Clore Automotive SOLAR Digital 12V Battery and System Tester

Now this is an excellent, must have battery tool! I have 6 cars under my care with adult but not yet independent children. I like caring for the cars. Batteries are always a concern as to reliability. I live in northern Midwest with cold winters. I have every tester known to man, and the knowledge to use them. I know how to maintain batteries with proper fluid levels. However, until this type of tester was developed in recent years, a very important feature of the battery was going untested, and many good batteries were being thrown away, and many bad batteries were being used when they should have been thrown away. My understanding from extensive study is that Clore Automotive developed the Midtronics tester that is the state-of-the-art in the battery industry. It is very expensive, owned primarily by dealerships and battery shops. The Solar BA-5 and BA-7 are less expensive consumer versions of the industrial Midtronics tester. I have used this Solar BA7 for several months, on about a dozen batteries, in warm and cold weather. IT IS OUTSTANING. In short, Solar tester tests conductance through the battery, as well as voltage and CCA. The conductance is the ability of the battery to flow current through the battery, and is a measure of the surface condition of the plates inside the battery. If the plates are corroded with sulfation, they will not flow the electricity as well as they should, and the capacity of the battery is reduced. My experience is that battery that is internally corroded can pass the traditional voltage and load tests, but fail this tester that includes its measure of internal conductivity! And, on the other hand, a good 800 CCA battery can fail a traditional load test with 400 CCA, and still have good internal conductance and capacity, and years of reliable use left in it. In this second example, I have found that checking and correcting the fluid level in the battery by adding distilled water to the fill indicators is usually what is needed for the CCA to go back up to spec on a battery with good internal conductivity. Anyway, this tester considers the voltage, CCA, and conductivity, and gives you a reading, and a green light if the battery is good. It couldn't be better or more accurate. Mechanic reviews say it is as reliable and accurate, (but does not have some features like a paper printer for a diagnostic report), as the more expensive Midtronics by Solar. FInally, the BA5 just tests the battery. The BA7 also tests the starter and the alternator. And it's SO simple. This new technology is amazing, and saves more money that it costs by properly diagnosing a battery the first time it is used!!!

I know there are plenty of reviews on Amazon for this product and 1 more isn't going to make a difference but I simply have to say it....."This little tool is the next best thing to sliced bread"! Even if this item failed tomorrow, I would buy another without hesitation. And I have to be completely honest here, I've never said that about any product no matter how much I liked it. I've put this tester through the ringer on 2 batteries and my vehicles charging system to make sure it does what's advertised. I've also used it to retest a battery after a desulfation process. Before using this Solar Tester I knew the exact condition of my charging system and the state of both batteries but wanted to see if this unit would be as accurate as my multimeter and if it would indicate any issues. Well, it performed flawlessly. Alerted me to a low charged battery, indicated actual CCA values, and correctly indicated results on load testing. All my tests were confirmed using my auto-ranging multimeter. At one point during my confirmation test using my multimeter I thought I found a problem with the Solar Tester because my charging system test was WAY-OFF compared to the results on the Solar. I then realized I had incorrectly set my multimeter and was getting bad results....DUH!. Gone are the days of using multiple tools to test our batteries and charging systems. I bow my head to the Solar Gods! UPDATE: 2/1/2016: So wouldn't you know it, less than a month after I got my Solar BA7...it failed!! Lucky for me I was still within the 30 day return period on Amazon. At first I thought there may have been something wrong with a new car battery I purchased but after attempting to use the unit on 2 other vehicles I determined it went BUST. I installed a new battery in my wife's car yesterday and wanted to be sure all was okay so I pulled out my BA7 and I kept getting a battery stabilization error (- - - -) on the screen. I tried using the BA7 on my motorcycle battery and kept getting the same error. I checked all my connections and retested with my trusty old multimeter and my batteries checked out fine. I initiated an exchange on Amazon and will update on how long the new BA7 lasts. Man, I knew it was too good to be true! I had to take away 2 stars for now. UPDATE 11/17/17: I know, I know...."when will this guy stop adding updates!? I have never updated my reviews so many times on any purchased I've ever made but I'm so in love with this tool I wish it would turn into a woman so I could marry it!...Okay, Okay, TMI..... After receiving my replacement unit I've used it weekly to make sure my Car & motorcycle batteries/alternator/stator are in tip-top shape. Just before updating this review I saved my neighbor from being ripped off by a local mechanic who was trying to sell her a new alternator after her battery died a few days ago. I asked her to let me use the BA7 on her car and the unit detected low charging. Just saved her $300 and made a friend for life

As a long time mechanic, and seeing the price of professional grade stand alone tools continuing to rise to ridiculous prices, I was VERY happy to find this SOLAR BA7 Tester. Hook it up to the battery on your car, mower, ATV, etc etc, press a button or two, and then you have an instant digital read out in numbers, as well as color coded status lights for the condition of your Battery, Starter, or Alternator. And for cheap! PROS: 1) It takes a matter of seconds to perform any test, making this simple to use. 2) You can perform tests on batteries hooked up in a car still, or unhooked, making this extremely time saving if you don't have to remove a battery to test. 3) You don't have to fully charge a battery to test!!! Almost all other testing units for batteries you have to have a fully charged battery, which is a pain in the butt, and waste of time. But not for this, you can test on a daily used battery that's not fully charged, genius! 4) Most consumer grade battery testers only give you a read out of battery voltage for their testing capabilities, which is only a part of what you need for an actual test. Voltage is good for understanding percent of the battery charged, but not how much power it's putting out. What you actually need to know besides voltage is CCA (or cold cranking amps), this is the actual capacity of the battery to exert power. So rather than having to take your batteries to your local Auto Part store everytime, buy this tester and have the professional test yourself on your own time, anywhere. 5) Sometimes your starting issue in your vehicle is not a bad battery, but rather a starter or alternator. So you can easily rule these out too by just testing them with the same tester too. You just hook it up to the battery posts just like you would for a battery test, select either the Starter or Alternator test on the tester, and either start the car, or leave it running, and it calculates the voltage readings needed to determine if the Alternator or Starter is bad or going bad, and you're done. Don't have to remove the alternator or starter or fumble around to get to them because you only connect the tester to the battery posts and it reads and tests through the system itself. So much easier with this tester. CONS: None that I can think of, it's a great tool for a good price. Can't say enough about it!

