Using light bulbs, giant resistors or other means to simulate an electric load or bring your batteries back down to storage? Up for sale is a Lectra Load II Smart Load bank. It's rated up to 1250 Watts but the higher input Voltages are, the lower the maximum Amps can be drawn such that with a 25 Volt source, you can discharge at a rate of 37 Amps, with a 21 Volt source, 52 Amps, with a 17 Volt source, 65 Amps, with a 12.6 Volt pack, 95 Amps. Those are just examples and you can input any Voltage 1.5V and above. There is an input/max Amps graph in the manual that shows allowable Volts and Amps combinations.
Simply connect your source/battery/power supply cables to the back terminals, plug the machine into 120 VAC house power, turn on the power switch and then begin turning the 10-turn POT until the desired load is dialed in. This is Constant Current loading. Toggle the digital meter slider switch and you can read input Voltage during the current draw. If you are discharging a battery to storage Voltage, you need to be around to monitor progress and terminate the load when your target Voltage is reached. With the substantial load capability of this smart load bank, you won't be spending much time on the operation.
You can't over dose the machine - it automatically stops increasing the load even though you continue to turn the POT when it's maximum input current for a given input Voltage is reached. The machine can also do constant resistive load mode and pulsed load mode.
I just bought a newer used 1500 Watt continuous smart load bank so I can test my 1000 Watt to 3KW variable DC power supplies after repairs so I don't need this unit. Accuracy of the Volt meter at 20 Volts loaded as measured with my 6.5 digit Agilent bench meter shows it to be within .2 to .3 Volts of dead accurate to 3 Decimal places. For the Ammeter, within .3 Amps at a 25 Amp load. For some reason, at no-load, it still shows a .5 to .6 Amp reading.
When I got it, there was (still is) a small hole in the red plastic meter cover. I bought some matching red acrylic and made a tiny patch to cover the hole from the inside. You can obviously still see the defect but it doesn't affect the operation. I also thoroughly cleaned out the insides. There is also a small tear in the 120 Volt power cord right at the plug. 2" of the cord and the plug should be cut off and a new plug should be put on.
Price: $75 plus $30 shipping to the lower 48 states. This unit weighs about 35 lbs. I have the user manual with Schematic for it.
Simply connect your source/battery/power supply cables to the back terminals, plug the machine into 120 VAC house power, turn on the power switch and then begin turning the 10-turn POT until the desired load is dialed in. This is Constant Current loading. Toggle the digital meter slider switch and you can read input Voltage during the current draw. If you are discharging a battery to storage Voltage, you need to be around to monitor progress and terminate the load when your target Voltage is reached. With the substantial load capability of this smart load bank, you won't be spending much time on the operation.
You can't over dose the machine - it automatically stops increasing the load even though you continue to turn the POT when it's maximum input current for a given input Voltage is reached. The machine can also do constant resistive load mode and pulsed load mode.
I just bought a newer used 1500 Watt continuous smart load bank so I can test my 1000 Watt to 3KW variable DC power supplies after repairs so I don't need this unit. Accuracy of the Volt meter at 20 Volts loaded as measured with my 6.5 digit Agilent bench meter shows it to be within .2 to .3 Volts of dead accurate to 3 Decimal places. For the Ammeter, within .3 Amps at a 25 Amp load. For some reason, at no-load, it still shows a .5 to .6 Amp reading.
When I got it, there was (still is) a small hole in the red plastic meter cover. I bought some matching red acrylic and made a tiny patch to cover the hole from the inside. You can obviously still see the defect but it doesn't affect the operation. I also thoroughly cleaned out the insides. There is also a small tear in the 120 Volt power cord right at the plug. 2" of the cord and the plug should be cut off and a new plug should be put on.
Price: $75 plus $30 shipping to the lower 48 states. This unit weighs about 35 lbs. I have the user manual with Schematic for it.
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