Battery Load Tester

Hello, I was curious what types of load testers you all are using on sealed lead acid batteries in fire panels. The ones I have been looking at are in excess of $300. Are there any other options that are a bit cheaper? thanks

We have the ACT 612 meter. We’ve had good luck with it. Seems to be available for $300.

Auto Meter RC-300
http://www.autometer.com/rc-300-technician-grade-intelligent-handheld-sla-and-standby-battery-tester-for-6v-12-applications.html

I’ve used this battery tester for about the last 4 years and by far the best one I’ve come across. Yeah, it’s pricey, but it works and seems to hold up to the abuse in the field. I’ve used an old screwdriver, the ELK tester, one I called the “cheese grater”, another tester (that I can’t remember the name) that was the shape of a brick and took two minutes to test ONE battery and got really hot, and finally the Cell Checker (that half the LEDs didn’t work). The nice thing about the RC-300 is that it gives you an LCD display that tells you the remaining Ah capacity (not just a bunch of LEDs or a number you have to convert). It doesn’t have a case but does have a sheath around it that protects it from dropping. And the alligator clips are an unusual design - each side of the same clip is electrically isolated from the other. For some reason, the manufacturing designed it this way. So putting the clips on the battery so you don’t get an error message takes some practice.

What battery load tester did you used?

SDI Cell Checker is most ideal for pulse load & discharge however they are quite pricey.
http://sdifire.com/cms/document/CELL03_Flyer.pdf

Is a listed tester required? Our company only uses Yuasa batteries, they sell their YUA00BTY01 tester, would that be a good tester to use? Or what are the requirements?