The simple answer is 1 battery analyzer and 3 variable power supplies.
That is what is used the most. The variable power supplies charge the batteries, which can be monitored by the analyzer if needed. And the analyzer also records any discharge.
The analyzer can handle 48V, or 150W, or 40A. That's not too bad in most cases. Sometimes with very large or very small batteries, we have to either split the supply or amplify it. That makes a test less accurate, but it doesn't happen often and the result is usually close enough.
The analyzer is really the center of the test bench.
And we've found the best chargers are the variable power supplies for these reasons.
- They are accurate to a hundredth of a volt and charge almost any cell and pack.
- Variable smart chargers are limited to a range of batteries and packs and we'd need other smart chargers to do as wide a range as the power supplies do.
- We can "rig" up a charging protocol with power supplies if a pack/cell falls outside the immediate range of what they can do natively while smart chargers can only do their native range of cells/packs.
- And sometimes we want to know exactly what the charger is doing - voltage and amperage wise - which only the most expensive of variable chargers will let us do.
It's not to say we don't have smart chargers. We have them for some more common cells/packs. Also, we sometimes need to charge something faster than a variable power supply method will allow which a smart charger does.
Testing is something we love doing. One of the most popular articles is about testing AA alkaline batteries. Who doesn't want to know what the best AA alkaline battery is? Although that set of tests is getting rather old because the latest in alkaline battery technology is a little better than they show. I'll work to update that information and I'll republish the old article here as well.
If there is any question about battery testing, or if there is a specific test you haven't seen, just let me know.
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