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Is this a good BATTERY TEST ?? 😅 | Ask The Expert with NIGEL CALDER
June 14, 2025 · 2 min · 2K views
What this video covers
Nigel Calder explains why using a windlass to load-test a battery gives unreliable results.▶ 0:50 A viewer proposed running the anchor windlass while measuring voltage at the battery posts to assess three batteries — one engine-start and two 200 Ah house batteries sharing a common earth.▶ 0:18 Calder's verdict: the test only identifies a battery in serious failure; it cannot distinguish a partially degraded battery from a healthy one.▶ 0:55 A battery in reasonable condition will show a brief voltage dip then flatline, and the windlass cannot run long enough to stress it meaningfully.▶ 0:55 A battery that crashes under the load is already severely discharged or has lost most of its capacity.▶ 1:09 On the negative-separation question, Calder says disconnecting the common earth is unnecessary — isolating the parallel connection between the two house batteries is sufficient to test each one individually.▶ 1:25 A proper battery assessment requires a more systematic load-test method.▶ 1:39 The windlass voltage-drop test is a pass/fail screen for dead batteries, not a diagnostic tool for capacity.▶ 0:50
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