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Author Topic: ISO very small, cheap battery tester?  (Read 3009 times)

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Offline Chuck

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ISO very small, cheap battery tester?
« on: October 20, 2011, 02:44:54 PM »
I'm back to carrying lead to power my recorder, and I'm wondering if anyone knows of a really small, cheap battery tester? I have been carrying a DVM with me, but I suspect that there is something out there that is much smaller that'll work. Maybe even small enough to attach it to the top of the battery so I can wire in a button to test the battery real quick?
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Microphones: AKG C 480 B comb-ULS/ CK 61/ CK 63, Sennheiser MKE 2 elements,  Audix M1290-o, Micro capsule active cables w/ Naiant PFA's, Naiant MSH-1O, Naiant AKG Active cables, Church CA-11 (cardioid), (1) Nady SCM-1000 (mod)
Pre-amps: Naiant littlebox, Naiant littlekit v2.0, BM2p+ Edirol UA-5, Church STC-9000
Recorders: Sound Devices MixPre-6, iRiver iHP-120 (Rockboxed & RTC mod)

Recordings on the LMA: http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/ChuckM
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Offline it-goes-to-eleven

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Re: ISO very small, cheap battery tester?
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2011, 03:35:07 PM »
As you probably know, a dvm isn't a very good battery tester because the battery is not under load.

Ideally you measure the voltage under load... And that's what the testers do.  They have load resistors for a variety of different battery types and sizes.

You've done projects before.. I suggest you cobble something together.  There are plenty of diy designs.

I think any tester you buy is going to cost you $25+ and be rather large.

kirk97132

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Re: ISO very small, cheap battery tester?
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2011, 04:13:31 PM »
Everything said above ....it is ESPECIALLY important to check lead acid batteries under load.  As they age they can exhibit varying results depending on what the load is.   Some will show a full 12V after being charged then as soon as it has a load on it the voltage drops drastically. This can also be influenced by the amount of load too.   And as far as I know there is not any "easy" way to have a tester that will do load testing too on your battery. 

Offline Chuck

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Re: ISO very small, cheap battery tester?
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2011, 04:17:01 PM »
I figured there might be a red - yellow - green LED circuit that I could use. I'd wire it so it's always in the circuit. I just push the button to check the battery. Since I only use the SLA with the recorder I would always be using it test the battery under load.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Microphones: AKG C 480 B comb-ULS/ CK 61/ CK 63, Sennheiser MKE 2 elements,  Audix M1290-o, Micro capsule active cables w/ Naiant PFA's, Naiant MSH-1O, Naiant AKG Active cables, Church CA-11 (cardioid), (1) Nady SCM-1000 (mod)
Pre-amps: Naiant littlebox, Naiant littlekit v2.0, BM2p+ Edirol UA-5, Church STC-9000
Recorders: Sound Devices MixPre-6, iRiver iHP-120 (Rockboxed & RTC mod)

Recordings on the LMA: http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/ChuckM
Recording website & blog: http://www.timebetweenthenotes.com

kirk97132

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Re: ISO very small, cheap battery tester?
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2011, 04:22:23 PM »
I guess that would work but I suggest that you want to check it under a larger load than the device uses.  Then you'll know it's good for your use.  A load tester like they use on car batteries is basicly a dead short induced to simulate a full load then you watch to see if what the voltage drops too under load and the second part of the test is to see if it returns to the start voltage.  A fail on either part of the test means a bad battery

Offline Chuck

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Re: ISO very small, cheap battery tester?
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2011, 04:28:50 PM »
Yeah, I don't want to dead short a battery when I'm using it to power my recorder. There are project boards out there that'll work, but they are too big, since the ones I see use through hole parts... Someone must make a really small tester using surface mount parts and small LEDs.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Microphones: AKG C 480 B comb-ULS/ CK 61/ CK 63, Sennheiser MKE 2 elements,  Audix M1290-o, Micro capsule active cables w/ Naiant PFA's, Naiant MSH-1O, Naiant AKG Active cables, Church CA-11 (cardioid), (1) Nady SCM-1000 (mod)
Pre-amps: Naiant littlebox, Naiant littlekit v2.0, BM2p+ Edirol UA-5, Church STC-9000
Recorders: Sound Devices MixPre-6, iRiver iHP-120 (Rockboxed & RTC mod)

Recordings on the LMA: http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/ChuckM
Recording website & blog: http://www.timebetweenthenotes.com

kirk97132

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Re: ISO very small, cheap battery tester?
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2011, 04:32:11 PM »
Well right a load test like I am speaking about should NOT be done while the battery is under use.  The only issue I see with your method of testing it while using the deck as a load is that up until the battery is bad it will always test out good.  You would need to remember what your readings were from previous test in order to see if it is starting to drain faster( going bad ).  Does that make sense?

I think the problem is SLA have higher amperage so surface mount stuff might not be able to handle it. 
« Last Edit: October 20, 2011, 04:36:00 PM by kirkd »

 

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