Battery tester for survival situation?

[JRTJRT]

You need to leave base camp to search for help - will one bad cell in 4 keep you from getting lost in the cold dark night? Would you drive through the Sahara desert without first checking your gas guage and spare tire pressure?

You're loaded up on AA's or AAA's or C's or CR123's and all set for a disaster/survival situation. Will you have a way to identify which individual batteries are good/weak/bad? You have a 4AA flashlight with one dead battery. How do you know which battery is the one screwing up your light? How will you maximize battery flashlight usage if you can't match similarly charged cells?

And CR123's - uneven charged batteries can even be dangerous. You have a 2 or 3 cell CR123 light - how do you figure out which battery is weak or dead, causing problems for everyone else? Toss out all 3 because only 1 went bad but you don't know which one it is? Test 50 different combinations of the 6 CR123 cells that you have in your one and only (3 cell) CR123 flashlight?

If you are swapping or scavenging batteries from other sources, isn't it good to test them? Why carry around 50 batteries if only 20 of them are good? Are those packaged lithiums still good after 9 years? What happens if you mix dead and fully charged CR123's?

Another reason to carry a single cell flashlight - it doubles as a battery tester for your other lights? Is there a small tester or way to test batteries when your usual battery tester is not available? Is there a way to McGuyver a battery tester to test individual cells if you are stranded somewhere? Do you guys carry a small tester in your survival pack?

 

[ScottB]

I saw a post from someone in Iraq with a pallet of Kroma's. He was very clear that they tested all batts with a ZTS tester before embarking on patrols etc.

 

[NA8]

Anyone know if there's any mil spec manuals for care and feeding of flashlights ?

 

[DM51]

I saw a post from someone in Iraq with a pallet of Kroma's. He was very clear that they tested all batts with a ZTS tester before embarking on patrols etc.

A whole PALLET of Kromas?? That is a lot of $$ on 1 pallet.

 

[Dynacolt]

I'm looking for a miniature multitester - not only for flashlight battery testing, but so many times I wish I'd had one on my belt or closeby - computers, car electrical issues, continuity, power testing, (dead cordless mouse issues come up often at work). I've done the continuity test pulling the tailcap from a light, a couple of paperclips as testing probes etc, but a neat, tiny tester would be ideal. Anyone have any links / ideas etc?

Dave.

 

[zipplet]

I have a small vapex battery tester for AA/AAA which appears to use a small red low power incan, it's small enough to stuff on your keyring. It's handy to leave in my EDC bag. However wouldn't it be nice to have one fashioned like it, also being able to test CR123A, and not using an incan?

 

[DM51]

I'm looking for a miniature multitester - not only for flashlight battery testing, but so many times I wish I'd had one on my belt or closeby - computers, car electrical issues, continuity, power testing, (dead cordless mouse issues come up often at work). I've done the continuity test pulling the tailcap from a light, a couple of paperclips as testing probes etc, but a neat, tiny tester would be ideal. Anyone have any links / ideas etc?

Accurate miniaturized instruments would be very useful, but I haven't yet managed to find a sufficiently reliable and accurate substitute for my Fluke_179 DMM, which is not exactly tiny. And as a battery tester, there is nothing smaller than a ZTS_Mini-MBT which I would consider useful. The ZTS_MBT-1 has more functions, including for rechargeable cells, but of course it is bigger.

Many of the miniature battery testers give no more than a very approximate indication of voltage. For anything other than Li-Ion cells, voltage is a very unreliable indication of SOC.

 

[Robstorch]

I keep handy Radio Shacks smallest folding Multimeter to test with.

 

[VidPro]

that is why i love rechargables, with them you can usually start with 2+ Fully charged batteries, and less guessing.
its not that primaries cant have more umph per ounce, its that after partial depletion, i cant make them NEW again.
i am not about too toss a primary because its 1/3rd used, and i need a full one, but even with 2/3rds total capacity with a rechargable i leave with it FULL.

then tack in these new enloopie things or li-ion, and they don't discharge before you even get there, and pairs are VERY CLOSE to the same level when you start using them.

its the same thing with stuff like a Propane canistar, if you cant top it off, why would you want to haul a 1/2 empty one with you :-( with white gas you leave with a recharged tank.

when you dont have a plug, or a pipe, or a civilisation for a while, its good to leave with the glass full, and be optomistic the whole time

the last thing i would want in survival is a pallet of ??? once used batteries that cost to much to toss out, with rechargables (and say a solar pannel) i have a pallet of full ones instead.

 

[Dynacolt]

Accurate miniaturized instruments would be very useful, but I haven't yet managed to find a sufficiently reliable and accurate substitute for my Fluke_179 DMM, which is not exactly tiny. And as a battery tester, there is nothing smaller than a ZTS_Mini-MBT which I would consider useful. The ZTS_MBT-1 has more functions, including for rechargeable cells, but of course it is bigger.

Many of the miniature battery testers give no more than a very approximate indication of voltage. For anything other than Li-Ion cells, voltage is a very unreliable indication of SOC.

Thanks DM, I understand the voltage isn't generally a good indication of cell charge, but I do mostly use Li-ion, and I would want also a continuity function. I might be able to butcher one of the tiny cheap DMM's into a smaller case, or might just have to make do with something bigger.

Regards,

Dave.

 

[DM51]

It's a good idea, and certainly a great deal better than nothing. They do make some really small multimeters now, but they usually aren't as accurate as one would like.

Maybe you could go to an electronic store and do a rough calibration of some small DMMs there, testing them alongside another more accurate meter and some known voltages. Then you would know which one suits you best and how much it is "off", if it is at all.

Bear in mind that 0.1v doesn't sound much, but for a Li-Ion cell it is a LOT - it is ~10% of capacity.

 

[Peepsalot]

Is there a way to McGuyver a battery tester to test individual cells if you are stranded somewhere?

How about a piece of wire and your tongue? Use the wire to make both terminals close enough together to be placed on tongue(no wire required for standard 9v batteries). It's not incredibly accurate, but if there is nothing else available...

 

[MattK]

A DMM is a lousy tool for checking a battery. A DMM doesn't induce a load it's simply functioning as an open circuit terminal voltage tester and batteries, all batteries/chemistries, sag under load so you want to have a device made to be a battery tester that has a load-based closed circuit which results in a more accurate test of the cells voltage and thus helps indicate their capacitance.

 

[jayflash]

My mileage differs from Matt's. A small <$10 DMM is what I keep in each car and use for ALL battery testing. I've responded in numerous threads how a very brief short-circuit load test in the 10 amp range will accuratley match and test primary and secondary cells. For LiIons I believe and open-circuit (not under load) voltage test satisfactorily indicates their state of charge.

This method has produced consistent, safe, accurate results for me for 20+ years. A DMM can be used to test the rest of the light for continuity and driver output, too. I'll take a DMM over a single purpose tester for my needs.

YMMV, however, and it may not be the best way to test in some cases.