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  • Author Author: Matt
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UPS ESR Battery Measurements - Workbench Wednesdays 32

 

As batteries age, their ESR goes up. Eventually, they will no longer be serviceable. A battery measurement tool like the Hioki BT3554 lets field service technicians monitor the help of batteries over time. In this video, see how it can be used to measure a live UPS battery.

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Bill of Materials

Product Name Manufacturer Quantity Buy Now
Battery Tester, 6V & 60V, 3 mOhm to 3 Ohm, with Angled Pin type Lead L2020 & Bluetooth Technology Hioki 1 Buy Now

 

  • in reply to koudelad

    Thank you David, I appreciate the feedback.

  • in reply to baldengineer

    For me is the usual 10-15 minutes format OK, you always try to explain not only a specific device/component, but many important things around, which is great. I also sometimes rewind when you are explaining faster than I am able to process.

     

    No need to worry, you are still thousand times "faster" then some of the 45-minute EEVblog videos where people complain that it could be said in two sentences.

  • in reply to koudelad

      wrote:

    PS: I missed the usual intro...

    Hmm. I have been trying to shorten the intro to "get to the point" faster. but maybe I can at least bring "Welcome Back..." back. image

  • Thank you for showing this interesting instrument. I haven't seen it in action before.

     

    I recently measured a capacity of 3 pieces of a 12 V 8 Ah batteries (which are used in a small 300 W / 500 VA UPS) using a bench power supply for charging and electronic load for discharging. The total time was between 10 to 24 hours for each battery. This battery tester can be a huge time saver. However, I have no idea, whether modern UPS have some monitoring circuitry to tell when to change the battery due to a high ESR / low capacity. In that case it would be hard to justify the cost.

    If it can be used on other chemistry types like NiCd, NiMH and Lithium cells, it makes more sense to buy it for someone working with rechargeable batteries on daily basis.

     

    PS: I missed the usual intro...

  • in reply to DAB

    The commercial-grade UPSes I use (whatever Amazon or Staples sells) tend to last in the range of 3-5 years. I do buy brand new UPS units when the batteries die because the newer ones are usually quieter (electrically and audibly) than the previous version.

     

    Before I moved, I had a box of retired UPSes I intended to tear down and get the parts out of. But, I didn't have time, so they ended up at the electronics recycler. image

  • Good episode James.

     

    I had not thought of using that meter for a battery back up system.

     

    I picked up a dead one at a garage sale for a buck. The batteries were toast, but I figured that there were enough interesting components inside.  I was right.

     

    DAB