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Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Battery load test
From: Ernest Christley <echristl@cisco.com>
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
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Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 13:43:14 -0500
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On Wed, 2005-01-19 at 12:11, Russell Duffy wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> With all this talk of battery load testers, I have to admit that I'm not
> sure what good they will do us.  Is this just a standard test where you put
> a heavy load on the battery for a few seconds to see what the voltage drops
> to?  
> 
> I think I'd be far more interested in figuring out how much current my
> system draws in "alt failed" mode, and coming up with a tester that can be
> set for that load, and told to time it from start to when the voltage
> reaches some set point like 9V (if that's what Tracy's EC-2 pukes at).
> Anyone know of a tester that will do that?  

Rusty, I may be completely wrong, but the load testers do basically the
same thing more conveniently.  You might wait for hours for the EC-2 and
a couple fuel pumps to pull the battery down far enough to be
meaningful.  The load testers will flow big current and is already
attached to a voltmeter.  Hook it up and know how healthy the battery is
in only a few minutes.