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| Battery Test Function on VOM - Why Not? |
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| EPAIII:
There are battery testers. Yes, I know that. And they are inexpensive. Perhaps too inexpensive as they often don't work from the get-go or have a limited life, both due to cheap construction. But what would it take to add an under load, battery check function to a VOM, either analog or digital? I am not talking about car, truck, or even motorcycle batteries, just household coin cells, AAA, AA, C, D, 9V batteries. A simple group of load resistors and some push button switches to place them across the Voltage test leads is all that would be needed. Possibly a fuse or circuit breaker of current limiting circuit to prevent damage. Oh, and some labeling. A Chinese OEM could do it for pennies. I did a quick internet search and found zero VOMs with this feature. Many instructions on how to use a VOM to test batteries, but none with that as a feature. NONE! OK, I did find one: https://ennologic.com/product/digital-multimeter-em530s/ So, why does almost no one do it? With everything digital today, perhaps the difficulty of a good-bad indication with a digital display? But those displays can say Volts, Ohms, Amps, etc. so why not Good or Bad or Questionable? I am thinking about making a simple plug in PCB with two banana plugs and some battery sockets. But that would be an add-on. Why does almost no VOM maker have under load, battery check as a built-in feature. |
| EPAIII:
And if it is a great idea, I INVENTED IT and want millions! |
| Kim Christensen:
--- Quote from: EPAIII on July 31, 2023, 06:39:24 pm ---There are battery testers. Yes, I know that. And they are inexpensive. --- End quote --- I think that's the main reason. The other reason is that the battery load test is a very rough and vague test. That's why most of those cheap testers have those Go-No-Go indicators on them. No need for an accurate digital readout. Plus there's just so many capacities and chemistries. ie: A NiMH AA cell is going to look half dead on a tester designed for an alkaline AA. A D-cell is going to need a bigger load than a AAAA cell even if the chemistry is the same, etc. Plus people who buy multimeters would consider a battery load test function one of the last feature on the list of must haves. I know I would. |
| schmitt trigger:
I have got an analog Sanwa YX361 meter which does have that function. As long as you measure AA or AAA alkaline batteries, it does the job. |
| Veteran68:
There are DMMs with a battery test feature. It's not exactly common but not unheard of either. I don't have specific examples off the top of my head, but I've run across them. I'm sure when I have a minute I could name a few. --- Quote from: Kim Christensen on July 31, 2023, 07:33:13 pm --- --- Quote from: EPAIII on July 31, 2023, 06:39:24 pm ---There are battery testers. Yes, I know that. And they are inexpensive. --- End quote --- I think that's the main reason. The other reason is that the battery load test is a very rough and vague test. That's why most of those cheap testers have those Go-No-Go indicators on them. No need for an accurate digital readout. Plus there's just so many capacities and chemistries. ie: A NiMH AA cell is going to look half dead on a tester designed for an alkaline AA. A D-cell is going to need a bigger load than a AAAA cell even if the chemistry is the same, etc. Plus people who buy multimeters would consider a battery load test function one of the last feature on the list of must haves. I know I would. --- End quote --- There are cheap battery testers that have exact voltage readouts, not just green/yellow/red indicators. I've had this one for some time and it works quite well. Just as an anecdotal example, I got a new FLIR DM64 meter last week, and it shipped with 2x Energizer AAA's with fresh dates (2026). As soon as I put them in the meter I thought the display was a bit dim, and the low battery indicator appeared immediately. After a couple minutes, the meter shutoff and wouldn't turn back on. I popped the batteries out and measured them in this little Aneng tester and then with the FLIR meter after I replaced the batteries. Both measured 300mv on one of the AAA batteries, so it was dead from the factory. It's also easier and quicker to deploy than a DMM which would usually require me to unwrap leads and awkwardly probe a battery. |
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