David, while that is technically correct, whenever I test a battery with a multimeter for voltage, if it is low, and I try it in an appliance, I don't get the desired response.  If it reads close to or slightly above the nominal voltage, I get the desired response, such as bright light with a torch.  I realize that the voltage I measure is not the voltage the appliance sees due to load and loss variables, but it must be close enough.  Maybe if I were powering a scientific instrument which provides an analog or digital readout, the readout would be off, but for everyday household devices, I've had no problem.  mcneely

---- David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> wrote: 
> At 05:30 PM 11/5/2015, Anthony Egeln wrote:
> >I've been looking for a good excuse to buy a 
> >moderately priced multimeter for quite some 
> >time, and I think I may have one now.
> >Can you use a multimeter to check household 
> >batteries? Â I have a box full of AA, AAA and 9V 
> >batteries that my late mother had accumulated, 
> >and while they may be out of date I want to make 
> >sure they are really done before taking them to 
> >our community hazmat pick up this Saturday. Â
> >I was going to buy a "battery checker" on Amazon 
> >and I started thinking that a multimeter might 
> >be able do this just as well and I'd have my excuse to buy the instrument.
> >There are a lot of recommendations on the 
> >archive for which multimeter to buy, but none 
> >very recent. Â I'd love to have a current 
> >recommendation for a moderately priced instrument, digital or analog.
> >Thanks, Ant
> 
> Not really.  To test a dry cell or dry battery 
> you have to load it with something approximating 
> a working load.  Digital meters in general have 
> ten megohms input resistance.  My Radio Shack 
> puts a 50 mA load on AAA, 150 mA on AA, C, D 
> cells. 3 mA on button cells and I'm not sure on 
> the rest.  Ideally you'd dial in your desired 
> load and cutoff voltage for your particular applications.
> 
> Yours,
> David 

--
David McNeely