Ok, So I have a an ABT-GOLD Plus battery tester... and when I bought it, it was $600.00! The device only tests SLA (sealed lead acid) or car batteries up to 200AH (amp/hours). I started to wonder to why a recent purchase of a 100AH AGM (absorbed glass matt) battery was only showing ~80AH. As a result, I went out an purchased a ton of different battery chargers over the last year and finally spoke with technical support at NOCO. Basically, they told me that no AGM type battery, of which there are flat plate and spiral version, can be accurately tested with the majority of AH testers. Now, the reason this is important is that amp/hours are the amount of current a battery can provide continuously until discharged. This is very different that CCA (cold cranking amps) or CA (cranking amps)... Car batteries and certain types of marine deep cycle dual purpose batteries (for boats you can have batteries that only run appliances, or you can have deep cycle batteries that can both run appliances AND start the boats motors) and they tend to have CCA and CA ratings, which are wholly different than amps per hour (AH) ratings. This is where the BA-9 handheld battery tester comes into play: - You provide it the type of battery (SLA, AGM, etc. etc.) - You provide it the manner the chemistry is used (AGM, for example, can have flat plates or be spiral wound)* - You provide it the CA or CCA (CCA only if the temperature is zero F or slightly lower, otherwise you use CA) - You hit the test button! The result is a very quick test that tells your how many CCA or CA the battery can deliver(there is also a european equiv that I'm not familiar with). In my case, the two batteries that were on battery maintainers reported 1064 CA and 1104CA, and they are 1100CA rated dual purpose AGM flat plate matt deep cycle marine batteries. This is really nice. It's also really nice because you don't have to disconnect the battery. The price is right, the product is versatile, it's small, and easy to use. Keep in mind that unless you are using it on a standard SLA (sealed lead acid) or classic car battery, you DO need to know what type of battery you are testing. Also, you need to know the CCA or CA rating of the battery to test it.

This battery tester is very convenient and appears to be accurate. I have no way of comparing it to another tester, but the results seem reasonable to me. The tests are quick and easy. I am satified with the product and would recommend it to others. My reason for not giving it 5 stars is the set of instructions that come with it. The manual is small so the type is small as well. Also, to perfrom all the tests you have to flip through many pages. This is hard ot do in wind or when your hands are wrapped around a dirty battery. The instructions need to be pared down, they seem to treat each test as stand alone tests, which they can be but I would think most people will want to go through all of them at the same time. I ended up typing up my own instructions to streamline the process. I would pay an additioinal $50 to $60 dollars to get it with a more advanced display where the instructions are on the display and tell you what to do and when to do it.

Good product. I can't find my current battery tester so I said let me purchase another one. I went through my history to reorder. I paid $59.11 in 2019 the battery tester now cost $98.44. I will not buy a new one I will find my old one I just can't locate it, I usually keep it at arms length but with two vehicles is probably in my other vehicle. I know my battery is bad and for $98 I could buy a brand new battery. Like I said good product I like it a lot but I won't buy a second.

I bought a battery tester last year when my car battery was suspect. I didn’t know at the time that most have a CCA range that starts at 100. Motorcycles and scooters are often much smaller, so you can’t test it. This tester starts at 40 CCA, so is much more versatile and can be used on motorcycles and cars. Very easy to use and confirmed I had a bad motorcycle battery. It costs a little more, but the added capability will save you from buying a second tester like I had to.

A battery slowly weakens over the years. This gives a way to see the health of the battery. Look up how to use it on youtube, you will save time. Made in Taiwan. It let me know the battery in my 2020 Subaru was bad before it would not start my car. It also let me know the new 750 CCA battery I got was at 695 CCA. It allows you to add the CCA so it can let you know if the batter is good or bad. I never realized the CCA slowly decreases and when it gets too low your car will not start. This is an excellent tool to have. I replaced my battery before it would not start my engine thanks to this tester.

Good product

Muy bueno probador de baterias!

Easy to use. Better than using just a load tester. Bought for testing auto and motorcycle battery CCA and CA to determine whether they still have some life in them or time to replace. Also using to test new auto and UPS batteries to get baseline readings for monitoring battery health as the batteries age. Only drawback is 12V only so unable to test individual 6V batteries like golf cart batteries (can series 2x6V to test) but not a dealbreaker.

個人がバッテリーの良し悪しの判断が難しく、カーショップに持って行き数値を見せられても信用するしかない。それがこの商品は自分で測定し判断できる。バッテリーが新品の状態で測定しておくと後の測定に比較もできる。自分が使ってみての感想ですが、ちょい乗りの多い車は意外にバッテリーの充電状態はよくないんですね。バッテリーはﾌﾙ充電状態が理想と聞きます。定期的に確認する事で予備充電の必要性も分かります。

Got this as i had replaced the battery on my motorbike and after a couple of months the new one never had enough power to start the bike. After testing with this (very easy to use) it showed my battery was ok, knowing this the fault had to be elsewhere and it turned out to be a fault in the starter. Very nice unit would highly recommend.