What DMM to purcahse for Li-Ion checking?

[jcw122]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering what is a CHEAP but DECENT Digital Multimeter to purchase for my Li-Ion batteries for checking voltages. I'm hoping to purchase it locally as well, there is a Lowe's, Walmart, and Ace Hardware. Thanks.

-Jon

 

[45/70]

Hi jcw. Not directly related to your search, but if you haven't checked this thread out already, it may be of some interest to you. Just ignore my posts.

Dave

 

[kaptain_zero]

Have you got a Sears store nearby? I think they have some inexpensive units that would be usable. What about an Electronic Parts and supply store?!?! They sometimes have reasonable priced units. Ditto for Radio Shack. In the end, there isn't a cheap DMM that you can count on for measuring such small differences, right out of the box, without putting it along side a known calibrated unit. I just bought a replacement for my 15 year old cheapie... it's the same model, give or take but it reads 0.07v lower than my old unit. I have no idea which is closer to the actual voltage, thus I'm requesting a friend of mine (retired electronics tech) bring one or two of his higher end professional units to our Saturday morning coffee meet so I can compare mine to his... This way I can get an idea of where my new unit is actually reading....

For the record, when I asked him what's a good unit is for measuring millivolts, he said "use a scope".... not exactly practical or cheap! Anywho, he's big into electric helicopters and such so he familiar with the importance of keeping an eye on those lithium based batteries in our kind of use.

Regards

Christian

 

[lovenhim]

I looked at the thread mentioned above and that is a bit much. LOL I am just interested in checking battery voltages myself, so is a $100 DMM neded for that? I am curious as well as to if there is an inexpensive option out there that is a quality item.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I use a small digital battery tester and a cheap $3 harbor freight dmm myself. The tester has 3 load settings for lithium coin cells, button cells, AAA,AA,C,D 9v, 12v car alarm batteries etc. I believe the readout goes up to 19.99v It should be able to display voltages up to that level but the load may not be quite what lithium ions need, probably the setting for C/D cells would put a good enough load.

 

[45/70]

I looked at the thread mentioned above and that is a bit much. LOL I am just interested in checking battery voltages myself, so is a $100 DMM neded for that? I am curious as well as to if there is an inexpensive option out there that is a quality item.

As I said, it wasn't directly related to what jcw was looking for, but did contain some info as to accuracy.

I can't really help with a recommendation, but if you get a cheap meter and compare it to a known accurate meter, you'll know how far off it is, and can compensate for it. It would be a good idea to recheck it once in a while, as really low end meters can "drift" a bit due to the less than ideal components used. So no, a $100 DMM isn't really necessary just to check battery cell voltages. They (and better ones) are nice to have though.

Dave