How best to test batteries?

[ChrisR]

Came back from a few days away, to find our battery kitchen clock with the second hand stuck at quarter to the minute (click up a bit, drop down). We'd previously (a few months ago) fixed this problem with a new battery from a new two-pack (from Sainsbury... long-lasting, apparently), so we got the other one out of the drawer (taken from its original wrapping) and popped it in. It did work for a while, but by the next day we had the same problem. We don't have the receipt (Sainsbury receipts are not the sort we tend to hang onto).

I'm not sure if the batteries are faulty, or the clock motor is giving up. How best to test the batteries? I can find cheap (£2.50-ish) "battery testers" on t'internet that seem to have green/yellow/red lights for various sizes of batteries. Otherwise, there are multimeters for a tenner or so which would measure the voltage. Reviews I read of one said its own battery runs down fairly quickly in periods of non-use, which rather defeats my purpose!

Any suggestions?

 

[wave01]

To be honest tried loads of different batteries and the best are Duracell if you want through away or get rechargeable ones

 

[kokolino23]

Why would you bother to pay a tenner for a multimeter? You can get batteries from poundland and replace the existing ones. Or try them in a remote control, maybe?

 

[kokolino23]

A friend of mine use to connect two bare wires on both ends and touch his tongue Depends on the voltage, you'll feel the pinch

 

[JulesP]

A friend of mine use to connect two bare wires on both ends and touch his tongue Depends on the voltage, you'll feel the pinch

I do that with 9 volt pp3 batteries - you get quite a tingle on a fully charged one

 

[Steep]

Never buy batteries for a clock. Take the batteries from your remote control or torch or whatever and use them in the clock, put new ones in the remote... Clocks generally use a tiny amount of power, batteries that are too weak to power things like torches still have plenty of juice for the clock.

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

Take them back. My local sainsburys are good at changing own brand stuff without a receipt. Worth a try

 

[boliston]

Never buy batteries for a clock. Take the batteries from your remote control or torch or whatever and use them in the clock, put new ones in the remote... Clocks generally use a tiny amount of power, batteries that are too weak to power things like torches still have plenty of juice for the clock.

Could be a false economy if it's your bedside clock and there is not enough power to sound the alarm to wake you up and you get sacked for being late

 

[Nod]

Lidl sometimes have little battery testers suitable for most standard 1.5 cells and PP3s. Ours gives a readout in bar chart form telling us the approximate voltage the cells are putting out. Other batteries get checked on a multimeter.

 

[ChrisR]

Never buy batteries for a clock. Take the batteries from your remote control or torch or whatever and use them in the clock, put new ones in the remote... Clocks generally use a tiny amount of power, batteries that are too weak to power things like torches still have plenty of juice for the clock.

Sounds like a good plan, but the clock takes C batteries, remote takes AAs!

Take them back. My local sainsburys are good at changing own brand stuff without a receipt. Worth a try

Good plan. Rang their free care line. On the call, realised the manufacturing date was 03/15. They happily refunded the cost plus a bit. Think I might get some Durcell this time.

 

[Mr Bump]

I buy the industrial versions of Diracell called procell I think. Ebuyer do them off and on for good money.