Let’s say you want to measure the capacity of some sort of battery. You’ve found something that looks exactly like this on a website that sells things, and want to know if it’s any good - and also wouldn’t mind a manual written in something that faintly resembles readable English.
(Comments from Blogger)
2016-01-20 by Unknown
I don’t think the pulsing is a problem. It is also exactly how the Opus BT-C3100 battery charger/tester does it and that costs $40 or so. Presumably the average, since the battery is resting between pulses, is the same. I’d be interested if you found other testers that gave different results because they actually vary the current.
2016-01-20 by Unknown
I should have noted that I think it’s awesome you’re doing some testing on these. I’ve been looking at them on ebay for a while and trying to figure out which one is worth getting is a combination of decrypting Chinglish and trusting that it does vaguely what they say.
You mentioned on this one that it has a serial loggin ability and that interests me greatly. I wouldn’t run that software either but I’m curious if you did any looking at the serial data to see what it actually outputs because with a cheap usb-serial dongle and simple python program it should be easy enough to create a csv file of data allowing graphing discharge curves even with OpenOffice. I use Linux anyway so wouldn’t even be tempted to play with the software, but creating graphs for batteries I find very attractive.
I’m about to read more of your tests that follow. Thanks for your efforts.
2016-01-20 by Russell Graves
Sadly, I was not successful in getting serial output from this thing. I didn’t feel like throwing the provided software in a VM and messing with USB/serial output.
The pulsing isn’t a big deal, but the resistance based testing (instead of semiconductor based constant current) is enough to make me not bother with this further.
2017-05-31 by Russell Graves
You should be able to find a copy of the software here: on-line battery tester.rar - Google Drive
2017-07-11 by Unknown
I gather that I should not use this device for my ~7.5 volt NiMetal Hydride batteries. Or is there a decent check using the capacity measured if I first discharge the sticks to 5 volts? I only need comparison tests, where I see the difference between good battery and bad. Note - when i made my purchase, I thought the only limit was the 5 v. input, and that the ~6.5 Amp hour sticks were well within the AHr range.
Thanks for your wonderful web-page and experiments!
John
2017-07-11 by Russell Graves
I don’t believe this tester handles higher voltages, no.
The ZB2L3 works up to 15V and 3A: https://syonyk.blogspot.com/2015/10/zb2l3-v20-zhiyu-battery-tester.html
The TEC02 might work, but is less flexible: https://syonyk.blogspot.com/2015/10/tec-02-ver-30-semiconductor-battery.html
And the ZB206+ (my favorite tester) will handle up to 8.5V: https://syonyk.blogspot.com/2016/01/zb206-battery-tester.html
What’s the fully charged voltage on your packs? The ZB2L3 supports the highest voltage.
2018-12-10 by Unknown
Hi Russell. I bought one from ebay @ USD16.99
but unfortunately the seller did not send me any software
and he went missing in action when I keep asking for it.
I have log a complaint to Ebay. Could you please share me
the PC driver and logging software ? my email is waipan30@yahoo.com
appreciate your help. Thank you
2018-12-11 by Russell Graves
I can’t find my copy of the software, sorry. I never did get it working.