Has anyone used that Chinese Capacity Tester Will used on his video?

[A.Justice]

Hey thanks!
The battery cells have all been testing at around 85Ah to 89Ah. .

No problem, happy to help! At that level of remaining capacity, they would still be considered acceptable for use by the manufacturer. You could probably get quite a few cycles out of them.

I’m making a list of the Ah Capacity test results. People here told me to pair the best with the worst. So #1 with #48. #2 with #47 and so on…

Very good idea.

 

[Bud Martin]

Watched his follow-up video. Looks like the plug-in power supply crapped out. Strange that there is no fuse in the cct with the 7812 regulator. Such a cheap component could have protected the battery tester. As soon as mine arrives I am going to put a zener diode / fuse combination at the input.

+1, No protection at all, I also wonder about his larger one by the same company.

 

[Just John]

+1, No protection at all, I also wonder about his larger one by the same company.

The larger one uses a fairly decent 5v at 60 amps switching power supply internally. Since they limit it to 40 amps, so far it has had no problems running about 100 cycles for me. It plugs directly into A/C, no power brick, and the A/C goes through some protection circuits that are pretty standard to the 5v supply.

 

[Stepandwolf]

If you can afford it, i'd go the 180w version for $10 more.
Also depends on how soon you need it. Coming from Aliexpress means China, which means likely at least a month to get to you.

That voltage drop could be due to high cell internal resistance (old and used cell), or poor wiring. Hard to tell.

Wasn't able to find that model. Only 180W models I could find were $80 and $100. I didn't feel going from 150>180W was worth nearly doubling the price. If someone has a link to a $60 180W I would like to know it. Thanks

 

[Stepandwolf]

Yep. As someone else mentioned, ring terminals would be better.

On the battery end I have used ring terminals, but on the 150W tester I have, you need fork terminals for the tester end.

 

[Stepandwolf]

I removed the old leads, bought some 10 gauge oversized thick wire, installed ring terminals, and lightly sanded them all down with 2000 grit sandpaper to remove any corrosion due to the humid Panama air.

Off topic - I lived in Panama for 2.5 years...always warm and humid, afternoon rain daily, no glass in the windows....iguanas running everywhere and all the bananas you could eat

 

[Stepandwolf]

My 2 cents.
I purchased the same unit and on a single LifeFo4 cell it would not pull more then 7 amps.
I did run more then one volt meter just to double check as I figured for $50 I was not buying a lab grade test unit.
The main thing I was looking for was if the batteries I purchased were the ah they said they were.
I was not in a rush so I let it run and the few batteries I tested all came out 1% or less that what they were rated.
I have a 2nd batch of batteries in transit from Cali and once I get them I will top balance and test the same way.

I have the same 150W unit and it would pull 10-12A with quality 10GA wire connected to a 280ah battery.

 

[houseofancients]

Eagerly awaiting the EBC-A20 ( as tested by Andy@Off Grid Garage ) to arrive. The only problem is that it is limited to max 30v , so the 48v 100ah battery that I just build will have to be tested in two stages of 24v each. Will report results.

got the ebc-a40..
highly recommended, love the software too

 

[Pierre]

The larger one uses a fairly decent 5v at 60 amps switching power supply internally. Since they limit it to 40 amps, so far it has had no problems running about 100 cycles for me. It plugs directly into A/C, no power brick, and the A/C goes through some protection circuits that are pretty standard to the 5v supply.

Sounds great ! You must be doing a lot of testing / evaluating. Glad to hear that the product is good.

 

[Stepandwolf]

got the ebc-a40..
highly recommended, love the software too

If I was getting beer donations I could afford and justify the big buck option....doing a one time test of 16 cells the $50 option will have to do

 

[houseofancients]

If I was getting beer donations I could afford and justify the big buck option....doing a one time test of 16 cells the $50 option will have to do

i dont get any beer donations, however it was worth it to me..
discharging and charging at 40ah just shortens testing time.
total i paid inc shipping and import fees was about 225 eur

 

[Pierre]

got the ebc-a40..
highly recommended, love the software too

Just received mine ! So far very impressed. Software so easy to install , as well as the driver. Plug and Play. Did a quick short discharge on my one pack - what a pleasure. Now I do not have to take measurements at certain intervals and plot out.
Highly recommended.

