Battery Analyzer

Hoosier · Mar 10, 2007

I am looking for a battery analyzer that can read a remaining capacity. Most multi-meter at the hardware stores only shows a voltage and a green/red indicator, so it is hard to know how much remaining capacity (amh) it has.

Is there and good analyzer that shows a reading in a digit format?

It is for various sized rechargeable batteries including a canister light battery.

Thanks in advance[/font]

do it easy · Mar 10, 2007

I'm not sure it works that way- the capacity of alkaline batteries are dependant on the load on them.

With rechargeables, I go by voltage to determine charge level- full charge for my light is about 16.0v (13.2v nominal). NiMH cells are about 1.0v dead and 1.4+ full. If you had a 10 cell pack, I would call it full charged at 14v and would not run it below 10v.

Gudge · Mar 10, 2007

I use a ULCS Multi Battery Tester which computes the remaining power capacity of a variety of batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, NIMH or NiCd, alkaline, and 3 v photo lithium, or 9v) using a 2-second pulse load test.

You can get more details at the ULCS web site in the What's New area:

http://www.ulcs.com/news.html

I purchased mine from Reef Photo & Video:

http://www.reefphoto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=95_10&products_id=528

Hoosier · Mar 10, 2007

do it easy:
I'm not sure it works that way- the capacity of alkaline batteries are dependant on the load on them.

With rechargeables, I go by voltage to determine charge level- full charge for my light is about 16.0v (13.2v nominal). NiMH cells are about 1.0v dead and 1.4+ full. If you had a 10 cell pack, I would call it full charged at 14v and would not run it below 10v.

Don't quote me on how it works.

As you may guess, I have no idea on this matter. That is just my initial and prompt thought. It looks like some nice and fancy one can measure it in that way, but it is beyond my budget. In addition, it can't cover a scooter battery so that it might not be a good investment in a long run.

Ok..so you are only measuring a voltage... Hmm~~~

Gudge:
I use a ULCS Multi Battery Tester which computes the remaining power capacity of a variety of batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, NIMH or NiCd, alkaline, and 3 v photo lithium, or 9v) using a 2-second pulse load test.

You can get more details at the ULCS web site in the What's New area:

http://www.ulcs.com/news.html

I purchased mine from Reef Photo & Video:

http://www.reefphoto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=95_10&products_id=528

Yeap... That was the one that I found from the Google serach today afternoon.

But, I am not sure what a pulse load technology is.

jeraldjcook · Aug 16, 2007

Take a look at the attached pdf. There isn't a battery tester that call tell you how many mAh is left in the battery (it is dependent on the particular battery) but if you get the battery's spec sheet, is shows the voltage curve relative to discharge. Look at the graph in the bottom right corner, it should give you the info you need. You just need to find the spec sheet on your particular battery. This sheet is for a Sanyo Eneloop, one of the new low self-discharge NiMH.

A different way to figure out the same thing. My charge tells me how many mA I put into a battery as I'm charging it. Based on the voltage before I start charging, I can get an idea of how many mA I used.

mike_s · Aug 16, 2007

I've been considering buying one they have at Thomas Distributing. anyone used any of those? (for AA and AAA's)

Hoosier · Aug 16, 2007

jeraldjcook:
Take a look at the attached pdf. There isn't a battery tester that call tell you how many mAh is left in the battery (it is dependent on the particular battery) but if you get the battery's spec sheet, is shows the voltage curve relative to discharge. Look at the graph in the bottom right corner, it should give you the info you need. You just need to find the spec sheet on your particular battery. This sheet is for a Sanyo Eneloop, one of the new low self-discharge NiMH.

A different way to figure out the same thing. My charge tells me how many mA I put into a battery as I'm charging it. Based on the voltage before I start charging, I can get an idea of how many mA I used.

Thanks for the attachment.

So basically we have to have the spec sheet on every battery maker. Otherwise, it is too much vague to figure out an exact capacity.

In other words, technically all battery tester is just a voltage meter.. Am I right?

Mike,

If then, this unit on eBay might be much attractive. Otherwise, just grab the volatage meter from a local hardware store.

But, I am not sure if it gives a right info...

jeraldjcook · Aug 16, 2007

Hoosier:
In other words, technically all battery tester is just a voltage meter.. Am I right?

Correct.

But if you have a good charger you can figure it out. A couple of hours ago I charge the batteries in my camera. Each cell read around 1.25v before the charge. To fully charge the batteries (set at 8mv cutoff) took 1900mAh. By taking measurements each time I can get a good idea, based on the individual cell voltage, how much of the capacity is left. My camera tells me the total battery voltage, so I just have to divide by 4.

Of course, as the cells age, they are going to hold less of a charge. 100 charges from now, when the cells are at 1.25v 1700mAh will probably fully charge them.

crpntr133 · Aug 16, 2007

Are we talking life or charge left? If charge left you really need some type of load on them. If not the voltage may read, say 14V. But as soon as you put a load on it, it may slip to nothing. I use to race R/C cars and we used a capacitor and a volt meter until we could afford the good chargers.

jeraldjcook · Aug 16, 2007

crpntr133:
Are we talking life or charge left? If charge left you really need some type of load on them. If not the voltage may read, say 14V. But as soon as you put a load on it, it may slip to nothing. I use to race R/C cars and we used a capacitor and a volt meter until we could afford the good chargers.

To illustrate this point I threw some batteries on the my charger (it also discharges, cycles, etc).

No load = 5.14v
1 amp load = 4.74v
2 amp load = 4.25v
3 amp load = 3.75v

The graph on the pdf attachment shows voltage in relation to load as well.

edit: Why is this relevant? If your battery has gone "bad", under no load it might show 1.3v and you'll think everything is fine, but under even a small load the voltage could plummet to almost nothing. A battery tester or even a voltmeter wouldn't catch this.

Battery Analyzer

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Hoosier

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do it easy

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mike_s

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lost, even with a compass

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