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Poor Man's Battery tester

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Ray Griffith

Joined: 03 Dec 2008
Posts: 7
Location: Albuquerque, NM

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:21 pm Post subject: Poor Man's Battery tester

I built the poor mans tester Figure 2-4 in AeroElectric Connection.   My only modification was I have three bulbs in parallel to simulate the load I  have on the battery that I estimate at 11amps to run my fuel pump, ECU, and  Ignition.  The problem is when I connect the test to the battery and have  all three bulbs on the tester kicks off at 13 volts with one bulb it kicks off  about 10.5 Volts and with 2 bulbs it kicks off at 12 volts.  I have rebuilt  the unit with new 10v Zener and I get the same results.  Does anyone have  any suggestions what I have done wrong is do I need to change the resistor size  between the load (bulbs)?

  

 Thanks,

 Ray

   [quote][b]

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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:11 pm Post subject: Poor Man's Battery tester

At 04:19 PM 4/24/2012, you wrote:

I built the poor mans tester Figure 2-4 in AeroElectric 

Connection.  My only modification was I have three bulbs in parallel 

to simulate the load I have on the battery that I estimate at 11amps 

to run my fuel pump, ECU, and Ignition.  The problem is when I 

connect the test to the battery and have all three bulbs on the 

tester kicks off at 13 volts with one bulb it kicks off about 10.5 

Volts and with 2 bulbs it kicks off at 12 volts.  I have rebuilt the 

unit with new 10v Zener and I get the same results.  Does anyone have 

any suggestions what I have done wrong is do I need to change the 

resistor size between the load (bulbs)?



Thanks,

Ray



    Ray, I thought I had responded to this query. I think

    I was in OKC. In any case, there's something fishy about

    the shift in shut down voltages you cited. Irrespective

    of how many load bulbs are on the tester, it should drop

    out at some voltage below 11 volts. When a battery drops

    below 10.5 volts, it's 98% used up.



    The description of your experiments don't prompt any

    thoughts as to what's happening.



    If you'll mail your electronics assembly to me I'd

    be pleased to troubleshoot it.



    Box 130, Medicine Lodge, KS  67104-0130



   Bob . . .

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user9253

Joined: 28 Mar 2008
Posts: 1927
Location: Riley TWP Michigan

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:38 am Post subject: Re: Poor Man's Battery tester

Ray said,  	  Quote: 	
		  "Does anyone have any suggestions what I have done wrong is do I need to change the resistor size between the load (bulbs)?" 	


No resistors go between the bulbs.  The electronic circuit and the lamp circuit are connected in parallel and thus are completely separate and independent circuits, sharing only the battery and relay contacts and connecting wires.

  Maybe I misinterpreted what you meant by "between the load (bulbs)".  In that case, the problem might be the battery.  Is it small or old and weak?  Are the voltage measurements taken at the instant that the relay opens or later after the battery has had a chance to recover?  Perhaps the battery can recover easier from a short term heavy load compared to a long term light load.  I suspect that the circuit opens at the same voltage regardless of the load.  But the battery will recover to different voltages depending upon the rate of discharge during the test.

Joe

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