How do I Test a NiMH Battery Pack??

[saildude]

New to the forum - I thought a Pelican 2410 and 2D Mags were great - then I found your place and FlashlightReviews.com - thanks for the enlightenment

I have a 7.2v 6AA 1400mAh for a hand held VHF radio - the stock charger that comes with the radio is a real dumb 180ma @ 7.7v charger. The instructions claim the world will end and a pox will descend on my radio if I use any other charge rate or leave the radio on the charger too long. They don't have any "smart charger" options. I don't want the radio batteries to die on me in the middle of a night SAR mission.

The question - any guidelines on how to test the battery pack to see how much power is left in the battery pack. Just using my Fluke 87 for open circuit is not the best and I don't have a good idea what the values should be - what about loading the pack with a resistor??

does anyone have any guidelines on what the resistor value should be and the matching voltage values??

thanks much for any help

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Saildude,

Welcome to CPF.

Check out this website. On the left side go down to the article "Loaded digital voltmeter, better than an ESV" and click on it.

I don't know the voltage of your battery pack so you may have to make an adjustment to the lamp you use. At any rate, this should get you headed in the right direction.

Tom

Tom