Review on 🚗 FOXWELL BT705 12V 24V Car Battery Tester: Comprehensive Automotive Battery Load Tester for Vehicles and Heavy Duty Trucks by Rene Putman

I bought this battery tester based on the reviews and because I recently had a dead battery and now have multiple batteries and multiple chargers to service. I wanted to see what condition these batteries are in aside from the main voltage indicator. I chose this one because it shows a bit more or at least different metrics than a more traditional load tester. At first glance, the device comes in a nice carrying case. The case hinge is molded from plastic, so it can break with enough use. It looks like a consumer tool, so it should be fine for normal use in a home shop. The tool itself seems solid enough, but upon closer inspection the overall quality suffers due to the asking price of this device. First, THIS IS NOT A LOAD TEST DEVICE. This is a conductivity tester. The battery is not exposed to any significant loads. If you need a load tester, look for a "bunch of coal" tester. And may I add that for the same price as this device, you can pick one of the pretty good ones. Now about the quality of this device. The brackets are where all the action will take place. Each connector has two wires. You will notice that there is a small section on one side of the jaws that has been insulated with a piece of plastic and riveted on. FOR THOSE WHO GET ABNORMAL VOLTAGE MEASUREMENTS > Each side of the clamp must be in contact with a battery post. If you're getting weird readings, that's what's happening. Reading 36 VDC. The black cable is not properly connected. The insulated part of the black wire is not connected to the terminal. Indicates 18VDC BOTH wires are not properly connected. The insulated part of both wires is not connected to the terminal. Shows 0.75 VDC. The red wire is not connected. the red pin does not make a connection. Well, since the wires that connect to the smaller insulated part of the clamp are so badly soldered, and since it's the part of the tool that will see any use, this is where this thing will most likely fail. If you're getting bad readings, that's probably what happened. There is one spot on this connector where they soldered a wire that needs to be wrapped around it to make a mechanical connection, but instead they just decided to quickly apply some solder and head towards the solder for the mechanical connection leaving. . Soldering is NOT a mechanical connection. I also note that for accurate readings you need to be on the lead column of the battery itself. If you pinch your car's battery terminals or anything other than the lead acid battery post, you may get inaccurate readings. in a battery compartment not used for this product. The keyboard feels comfortable when the key is pressed positively. If the keys stop working you will need to replace the entire unit as the keyboard is integrated into the front stick on the overlay. Nothing happens inside except for a small circuit board. How to use the device: The tester is intuitive, the display is easy to read and backlit. The voltage readings on this Foxwell tester are the same as my Fluke 87V. And the battery test values were the same across multiple tests. As for the test results themselves. The device bases much of the information it tells you on the information you enter. For example, if you have a 1000CCA battery and enter 500CCA, the "results" will be distorted. Personally, I don't find measured CCA, SOH or SOC values particularly meaningful, since they are not really absolute measured values. Anyway, the RES MR value is the most informative as it is the internal resistance of the battery. Most of my batteries measure an internal resistance in the 3-5 range. My only battery that I'm likely to fail at any moment measures just over a 9, confirming that it's definitely dead, regardless of this tester measuring it as a 'good battery'. It doesn't seem to matter much if you type in "in car" or "out of car" except "in car" prompts you to test the starter and alternator. Even after following the prompts it still says my battery is fine even though it dropped to 8VDC under starter load. If it were a coal pile tester, it would alternatively display 8V under load. Overall, I'm just not sure if this tool is really worth the money. You would have to justify the cost of this device relative to the technology because what you are physically getting cannot justify the asking price. It's definitely not a professional tool for everyday use when it comes to build quality. If you're just using it to predict battery health for a vehicle or two, your money is probably better spent getting a jump pack and a cheap DMM. A digital multimeter can tell you if the alternator is working properly, you can measure the battery voltage and the voltage under load when the car is started. and if your battery suddenly dies, you have a jump pack. I believe you could use this to track battery health if you were taking baseline readings on a new battery and tracking that over time. This seems to be what the pros do with much more expensive hardware and larger backup batteries. But, depending on the application, is it worth "predicting" the battery failure and replacing it, or just dropping the problem and replacing it at the right time? the same price and what you physically get is more substantial. Undoubtedly more dangerous to use as you are dealing with significant current draw and heat generation. I'll have to try this on some notoriously bad batteries to have confidence in the reading this device is giving before making a final decision on its usefulness.