testing batteries

[SparknMike]

Take care in how you test the batteries if there is some safety concern. I have seen people fall on their face trying to use the non-load testing devices. In one case people were throwing away truck loads of six month old batteries that were declared bad by a company using an impedance test. These batteries passed the appropriate load tests and the equipment using the batteries passed their tests for performance and run time.

If this is some form of alarm system or emergency lighting I would inquire the authorities as to the appropriate way to test these devices. You wouldn't want to be held responsible for someone who was injured when a battery you tested failed in operation.

If you just need a quick, dirty, and sometimes inaccurate test just checking the voltage is a good start. These batteries should be charged if they are removed from equipment. In that case any that read under the weather do so because either the charger is bad or because the battery is failing.

 

[brian john]

Take care in how you test the batteries if there is some safety concern. I have seen people fall on their face trying to use the non-load testing devices. In one case people were throwing away truck loads of six month old batteries that were declared bad by a company using an impedance test. These batteries passed the appropriate load tests and the equipment using the batteries passed their tests for performance and run time.

Then the company did not know what they were doing, there is more to this work then just buying test equipment.

If this is some form of alarm system or emergency lighting I would inquire the authorities as to the appropriate way to test these devices. You wouldn't want to be held responsible for someone who was injured when a battery you tested failed in operation.

Few if any AUTHORITIES know how or what to test in my exopierence.

 

[electricalperson]

Then the company did not know what they were doing, there is more to this work then just buying test equipment.



Few if any AUTHORITIES know how or what to test in my exopierence.

brian what do you use to test batteries? any books or anything i can buy or look at online?

the way i want to test is a simple yes or no answer. all i want to know is how to check a battery. batterys i work with a lot are inside of generators, alarm panels, emergency light fixtures

 

[dereckbc]

the way i want to test is a simple yes or no answer. all i want to know is how to check a battery. batterys i work with a lot are inside of generators, alarm panels, emergency light fixtures

The only good way is a load test, and in these applications it is easy. Crank the generator, if it cranks it is good. Kill the powerl to the alarm panel or lights and see how long it runs while monitoring the voltage so you can turn it back on when you see the voltage approach 11 volts on a 12 volt battery.

 

[brian john]

brian what do you use to test batteries? any books or anything i can buy or look at online?

the way i want to test is a simple yes or no answer. all i want to know is how to check a battery. batterys i work with a lot are inside of generators, alarm panels, emergency light fixtures

We use DC resistive load banks, AC when loading through the UPS.

Literature from the manufacturers and IEEE is a good place to start.

 

[Bernard1599]

......what do you use to test batteries? any books or anything i can buy or look at online?

the way i want to test is a simple yes or no answer. all i want to know is how to check a battery. batterys i work with a lot are inside of generators, alarm panels, emergency light fixtures

I understand that a pulse load tester is the preferred method of testing the type of battery you may be referring to.

Please Google "pulse load tester"

Regards,
Bernard

 

[electricalperson]

We use DC resistive load banks, AC when loading through the UPS.

Literature from the manufacturers and IEEE is a good place to start.

we used to have westinghouse load resistors in school. it was old as the hills, had a bunch of resistors inside and had levers on the front where you would flip and according to the lever position would change the resistance. i think it had about 8 levers or so on the front if i remember correctly. we used to use it when we played with the DC for our lab experiments. all we would use was DC in that part of the shop anyway

 

[GeorgeB]

Anybody run into the explosive Li-Poly cells/packs?

All the time with my son's interest in various scale model vehicles. There are many commercial chargers and load testers available for "smaller" size packs. Most packs bring out monitoring points between cells for balancing capability.

LiPo technology is reasonably well developed now; I'd GUESS that most cell phones and notebook computers use them. I don't know how well they would do for emergency lighting power; all of the uses for which I know them to be used are relatively frequent cycling.