Put in a new Battery, got nothin' - I am not dumb, but maybe I'm not bright?

[BigBlue1]

Absolutely! This will work. And if you have a second person to help turn the key, will work just fine. It has been my experience that the leads on multimeters are not long enough to reach from the battery to the cab. Or from under the hood to the cab of pickups, cars, boats, etc. I've made longer leads to get me by in a pinch, and is possible, but is the readings accurate at that point?

I'd say that extending multimeter leads from their 2-3' standard length to the distance needed on a vehicle from battery to operator station/seat (10'?) would be zero impact on accuracy to the 10th of a volt as used for this type of test. Assuming the gauge of the wire is consistent with OEM. It would take a significantly longer lead to introduce noticeable inaccuracy in that situation.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I'd say that extending multimeter leads from their 2-3' standard length to the distance needed on a vehicle from battery to operator station/seat (10'?) would be zero impact on accuracy to the 10th of a volt as used for this type of test. Assuming the gauge of the wire is consistent with OEM. It would take a significantly longer lead to introduce noticeable inaccuracy in that situation.

Yes. The Volt function is extremely sensitive. The current drawn from the circuit it is measuring is so low (microamps) that the resistance of the leads has negligible effect on the reading.

 

[JasperFrank]

Known Good. I have bought several a batteries new, that I assumed were new good. And they were not. This can really mess with your strategy. Maybe I'm unlucky and just get the bad battery all the time. I return them, get another that is also bad. Then I also have a known good. And this works. So the second one gets returned. I think this this is an issue with parts these days. The first part bought doesn't work. And that's another whole 1/2 day to replace because the unit you got, didn't work. And then I'm the bad guy, because I'm upside down here, and the work, is still the work.