Testing SI board batteries.

[mikeb23ft]

I have applied a multimeter to the batteries in my SI board and it's not saying anything. Does this mean I need new SI board batteries?

Note that this may be an obvious "yes you idiot" but I wanted to make sure before I spend $28 on new batteries.

[AndrewBird]

Even if they are bad, they should read some voltage. You had the multimeter set to volts, correct?

[mikeb23ft]

Yeah I just checked the multimeter with a AAA battery and it isn't working. Just straight zeros.

[dwvw]

What multimeter? How is it set?

[RGCintha29073]

Are you sure the wires are in the correct multimeter holes for voltage testing?

[Gregs///M]

Verify a known voltage source first, like your car battery. You are probably set to AC volts, it must be set to DC volts. Or your meter leads are connected to common ground and Amps, instead of V's or volts.

Also there are two procedures for testing SI batteries.

1. Is a DC voltage measurement across the batteries. Should read a minimum of 3V for lithiums, 1.2 for NiCd's.

2. Remove the batteries from the SI board , set your meter and probes to DC Amps and measure the current draw from each battery.

Any current draw lower than 300mA is considered near dead. Normal is 700-1000Ma's.



Note: I've seen lithium batteries with 3V on them (appears good right?) but has a load current draw of under 100mA's (definitely bad.) So measuring voltage across the batteries is not always conclusive.

Bottom line, if your batteries are the original 20+ year old ones, they are bad.

[mikeb23ft]

Lots of great info here thanks everybody.

I have the cheap Harbor Freight Cen-Tech multimeter that's the same one in this video. I set it to the settings he's using and didn't get anything off of my SI board or the batteries out of my TV remotes. I will admit that I'm totally new to using a multimeter, though.

[RGCintha29073]

Bottom line, if your batteries are the original 20+ year old ones, they are bad.

+1 and just have this guy install you some new ones!!



If the TV remote batteries are know to be good then you may also want to invest in a better multimeter. Testing the 3v lithium batteries isnt just about voltage like he said. Dont be poking around and break something. Also my board had a coating on the battery terminals that had to be scraped away with my multimeter lead in order to actually get to the metal and get a reading.