]

@@Caliber8Tools Using your guide when my car wouldn't start, I found out my car is running at 14.4volts but with the car off the battery says 10.4. I took it out and hooked it up to a charger, hope that does the trick!

[@peculiarthings]

Thanks for the video. You're the only one that explained this well on KZbin that I've seen. Plus your hands didn't get in the way and we could see how you connected the probes to the battery.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@denzilpennels77]

Some good solid practical sobering advice that we neglect to follow when owing a car 🚗

[@sjfarish]

Thank you! A refresher is always needed when you get older like me.

[@willardfraser5477]

It's very simple thank you for that reminder of how to test my battery

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@tonyb.2538]

Great video. Good work.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Thank you. Glad it helped.

[@martinflores1022]

You had the black lead cable in the wrong port. Should have been connected to the com port

[@Caliber8Tools]

Appreciate the great observation skills.

[@darrylm3627]

Good Stuff,Great Tips😄👍🏿

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@jefflebowski918]

Excellent video!

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@steve62933]

Thank you sir it saved me lots of money👍

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@jimbarron8619]

Great video and very helpful

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@abdulbeany1894]

Hi my car is reading 14.1v when engine running but when i put everything on lights heaters blowers a/c radio etc the voltage drops 13 to 13.3v is alternator faulty thanks

[@Caliber8Tools]

No if it’s above 13V your ok.

[@abdulbeany1894]

@@Caliber8Tools thanks

[@100yearsofwealth]

nice meeting you yesterday bro! good content!!

[@Caliber8Tools]

Likewise, thank you.

[@capoleader3793]

This was excellent very useful content thank you!

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@singncarpenter6270]

Very helpful.Thank you. I have that same multi meter and I didn't know about the dropping below 10 volts when starting trick. I was also using the center port for my ground wire. I'm not sure if that matters.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped. The negative cable should plug into the ‘COM’ port on the meter.

[@inkey2]

wait, now I am confused. In the video you do not have any cable plugged into the COM port of your meter. Did you mean the OHMS port because thats where you have it plugged in on the video here. I hope you answer me because I am trying to see if I have an electrical problem in my charging system.@@Caliber8Tools

[@metzmatu8409]

The black cable that goes to the negative terminal should be at the com port.

[@elikhuman3778]

Is 13.06 while the engine is running okay?

[@Caliber8Tools]

Yes.

[@juanalejandro9877]

Thanks for the great video. Keep making them.

[@Caliber8Tools]

You’re welcome.

[@fuzzresponder2225]

Thank you for sharing! 👍

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@kevinleach9631]

Excellent video thanks

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@kevinleach9631]

@@Caliber8Tools lol it’s been so long since I’ve used mine and needed to check my marine batteries and foregot what setting I wanted it ! Faster than reading direction😂

[@2020HotShotTruckingLLC]

Pro tip - edit the audio track of the music you added for your intro. I typically use about -15 DB so the end result is the same audio level as my commentary. Each piece of music you add needs to checked before you compile the video for upload. That might reduce the amount of your viewers skipping your intro, or the whole video... nobody likes blaring music or commercials when they have their volume set to hear what your message is.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@coloradolivingoffgrid6106]

Why wouldn't you put the dial on 9v where the battery icon since it's a battery and the normal value of 12.x is closer to 9 than the 20 you selected? Thanks.

[@Caliber8Tools]

We need to look at the VDC portion of the scale because we are checking for volts. 20V is the lowest value on the scale and we don’t need anything higher. The voltage will exceed 9 or 12 when we start the car but it won’t go past 20v.

[@karenkrohn8003]

You are essentially choosing the upper limit of the scale with which you will be measuring your battery voltage, so you need to choose a number greater than the one you expect, but not so great that you'll only see a rough estimate. Too low an upper limit, and your reading will peg at that lower level, so in your example of 9v, you might see the number 9 briefly before it then shows L, even though your battery reads 12.6 when you switch to the 20 level. Think of putting a conventional speedometer in a race car. If it can read only 0-90, and your racecar is going 120 mph down the track, that speedometer would still read only 90 mph. Be careful with the settings of your multimeter, as when doing other kinds of tests you can blow out your multimeter by choosing too low a setting. When in doubt, start too high and then progress to lower settings as needed.

