jdege
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2020
- Messages
- 185
I've been playing with these:
MakerHawk Electronic Load Tester

The UI allows you to easily set current limits beyond what they can handle. And, of course, the provided cables are crap.
I was trying to use one, with 10GA cables with proper ring terminals, to discharge a 48V LiFePO4 battery, and it very quickly popped something and stopped working.
They're cheap enough, so I bought another, very conservatively configured it to cutoff at >150W and >3A, then adjusted it to draw about 2.7A, 140W.
At this draw it said it would require 30+ hours to drain the battery. I checked on it 24 hours later, and while I was looking it popped again, without my having touched it.
Are there load testing devices anyone can recommend that can manage higher currents and power levels?
This one says it'll handle 250W. Clearly it can't handle 150W.
I'd like something that could manage 20A at 12V and 5A at 48V. So that's pretty much the 250W this thing promises but doesn't deliver.
Ideas?
MakerHawk Electronic Load Tester

The UI allows you to easily set current limits beyond what they can handle. And, of course, the provided cables are crap.
I was trying to use one, with 10GA cables with proper ring terminals, to discharge a 48V LiFePO4 battery, and it very quickly popped something and stopped working.
They're cheap enough, so I bought another, very conservatively configured it to cutoff at >150W and >3A, then adjusted it to draw about 2.7A, 140W.
At this draw it said it would require 30+ hours to drain the battery. I checked on it 24 hours later, and while I was looking it popped again, without my having touched it.
Are there load testing devices anyone can recommend that can manage higher currents and power levels?
This one says it'll handle 250W. Clearly it can't handle 150W.
I'd like something that could manage 20A at 12V and 5A at 48V. So that's pretty much the 250W this thing promises but doesn't deliver.
Ideas?