How to Test a 6 Volt Battery

by Stephen Benham
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Six-volt batteries are used to power items such as motorcycles, golf buggies and wheelchairs. Two 6 volt batteries, wired in series to produce 12 volts, are also commonly used in recreational vehicles as they last longer than one 12-volt battery. The batteries used to power these items are lead-acid batteries and are capable of producing a constant 6 volts until they are almost fully discharged (about 80 percent). You can test if your battery is producing 6 volts using a voltmeter or multimeter.

Step 1

Access the 6-volt battery and determine the polarity of the two battery terminals. Each terminal is clearly labeled. The positive terminal is labeled "Pos", "+" on, or next to, the terminal. Once you've found the positive terminal, the other terminal is the negative terminal, but to confirm look for "Neg" or "-" on, or next to, the terminal. Some terminals can have small plastic colored rings around the base of the terminal making identification even easier: red for positive and black for negative.

Step 2

Set a multimeter or voltmeter to measure volts in the range 0 to 12, if it has variable settings. The meter has two colored wires attached to it: red meaning positive and black meaning negative. On the end of the wires are metal sensors.

Step 3

Place the sensor on the end of the red wire onto the positive battery terminal. Place the sensor on the end of the black wire on the negative battery terminal.


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