I found a load of 1.5v AA batteries today. I've got a multimeter, can I test them with it ????

What setting and reading am I looking for ????:D

Edited 1 June, 200917 yr by fatty5000
For Xav lol

You can ,but with limited success - I've found with a hi impedance meter that anything less than 1.4v open circuit is probably u/s .Probably safer to say that you can tell the totally duff( less than 1.3v) from the reasonable ( 1.4-1.5+v)

Is this a trick question? :rubchin:

Is this a trick question? :rubchin:

No it's not lol

best tip i had was stick them in a remote, press a button and use a digital camera viewfinder to look for the IR light to see if the remote is working (human eye doesn't see the IR light, digital viewfinder does). obviously doesn't help gauge how much lfe is left in them , only there is life in them and the remote works

1.3v is the min I'd say is good to use. Less than that, and it's the TV remote or bin.

Yes but if they are below 1.4 volts i'd probably bin the things.

As you probaly guessed by now I'm not exactly the worlds best multimeter user............

What setting do I use, as when I put it 20v it reads something like 109 rather than 1.5v which I expected it too.

I've only ever used the meter for checking for live feeds in the car and that was only once lol.

You should have something like 2V 20V 200V just put it on the lowest one that is a bit greater than 1.5V

I shall give it go later

And the one that is = rather than ~

Most devices wont run 1.5v or 3v etc. Most 2 battery remotes, after taking in tollerances of components, can survive on 2.5v. So 1.4 is a bit tight of a margin to cast away.

Just checked a Duracel with battery meter on the side of it from the clock. It showed just under 1/2 full, and read 1.37v.

HTH

Remember that most rechargeable batteries are only 1.2 v (when fully charged). With normal ones, I would bin below 1.1 v. However if you have a battery powered clock stick it in there, they don't use much charge and will still keep on going, even with less than a volt.

Another way of testing is if your multimeter has a needle, turn it to high DC current, then quickly touch the battery, If the needle moves quickly it's a good battery, but don't leave it too long as it short circuits the battery.

From one source on Tinternet

To test a household battery:

Set the multimeter to the DCV scale.

Touch the red multimeter probe to the battery's [+] terminal and the black probe to the [-] terminal. If the reading is more than 10% below the rated output (1.35 V or 8.1 V), the battery is bad and should be replaced.

From another

you need to set your multimeter to 2DCV and it will give you the right reading, just make sure you hold the red and black on the right ends lol

Not quite. Most multimeters do not apply any load at all whatsoever (or a load that's far too small to affect the battery much) upon the battery being tested; as a result, a multimeter will only show you the initial open-cell voltage (for AA NiMH rechargeables, this amounts to about 1.4V) regardless of the charge level or battery condition. The only way to correctly check the voltage of a battery is if you use a battery tester - one which also applies a typical amperage load upon the cell as it's being tested (a multimeter applies an amperage load that's far too low to be meaningful).