Last Thursday I was picking up some aluminum from the metal yard when I heard a whine that sounded like it was coming from the truck, and it wasn’t the norm. After strapping my aluminum down and patting Otis the shop dog on the head I hit the road only to be welcomed by the whine and a message on the dash that said the charging system was not happy. This was accompanied by the battery light. Crap… So I quickly looked on my phone for the closest O’Reilly Auto Parts and headed that way to see if I could get the battery and charging system tested.
After connecting the Autometer handheld battery and electrical system tester to the battery, and waiting about 30 seconds, it came back to tell me that the battery was fine, but the alternator was not. The diode was fine but the regulator was not working properly. Ugh. So I bought a $380 alternator, threw it in the back seat, and headed for the shop 50 miles away, hoping I’d make it so I didn’t have to change this thing on the side of the road. I also called Dad and told him I was coming in hot so to keep his phone close in case I needed tools and help.
I watched the gauge the entire way to the shop, wondering how far the voltage could drop before this bitch decided it wasn’t gonna run anymore, but the Chevrolet made it. Once at the shop, it was a 20 minute fix on dad’s Silverado, as we changed it before even letting it cool down.
I had a similar situation happen with my EG Hatch a couple of years ago and it went very different. After stopping at a different auto parts store when the battery light came on, I was told that it was the battery that was the problem. I bought a battery and then hit the road, only to have the light come on again an hour later. Further testing found that the alternator had been the problem all along, and that the battery, which I still had in the back of the car, was fine. Unfortunately, once you connect terminals to a battery they will no longer take it back on return.
If I had one of these battery and electrical system testers of my own, I’d have avoided buying both and alternator AND a battery that day.
Video Description:
FOXWELL, MOTOPOWER, BT300, Kingbolen, Veepeak, KONNWEI, Visdector, ANCEL, AUTOPHIX, TOPDON, and Midtronics. Battery testers compared for performance analyzing good and bad car batteries, a vehicles cranking and charging system.
I purchased all of the car batteries to ensure an unbiased review. So, thank you for supporting the channel!