 

[houseofancients]

currently testing all of mine..
while i love the tester and its software, im starting love my 2nd 150ah cells less and less

they are all over the place from 85 ah till 113..

gonna have a chat with the guy that sold them to me as new old stock

 

[Just John]

Sounds great ! You must be doing a lot of testing / evaluating. Glad to hear that the product is good.

I had seen a lot of conflicting information, so I have indeed done a LOT of testing for myself.
I'm very curious, and can afford test equipment, so I thought it best not to rely on second hand information, and do my own testing.

 

[Stepandwolf]

i dont get any beer donations, however it was worth it to me..
discharging and charging at 40ah just shortens testing time.
total i paid inc shipping and import fees was about 225 eur

So you are testing 3X as fast, and at the moment I wish my testing was going 3X as fast. But then I have had the batteries for along time and never tested until now so taking 16 days vs. 6 days isn't such a big deal. The graphing and charting is a cool feature, but not something i care about.

 

[Pierre]

Just received mine ! So far very impressed. Software so easy to install , as well as the driver. Plug and Play. Did a quick short discharge on my one pack - what a pleasure. Now I do not have to take measurements at certain intervals and plot out.
Highly recommended.

I do not trust this brick power supply that came with the unit. Tested by charging a 12,8v LiFePO4 battery at 5 amps. Power supply got fairly warm to the touch after about 20min. Maybe that is how Andy@Off Grid Garage got his regulator chip in the unit fried. Decided to rather power the unit from my bench power supply. Doing the above test the unit was drawing 4,2 amps from the bench PSU and the brick is only rated at 4.74 amps. Anyone else who had the brick fried or still going strong ?
I noticed that Andy replaced the 7812 regulator chip in his unit but when he tested it he found more extensive damage. Is it now FUBAR ?
I initially set up the tester to charge at 10 amps but the unit choked it to 5 amps. Only once I read the manual I realised that charging is limited to 5 amps and discharging to 20 amps.

 

[houseofancients]

I do not trust this brick power supply that came with the unit. Tested by charging a 12,8v LiFePO4 battery at 5 amps. Power supply got fairly warm to the touch after about 20min. Maybe that is how Andy@Off Grid Garage got his regulator chip in the unit fried. Decided to rather power the unit from my bench power supply. Doing the above test the unit was drawing 4,2 amps from the bench PSU and the brick is only rated at 4.74 amps. Anyone else who had the brick fried or still going strong ?
I noticed that Andy replaced the 7812 regulator chip in his unit but when he tested it he found more extensive damage. Is it now FUBAR ?
I initially set up the tester to charge at 10 amps but the unit choked it to 5 amps. Only once I read the manual I realised that charging is limited to 5 amps and discharging to 20 amps.

only the 20 has this brick power supply, the 40 is equiped with an internal proper powersupply

 

[Julianl]

I have the maker hawk 180W.

Whats the max amps at 3.2v? It's maxing out at 32w - 10A. Is this the limit?

 

[Stepandwolf]

I have the maker hawk 180W.

Whats the max amps at 3.2v? It's maxing out at 32w - 10A. Is this the limit?

I have the 150W model and it is putting out 12.X A and others say they have gotten 15A out, or at least they limited it to 15A due to heat. If you have good connectors, 10 or 8 ga wire, and short, i.e. 12" wires, you might get more if that isn't what you are running.

 

[Julianl]

I have the 150W model and it is putting out 12.X A and others say they have gotten 15A out, or at least they limited it to 15A due to heat. If you have good connectors, 10 or 8 ga wire, and short, i.e. 12" wires, you might get more if that isn't what you are running.

I was using 12 ga with rings and forks. Made some 10 ga 12” and same result.