DIS-350 BATTERY DISCHARGER A OWNER S MANUAL B C D E F G MADE IN USA A) Iput Cable B) Custom Digital Display C) Idicator LED D) Mode Select Butto E) Set Buttos F) Discharge Start Butto G)Mode Idicator LED TABLE OF CONTENTS Specificatios.......................... 2 Power Source Selectio.................. 2 Coectig the Battery Pack............... 3 Fuses................................ 3 LCD Display Modes..................... 4 Set Modes.............................6 Cycles............................... 6 Warratee............................ 7 Discharge Profiles...................... 8 Selectig the Discharge Curret.............9 Lights............................... 10 Precautios.......................... 10 Tests ru time remaiig after a race 45 amp stress test fids weak cells before puttig i car Portable for track use Match, test, rematch your ow cells 3 Discharge Modes: LINEAR, PULSE, ad STEP L i e a r provides covetioal costat discharge curret P u l s e mode low frequecy pulse ramps curret up ad dow durig discharge, to simulate acceleratio ad top speed S t e p mode varies the curret i a semi-radom patter that simulates drivig road courses. Discharge curret is settable 1-30 amps to cover all applicatios Calibrated iteral resistace measuremets to accurately fid the lowest resistace cells. Computerized electroic software calibratio for maximum accuracy. TEKIN ELECTRONICS, INC. The DIS-350 is a precisio, high performace battery discharger. It ca be used to test the performace of batteries, check ru time, ad coditio cells to maitai peak power. The DIS-350 uses microprocessor cotrolled circuitry for accuracy ad stability. It provides calibrated, stadardized display readigs. The DIS-350 displays Volts, Amp-Hour capacity, Time i secods, Cutoff Voltage, Iteral Resistace, Discharge Amps, ad more. The uit is Self- Powered (o 12v coectio required) whe usig o 6 or more cells. This provides coveiet track use. The uit may be used to test ad display the ru time left over at the ed of a charge. The DIS-350 may also be used with a Teki BC112 series charger to form a combiatio charge/discharge cyclig system. The actual discharge curret will cotiue flowig however util the battery pack.reaches 1/2 the cutoff voltage you select. This provides for a optimum deep automatic discharge for maximum battery coditioig, but without over dischargig the cells.
Specificatios: Number of cells Discharge Amps Peak Discharge Amps Accuracy Operatig voltage Cutoff Voltage Temperature Overload Protectio Reverse Voltage Protectio POWER SOURCE SELECTION The six foot log power cable supplied with the DIS-350 clips o to a DC power source. The uit may operate with most ay power supply that puts out 6-24 volts DC. Or you ca coect the DIS-350 to the extra 12v power feedthrough plug provided o the back of later model BC112 chargers. The will operate the discharger from the same power supply as your charger, whatever that is. You may also ru the discharger from the BC112C charger iteral power supply. The DIS-350 draws oly a small amout of operatig curret from the power supply, less tha 1/2 amp. No additioal iteral batteries are required, so it is always ready to go. You may also self-power the discharger (use without coectig ay power supply at all) whe dischargig a battery pack with 6 or more cells, ad usig the L mode with a cutoff voltage of at least 5.4 volts. The DIS-350 will maitai full accuracy, (the operatig curret is part of the discharge curret). but may ot be able to save the fial readigs uder every coditio. This is affected by how much reserve power the battery has after the cutoff voltage is reached. For critical readigs, use the 12v power cord. 2 1-12 (1.2-14.4 volts).5-30 amps (average) 45 Amps < 1/2 % error 6.0 to 24 volts DC Programmable Yes Yes Number of Cycles 0-9 Maximum Power Hadlig Curret Draw 250 Watts <.5 AMP CONNECTING THE NI-CD BATTERY PACK Coect the Ni-Cd (ickel-cadmium) battery via the short alligator clips comig from the discharger. The red clip is positive, ad coects to the (+) battery termial, the black clip is egative, ad coects to the (-) battery termial. Be sure the clips make a solid coectio, as very high currets will flow. It is best to solder a short piece of straded