[@ferndog1461]

Thank you. Just remember, its clean & bare metal to metal for the battery cables to the battery posts. If you are spreading Dielectric grease or CRC battery protector as a way to protect against corrision, make the application after connecting cables and posts. For the spray on , Protector, product, Its a light spray. Too much, and it may seep into post and make a film that reduces good contact.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Great tips. Thank you.

[@wyattandjosie]

Great video.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped. Btw the black lead should be connected to the common jack.

[@tysunbrewhere7519]

Thanks bro never knew how to use a multimeter. I just put a new battery in my 2015 Yamaha r1 and 2 days later it’s dead. Does anyone know why? I checked all fuses no blown fuses and I didn’t even ride the bike with new battery just started it a couple times now I have no power.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Any time. Could have been a faulty battery already.

[@Schnellanie]

I hope you got it resolved, could've been parasitic drain where something still uses energy even when the car is turned off.

[@DEG1985]

Buen video gracias :)

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@moamsterdam2012]

tank you, very helpful

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@carolstott533]

You have your negative cable in the wrong port. This should be in the common.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Noted

[@juanmigoyo3429]

My problem is nobody ever demonstrates where to plug in the red and black wires on the meter

[@Caliber8Tools]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXvKeKiDp7adb68

[@romantheman1227]

Well Hello!! My battery is dead..how am I going to start it and if my car is starting why would I bother checking my battery??!

[@Caliber8Tools]

It may not be totally dead. You can try to jump it or use a volt meter to check it.

[@vambo13257]

could also be in the ignition switch, linkage, solenoid, starter ect. Start with the basics

[@veei4762]

Because you can still test it in its dead state also some cars start then die so that would be a other reason you'd utilize this gadget

[@parappasanshi1568]

👍Thank you

[@Caliber8Tools]

You’re welcome. Glad it helped.

[@josemgonzalez5395]

Muy buena información.Gracias.

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped. De nada.

[@danc2014]

The meter connection is wrong. Black lead is always in the common connection. As a result if you set or measure something incorrect , you have no protection in the meter and it can be damaged.

[@Hustler_state]

Meter connection looked accurate to me. What ground is the common ground younspeak of? I'm mechanically inclined and electrically a Delbert and it's so frustrating.

[@Hustler_state]

Why isn't this melting his wires? Like introducing to test a dewalt 20v battery and my wires melted instantly and yes it was a very cheap multimeter

[@victoriagirdler4795]

If you have your test lead in Amp fused port, you have to test a certain way. Thats to test the ampers of the current through your circuit. You have to remove a wire in your circuit to do this, somewhere make your DMM part of the circuit you're testing. If you use this setting improperly, the fuse in the DMM should blow. If it's cheap, that might not have happened. If you use it above 10 amps, you're risking it even more. The only setting you should use a DMM on to test your car battery is DCV. That measures Voltage supplied by source, your battery. You can check resistances of any load you have in your car (so sensors, fuses, wires, etc) but you have to remove Voltage & shut off what you're testing or remove to bench test. High resistance can cause unexpected Voltage drop in your circuit. Low resistance can let too much through. But simply for your car battery your in DCV, & the black in comm & the red in the one with the V&Ohms symbol.

[@henryparrott2447]

👍

[@Caliber8Tools]

Glad it helped.

[@imammaarifarif4388]

Hai Gentleman

[@Caliber8Tools]

Hello.

[@bombfirst157]

The black cables not even in the right hole. Lucky the thing didn’t blowup and screw up your battery

[@Caliber8Tools]

Whew 😅

[@MartinProavis]

13.8V je málo...