Cheap Battery Tester

[yaputya]

I bought a cheap battery tester from ALDI recently, a Globaltronics GT-BT-03.
This may or may not be available in Australia yet (I live in Europe)
(If it comes to ALDI in Australia, it may be rebadged as Tevion.)

It has a 3-digit LCD display and it connects to various batteries via a sliding
extension for the positive pole.
It has two negative contacts for testing batteries - one for AAA, AA, C and D cells
and another for button cells and 9V batteries.
The voltage reading is reasonably accurate compared to my multimeter
but the tester doesn't draw much current from the battery.
e.g. for the AAA, AA etc. cell contact
at 1.1V it draws 21mA
at 1.2V it draws 25mA
at 1.5V it draws 30mA
These readings suggest a load of about 52 ohms.

For the button cell and 9V contact it only draws about 120uA,
which is virtually unloaded.

Overall the tester works OK, a bit fiddly to insert the cells but a lot quicker
than using a multimeter with normal leads. It sorted out the pile of used
batteries I had in a few minutes.

The German version of the instructions are here...there is no English
version that I can find at present.
http://www.gt-support.de/files/IM_GT-BT-03_D_2012_1.pdf

 

[yaputya]

As a quick follow up, I modified the tester to make it draw more current.
There is enough room inside to solder two resistors inparallel with the test
contacts - a 22ohm for the AAA,AA cells and a 390ohm for the 9V/button cells.
This increases the AAA etc. cell test current to around 100mA,
the 9V to around 20mA and the button cells to 4 to 8 mA.
Dunno if this unit will end up getting sold in OZ, but for around 4 bucks it
is quite well made - the LCD is screwed directly to the PCB so you can
pull the thing apart and reassemble without disturbing the display connections.


"yaputya" <yaputya.leftlegin@gmail.com> wrote in message news:aoans9Fu5doU1@mid.individual.net...

I bought a cheap battery tester from ALDI recently, a Globaltronics GT-BT-03.
This may or may not be available in Australia yet (I live in Europe)
(If it comes to ALDI in Australia, it may be rebadged as Tevion.)

It has a 3-digit LCD display and it connects to various batteries via a sliding
extension for the positive pole.
It has two negative contacts for testing batteries - one for AAA, AA, C and D cells
and another for button cells and 9V batteries.
The voltage reading is reasonably accurate compared to my multimeter
but the tester doesn't draw much current from the battery.
e.g. for the AAA, AA etc. cell contact
at 1.1V it draws 21mA
at 1.2V it draws 25mA
at 1.5V it draws 30mA
These readings suggest a load of about 52 ohms.

For the button cell and 9V contact it only draws about 120uA,
which is virtually unloaded.

Overall the tester works OK, a bit fiddly to insert the cells but a lot quicker
than using a multimeter with normal leads. It sorted out the pile of used
batteries I had in a few minutes.

The German version of the instructions are here...there is no English
version that I can find at present.
http://www.gt-support.de/files/IM_GT-BT-03_D_2012_1.pdf