stub wire to the battery ad clip o it, so the teeth of the clips will be able to sik i. Poor coectios will result i bad readigs. Coectig to the battery through a stadard JST type coector is ot recommeded, especially if dischargig at over 10 amps, as the extra voltage drop of the coector will itroduce errors, ad the coector may fail due to the high currets. If a coector is used, it should be a highamp racig style coector. The DIS-350 alligator clips have remote-sesig wires built i. The remote sesig wires are separate from the mai wires. The mai, large silicoe wires carry the discharge curret. The smaller remote-sesig wires moitor the voltage. The remote sesig wires measure the battery voltage right at the cell, for maximum accuracy. This prevets errors that occur due to voltage drop i the power wires. The remote sesig wires ad the mai power wires must both be coected for proper operatio. Keep the wires from the clips to the battery as short as possible for maximum accuracy. If you use a sigle cell type battery holder you may wish to cut the clips off the discharger, ad solder the battery wires right to the cell holder. There will usually be four cotacts, a +, -, +volt sese, ad - volt sese o the holder. Each wire goes to it s ow cotact. Cut the discharger wires i the middle, ad solder them to the cell holder. The solder the cut clip wires o to the cell holder too, i parallel, so you ca still test battery packs. You may bolt or servo tape the holder tot he left side of the heatsik with holes provided. FUSES This discharger uses 2 20 amp fuses to provide protectio if the battery pack is coected i reverse. However, because to the ature of the device, ad the very large discharge currets ivolved, as well as the eed 3
to miimize all voltage drops, the fuses ca provide oly limited protectio. It is therefore very importat that you take care to ever coect the battery or other wires improperly. Doig so could possibly damage the battery or discharger. If a fuse blows, both fuses should be replaced as a set. LCD DISPLAY MODES VOLTS Displays the voltage of the Ni-Cd battery coected to the discharger, i.05 volt icremets. The maximum readig is 12.75 volts. If a battery with higher voltage tha this (up to 12 cells, 14.4 volts) is coected, the voltage will show 12.75. 12 cell batteries may still be discharged, as log as the cutoff voltage is below 12.75 volts. NOTE: Whe dischargig i PULSE or STEP modes, the voltage display will fluctuate, as the battery voltage chages accordig to the amout of curret flow. VOLTS AVERAGE (volts o) Displays the average voltage obtaied durig the whole discharge. Cells with higher average voltage will spi the motor at more RPM ad make the car go faster. The Volt s ad the O placard will both be lit. This value re-sets every time a ew discharge is started. AMPS Displays the discharge amperage from.5 to 30 amps. TIME Displays the elapsed time of the discharge, i secods. Whe the discharge is complete, the readig is stored i memory util the ext discharge is begu. A/HR Displays the discharge capacity of the battery pack. This umber will icremet as the pack is discharged. This is the eergy put out by the battery over the duratio of the discharge. The A/HR discharge capacity is a very accurate way of testig how the battery duratio will perform o the track. The A/HR discharge capacity will always be a little lower tha the charge capacity readig obtaied with the charger, as ot all the charge eergy put ito the battery while chargig will be released by the cell whe dischargig. Whe the discharge is complete, the readig is stored i memory util the ext discharge cycle is begu. 4 INTERNAL RESITANCE This is the iteral resistace of the test battery. The iteral resistace is the resistace that is iside the battery. The resistace is measured i milli-ohms, which is 1/1000 of a ohm, ad is calibrated to actual values. A display readig of 68r, for example, is a resistace of 68 milli-ohms. (68/1000 of a ohm) The resistace is measured durig the discharge cycle. The readig is take automatically after 60 secods of discharge time. There is a mometary icremetig display o the discharger while the readig samples are take, the the resistace readig is saved for display. The iteral