| NAPA "Accuracy-Plus" SBT-3 Battery/System Tester This is an older product, but I found one yesterday which was kept as a spare by a company that went out of business, so it has never been used before. After I replaced a dead 9V battery inside, everything seems to work perfectly. Because it is old, OTC (who made it for NAPA) claims that they no longer have any info on it, but hopefully someone here has used this tester and can answer my question.
After I test a battery, it tells me that I have a good or a bad battery, then it says "Code", followed by a number. The instruction sheet that came with the unit says nothing about these code numbers, but I assume that they would not be displayed if they didn't mean something. Does anyone have a chart indicating what these code numbers signify, or perhaps someone here knows a technical support location other than the OTC one that I called. The number I tried was 1-800-533-6127 - this got me nowhere.
This tester is interesting to me because it seems to be one of the few electronic battery testers that can test against an Amp-Hour rating- most testers can only handle CA and CCA ratings.
Thank you for any assistance that you can provide. |
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 mattmagPremium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-04-09
NW Illinois
kudos:3 |
The code is for use with warranty claims only. It produces a number that is then submitted with a warranty claim, and verifies the test and the failure status is embedded in that code number. For normal operation it is of no value.
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| That makes sense. Strange that the instructions don't say anything about this. |
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mattmagPremium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-04-09
NW Illinois
kudos:3 |
I would suspect that the manual was not the proper one for a repair facility model, or the unit originally came with two different versions of the instructions. Just a guess...
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| In addition to the paper instruction manual, there are instructions on the inside of the case- these don't mention anything about the code numbers, either.
Even the OTC support person I talked to didn't know anything- he said that the tester was defective and I need to send it in for repair. I told him it didn't make sense that a defect would cause the display to show a proper word (Code) and a number. If the display showed garbage characters, I could accept that there was a fault. |
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fixrmanPremium
join:2003-02-10
Hatboro, PA Reviews:
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| I am not sure I understand the fascination with the device. Apparently it is old enough that the people at OTC don't recognise it, but perhaps the incorrect department was contacted. There are several different divisions of OTC, so talking to the division that manufactures for outside companies - such as OE sales - might be more appropriate. As it is, I can't see how this tester is going to be of much use to anyone other than as a curiosity.
Testing of a battery using an Amp/Hour rating is basically the same as using the CCA rating.
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"from a broken heart to a hole in the sky" |
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| Well, let's suppose that I have a 12 V, 18 A-H battery. There is no CA or CCA rating provided by the manufacturer (since it isn't intended for engine-starting use). So, what should a tester show if the battery is good? Midtronics suggests locating a few known-good batteries of the same type and seeing what they show, then using an average of the readings to get an idea of what a suspect battery should indicate. If I don't have a bunch of known-good batteries to do this with, then what?
It is really nice to be able to input the A-H rating (shown right on the battery) into the tester; no need to try to guess what the CCA number would be. For starting-type batteries, the SBT-3 will also accept CA and CCA ratings.
There are some more modern testers (from Auto Meter and Amprobe, among others) which will test against an A-H rating, but they are not inexpensive (the Amprobe BAT-500 is over $800). I got a real good deal on this NAPA tester (it cost over $700 when it was new), so buying it made sense; I believe this will be very useful to me. Since it will tell me whether I have a good or a bad battery, it is definitely much more than a curiosity. It will also test starting and charging systems (including indicating if there is excessive ripple due to bad alternator diodes); one needs to step up to a pretty expensive Midtronics model to get the ripple test.
So, regardless of what others may think, I believe that my money was more than well-spent. The fact that it is brand-new and previously unused is icing on the cake; I even got the factory carrying case and terminal adapters. |
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