Ansmann Energy Check LCD Battery Tester first impressions

[dvas]

Hello Everyone,

after reading your comments and feedbacks about ZTS and Ansmann battery testers, I had an option to either order ZTS from US and pick it up on my trip to US on February or to buy Ansmann locally, little more expensive then in europe though. I decided to take the Ansmann. I brought it home today and started to test tons of batteries, but what was more important to test my different NiMHs.
Then I got dissapointed. I tested my old Sanyo NiMH 2100mAh HR-3U AA, GP 7000mAh D size and of course eneloops.
The old Sanyo were out of my Ansmann travelers charger refresh cycle and everytime I tested them they gave me a different result, from 0% to 100%... almost all possible variations
The old D-size D size I know that are in very bad shapes, but they still work in my 4D Maglite with Terralux upgrade but according to the tester they are 0%?!
Eneloops most of the time showed 100%, but sometimes 40 or 60...

I tried to get 3 consequtive measurements, but with not luck. The Ansmann importer is just 10min from my home, but anyway I sent them a message, but I am realy considering returning this device :hairpull:

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Dvas,

Welcome to CPF.

Both testers check the voltage under load and compare it to an internal table of values.

ZTS has a patent infringement suit against Ansmann, so this prevents the sale of the Ansmann tester in the US. It seems that Ansmann wanted to purchase the rights to the ZTS tester and ZTS wasn't interested in selling. Ansmann then purchased an early ZTS model and copied it.

Since then, ZTS has modified their tester several times in an effort to improve their test results. As far as I know the Ansmann tester has not had any improvements or modifications since its initial release.

One of the "issues" with the Ansmann tester has to do with its reference voltage stability, and another "issue" has to do with the load applied during the testing.

I have both testers, and after doing numerous comparisons have come to the realization that the Ansmann does well with Alkaline and other primary cells, but falls down with rechargeable chemistries. Internal resistance plays a big part in the results from these testers, and external resistance from connecting the cell is also an issue. This means that if your older cells are close to crap status, they will give you varying results that may not be totally indicative of the remaining capacity of the cells.

My personnel preference is for the ZTS tester. It does not give precise results, but it is repeatable. Once you use it for awhile with your particular cells, you can get a very good idea of how they are doing by adapting the test results you get. I have found higher variation in the Ansmann tester when using it to test NiMh cells.

Make sure the battery in the tester is fresh, and take some time to clean the contacts of the tester and the contacts on your cells and try it again. It may be that your cells are on their way out, but to check that you would have to do some run time testing.

Tom

 

[dvas]

Hi Tom,

and thanks for the extensive answer. What was funny yesterday, that I saw ZTS in their demo shelf as well, but an earlier smaller model. Anyway, since checking the NiMH is much much more important to me, I am considering returning it and either getting the ZTS from them or ordering it from US.
thanks again,
Sasha

 

[Nautic]

I have the Ansmann tester and have experienced the same problems
as mensioned above. But only (!) with old nicads. This have helped
me to get rid of batteries with poor performance in my lights or
wherever I use them. Earlier I got frustrated when I had problems
with a set of what I thought were freshly charged batteries, but where
one was bad.

I have never seen different measurements with new and freshly charged
rechargeables.

 

[zipplet]

I have the ansmann tester also and found it works perfectly after applying deoxit to the probe and contacts. Also make sure the batteries are quite clean, then retest

 

[Conan]

I bought both the Ansmann and ZTS testers. The ZTS MBT-1 seems better built and has the capability of testing Lithium-Ion batteries. I also don't get the wild variations of capacity that happens with the Ansmann tester. The voltage reading under load of the Ansmann is a good feature though.

 

[dvas]

Hi,

some updates lovecpf

I have returned this morning the Ansmann and took the ZST-1 from the importer. I got a unit that was claimed to be new. When I opened the package, it was dirty and with batteries inside that were at 40%.

I am going to do some checking and testing when I get home.

QUESTION: How can I know what FW version does it have? I read here that ZTS were updating the FW to some devices.

Sasha