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Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: No.15 on August 07, 2020, 02:30:11 pm

Title: DC load for battery testing
Post by: No.15 on August 07, 2020, 02:30:11 pm
Before I go and drop to much money I thought I would ask here for recommendations.

I am interested/need to test different batteries and battery packs.  Anything from  ~3v to 48v and 20Ah and up, usually less than 300Ah for now but who knows in the future.
I would like to log so I can chart and graph.  Easily used included software would be great.  I am not really interested in a DIY solution at this point unless I really can't find something reasonable to fit the bill.
Reasonable to me is ideally ~1k usd but I am willing to stretch a little for the right product.  I just don't want to buy anything that is to overkill or fancy.
Title: Re: DC load for battery testing
Post by: ledtester on August 07, 2020, 02:43:30 pm
What kind of power dissipation do you need?

If you're looking for a budget friendly choice, recently the  Kunkin KP184 has received a lot of attention - there's lots of posts about it on the forum here.
Title: Re: DC load for battery testing
Post by: No.15 on August 07, 2020, 07:27:47 pm
What kind of power dissipation do you need?

If you're looking for a budget friendly choice, recently the  Kunkin KP184 has received a lot of attention - there's lots of posts about it on the forum here.

I know I can't really afford the power I need to run these tests as fast as I want.  So I just need to get the highest watts I can without breaking my budget and/oe buying something that's not going to last.  Ideally I would like to test the batteries at .5c but that is like 1200 watts or more on some packs.  Individual cells I can probably get .5c between 150 and 400 watts. 
 
I saw the  Kunkin but I am a little worried about longevity.  I have a lot of cells and batteries to test.  Used an new packs from cars, prismatic cells I get from China etc.  All being used or repurposed as storage for solar projects
Title: Re: DC load for battery testing
Post by: No.15 on August 08, 2020, 10:08:08 pm
So I generally don't like to buy from ebay but in a moment of weakness I sent a lowball offer on an item and to my suprise the seller accepted.

Hopefully I did not make a huge mistake but life is about learning huh  :-//

Amrel PLA800-60-300E
General
Power Input (MAX) 800W   Voltage (V) (MAX)  60   Current (A) (MAX)  300


         
Title: Re: DC load for battery testing
Post by: Mr. Scram on August 08, 2020, 11:06:16 pm
So I generally don't like to buy from ebay but in a moment of weakness I sent a lowball offer on an item and to my suprise the seller accepted.

Hopefully I did not make a huge mistake but life is about learning huh  :-//

Amrel PLA800-60-300E
General
Power Input (MAX) 800W   Voltage (V) (MAX)  60   Current (A) (MAX)  300
That's a nice one. Can I ask what you paid?
Title: Re: DC load for battery testing
Post by: No.15 on August 09, 2020, 01:24:02 am
So I generally don't like to buy from ebay but in a moment of weakness I sent a lowball offer on an item and to my suprise the seller accepted.

Hopefully I did not make a huge mistake but life is about learning huh  :-//

Amrel PLA800-60-300E
General
Power Input (MAX) 800W   Voltage (V) (MAX)  60   Current (A) (MAX)  300
That's a nice one. Can I ask what you paid?

So I don't say it out loud, I went 10% over budget plus shipping  Edit: doh |O  bad math, corrected
Title: Re: DC load for battery testing
Post by: Mr. Scram on August 09, 2020, 01:43:11 am
So I don't say it out loud, I went 10% over budget plus shipping  Edit: doh |O  bad math, corrected
That's a fair bit of change but DC loads somehow aren't cheap. Much more mundane DC loads command similar or much more substantial amounts. It looks to be a very useful unit, high resolution and modern interfaces and in great shape too. I feel you did well. I need to check Ebay more often!  ;D
Title: Re: DC load for battery testing
Post by: No.15 on August 09, 2020, 02:16:03 am
So I don't say it out loud, I went 10% over budget plus shipping  Edit: doh |O  bad math, corrected
That's a fair bit of change but DC loads somehow aren't cheap. Much more mundane DC loads command similar or much more substantial amounts. It looks to be a very useful unit, high resolution and modern interfaces and in great shape too. I feel you did well. I need to check Ebay more often!  ;D

Agree, I was somewhat shoked at the prices when I started looking.  I am of the mindset buy once, cry once, so I was not interested in the cheaper what I perceive to be throwaway brands.  Even though for what I am doing I probably could have purchased a coulomb counter and a giant resistor or used my heat gun as a load :).
Title: Re: DC load for battery testing
Post by: ledtester on August 09, 2020, 09:13:10 pm
Note that DC loads can easily be paralleled, so a couple of cheaper loads might be an option.
Title: Re: DC load for battery testing
Post by: No.15 on August 15, 2020, 02:53:02 pm
Finally got the new load bank.  Amrel PLA series load bank.
I can connect to it over ethernet just fine but I am a total failure at getting it to do what I want, which is to basically capacity test batteries.

Can anyone point me to a SCPI primer?  Does anyone have an example script of what I am trying to do that I can copy or use as a template?

Should I post these questions in a different forum?  Thanks