Build a Battery ESR Tester
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
- With the proliferation of small, rechargeable batteries. Here is a super easy project to augment your test bench that will help you determine the state and life of any small rechargeable battery from AAA on up to 9 volt including the 18650 & 14500 series batteries.
VIDEO CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:18 Finished Project On The Bench
1:23 How To Use It
6:00 Schematic
7:42 What's Inside
9:32 DIY Meter Scale
13:15 Opening The Meter
17:55 Subscribe
17:58 End Tag
Links:
ESR Calculator:
www.translatorscafe.com/unit-...
Free "Meter Basic" download:
tonnesoftware.com/meterbasicdo... - Jak na to + styl
I do a lot of troubleshooting and repair of test gear and metrology equipment. A good variable frequency ESR meter is an absolute must for quick fault finding on circuit boards. In circuit testing is unparalleled in quickly and accurately narrowing down the possibilities.
An esr meter can test a lot of things other than just caps. I think the "diode gone wild" did a few videos where he showed off some techniques, and so did "learn electronics repair".
And an analog scale is pretty hard to beat in some instances. So I could see this really becoming popular with the DIY and even professional electronics troubleshooting folks
And I really like the setup of your bench.
Just finished to build it. 😁
I struggled for soldering the thick cables, design the panel, and design the BOX.
The panel was done in Inkscape with a special extension, Scale, that creates simple gauges like MeterBasic, but since you are already in a vectorial app, then you can change the design as you want. I had to print and scale it a couple of times since once printed on the LaserJet, 1 cm on video was not 1 cm when printed.
The box was designed in CAD and 3D printed, unfortunately only after I printed it, I realized that the data sheet with the drawings of the amperometer with holes and screws quotes, were completely wrong! I preferred to file so parts and do some drills on the box instead of change the CAD design and reprint it correctly, since it has to be used only once, and the manual holes were covered by the milliaperometer.
I had also troubles to solder the thick cable even with a TS100 solder and the fattest iron. After the some mandatory soldering I switched to screw contacts for the following joins. However it looks very nice, and it seems to work fine also.
I discovered that almost all my rechargeable batteries are still good. 😉
Nice technique there Roberto. Sorry you had to do so much trial and error but I guess that's the way the hobby is when you're "Rolling Your Own". I just used my ESR tester this morning on a couple of 20 year old batteries that are still showing less than 2 ohms ESR! They don't seem to have the shelf life between charges as a new Eneloop but they will do in a pinch.
This is very useful. Thank you very much.
I was a victim of counterfeit batteries. I bought a pack of AAA cells for remote controls, and my remote died way too soon, and the batteries leaked as well. I checked the pack of batteries, and they were also corroded, yet they had ten years left on the use by date!
But comparing the failed pack of batteries to a new pack, I saw the difference right away! Sadly, I don't remember where I had bought them, but I suspect they came from Walmart. I have had trouble with pop cans from Walmart as well, and I really look at the products before I buy anything from there, and I don't shop there unless absolutely necessary.
You can print anything your printer is capable of on plastic or plastic coated papers available for printers. But the best method for me has been the transfer paper! If you have ever built models and painted them, you would be given a set of transfer decals to apply to the model. Well, you can buy the same paper, and use it, but you need waterproof ink to use with it.
The transfer paper allows you to paint the metal plate any color you desire and apply the decal to the plate! I would not print the background on the decal, as it doesn't look as good as painting the plate, at least that has been my experience.
Yeah it's so easy to do now that you really gotta watch out every time you buy something. I saw an article from Mouser a while back saying that almost 30% of parts on the market today are fakes and how they (Mouser) try their level best to market genuine products.
Nice project.
Thx for informative video.....New fresh 9 volt Alkaline Non--Rechargeable batteries Most Designed for < 100 ma Load, contain significantly Less internal Chemical Paste & Electrode area per Cell (Compared to 1.5 volt AAA--D size batteries) naturally causing much higher ESR & Trying to source 1000 ma test Current draw into your 10 ohm Load resistor.....A switchable load Resistor of 100 ohms (For 9 volt Alkaline) to 10 ohm for 1.5 volt battery would Probably be more Realistic (And potentially Less overload Damaging) for 9 volt Alkaline batteries.....Just a thought on tweaking your Excelent diy ESR battery Quality tester design......
The 9 volt battery has 6 cells in series. esr per cell would be - meter reading and divide by 6.
True, assuming that all the cells exhibited the same ESR. However, there would most likely be (1) that was way high in ESR where the others would not. It would still indicate an overall high ESR for the whole battery.
Been hoping for some good esr testers with analog display. Very nice design.
Possibly a future upgrade to allow for a range of different test frequencies.
I may just do that later on by making a 2nd terminal strip (so I wont need a rotary switch) then create a new dual meter scale to read the new load results like (1) for AAA to 18650 and (1) for various 9V batteries.
I do a lot of troubleshooting and repair of test gear and metrology equipment. A good variable frequency ESR meter is an absolute must for quick fault finding on circuit boards. In circuit testing is unparalleled in quickly and accurately narrowing down the possibilities.
An esr meter can test a lot of things other than just caps. I think the "diode gone wild" did a few videos where he showed off some techniques, and so did "learn electronics repair".
And an analog scale is pretty hard to beat in some instances. So I could see this really becoming popular with the DIY and even professional electronics troubleshooting folks
One could paint the backside of the original metal scale with Dye Sublimation coating, then heat press the artwork right onto the metal.... people that do a lot of Dye Sublimation could do it for you.
Now that's interesting. I'll have to do some research on that process. Sounds like I might have a new way to letter my projects. --Thanks Keri!
@@DVRproductions52 You're welcome! Another idea is to use pre-coated metal blanks meant as inserts for sublimation smartphone cases... the metal is so thin it cuts easily with scissors. then you just have to get the special dye sub ink printed backwards on some transfer paper and iron it on at high temperature. I have made many things in this way.... they're practically indestructible. If you search Vinyl Engine for "P91 Multi-Standard Phono Preamp" you will see an example.
I'll def. look into that process. Sounds very intriguing!
One scale for different battery voltages will not work very well.
The 10 Ohms resistor loads the NiMH with a little more than 100 mA but the poor 9V block with almost 1A and the Lithium something in between.
As the internal resistance calculates (Vopen-Vload)/Iload you would need different scales for different battery types.
You are quite right. I considered that and probably will reprint the scale later on and possibly change the load resistor to around 20 or 30 ohms using a selector switch.
But it kills the battery. Zero point never will be the same after you measure that battery with this.
If you leave it on TEST too long, yes. But if you momentarily load it... Won't hurt it a bit.