EV Development: Test Equipment

[arsharpe]

I am currently looking for some decent general test equipment for EV and battery diagnosis, etc and have come up with the following

- "AC/DC Current Clamp Meter" at £47 seems ideal (see http://www.digital-meters.com/digital-meters_2006.pdf) and also the

- "Mini Infrared Thermometer" at £10 for measuring removed battery temps in same catelogue.

Does anyone have any better suggestions/additions ?

[arsharpe]

The above were based on an old 2006 catalog.
The updated information is below

-Tecpel DCM-033 - Clamp on Amp Meter at £34

-GRIP Infrared Thermometer at £19

Does anyone have any better suggestions/additions ?

[ChrisB]

Not really, I've got the maplin equiv. of the IR thermometer, and a DC Clamp ammeter (make sure the jaws are nice and big) cant remember where I got that from, could have been maplins as well.

I'd also suggest a good Multimeter as well, something with a PC connection can be very handy for logging data etc.

ChrisB

[Grumpy-b]

Be careful with the Clamp meter , most of the cheaper ones do not do DC Current. I got mine from China through E -bay and it was about £30, but most with DC current were way higher. If you wish to do a DC check on a shorted battery then you need up to 1000Amp. Its a useful way of seeing how rubbish a battery cell really is.
I have a company called Rapid Electronics near to me and they do some brilliant LCD general test meters in a rugged casing for well under £10. I leave one in each Van.

Regards
Grumpy-b

[ChrisBarron]

I am currently looking for some decent general test equipment for EV and battery diagnosis, etc and have come up with the following

- "AC/DC Current Clamp Meter" at £47 seems ideal (see http://www.digital-meters.com/digital-meters_2006.pdf) and also the

- "Mini Infrared Thermometer" at £10 for measuring removed battery temps in same catelogue.

Does anyone have any better suggestions/additions ?

I think a load tester is essential. I use one designed for 2V lead acid cells, made in the 1960's. Good for 2V lead acid cells, and might be good for lithium voltages too. They're very simple, and there's a one similar to mine on ebay at the moment, Item number: 390019944494

A modern 12V tester may possibly be able to be used with lower voltage cells too, like ebay item Item number: 360120306562


After a load tester, I would say a variable output power supply is almost essential, and once I got one I couldn't imagine being without it. Mine came from Mapolins 0-20V output at 0-5Amps, and can run in either constant current or constant voltage mode, well worth the £50 they got from me IMHO !