resistace is a importat umber to kow about the b a t t e r y. Cells with lower resistace will deliver more voltage ad acceleratio tha cells with higher resistace. They will also ru cooler, ad more efficietly. The resistace readigs are for the whole battery pack coected to the discharger. To fid the average resistace of each cell, divide the resistace readig by the umber of cells i the pack. For example, a readig of 68 o a 6 cell battery idicates a resistace of 11.3 milliohms per cell. The resistace will vary slightly amog cells of the same type. It will also vary accordig to how much charge is i the batteries. The resistace ca also vary quite a bit amog differet types ad brads of cells, as well as the coditio of the cell. Usig a Teki BC112 charger with Power-Flex circuitry will actually lower the resistace of the battery, for better performace. If you are usig the Teki DYN 900 motor dyo, the the iteral resistace is especially useful. This is because the Teki dyo calculates the power of the motor based o the dyamic resistace of the motor. This meas you may ow determie the effects of differet battery packs i actual horsepower ratig uits. Each power umber o the dyo is equal to 6 milliohms, (.006 ohm). Therefore, if you ru a battery that has 6 milliohms lower resistace tha aother, the motor will ru as if it had a 1.0 power ratig icrease i power. A 12 milliohm reductio i battery resistace is equal to a 2.0 power icrease o the dyo, ad so o. This allows you to chage both motors ad batteries ad determie the result. The resistace readig test is ot active if the discharge curret is set to less tha 10 amps. 5
SET MODES AMPS SET This mode allows you to adjust the desired discharge curret from.5 to 30 amps. The settig is stored i memory, ad recalled the ext time you use the discharger, eve if all power is removed. See the sectio, Selectig The Discharge Amperage (PAGE 9) for tips o choosig the proper settig. CUTOFF VOLTAGE SET The cutoff voltage is the voltage the discharge stops dischargig at. As log as the battery voltage is higher tha the cutoff voltage, the discharger will cotiue dischargig. Oce the battery voltage drops dow to the cutoff voltage, the discharge readigs are take ad saved, ad the mai discharge is doe. The cutoff voltage you select will affect the discharge capacity readig you obtai. A lower cutoff voltage will allow the discharge to cotiue for a loger period of time, resultig i higher A/HR readigs. T h e recommeded cutoff voltage is.9 volts per cell. So if a battery pack had 6 cells i it, the recommeded cutoff voltage is 6 x 9 = 5.4 volts. Whe dischargig at very high currets, sometimes a cutoff of.85 volts per cell is useful. Cautio : Whe you are cyclig cells, be sure the cutoff voltage is set o higher tha 1.0 volts per cell. Otherwise the battery may ot be fully discharged, ad it may be damaged from overchargig whe the autocharge cycle kicks i. OTHER INFORMATION Whe usig a settig below 5.4 volts, be sure you also use the 12volt power coectio. CYCLES I order to take advatage of this mode, you eed a BC112 A or C charger coected to the discharger. The charger output wires coect to the charge iput wires o the discharger, ad the battery coects to the discharger. The small cotrol lie wires which are foud o both the charger ad discharger must also be coected. (See Figure 1.) The cycle couter sets the umber of charge/discharge cycles to perform, from 0-9. This umber will remai i memory. It will decremet oe cout every time a discharge/charge cycle is completed. As log as there are 1 or more cycles to go, the cycle light stays o. The uit will do 6 T cycles util the cycle couter reaches 0. There is a 3 miute iteral delay whe switchig from charge to discharge, ad a 10 miute delay whe switchig from discharge to charge, so the cells have a chace to cool dow. Durig the waitig period, the cycle light flashes. Whe the charge portio of the cycle starts, the charger will begi chargig i the CS mode. You ca ot ru both the charger ad the discharger at the same time whe they are wired together. Tryig to start a discharge while the charger is ruig will result i a CH (charge ) busy error message. If you try to start a charge whe a discharge is ruig, the charger will overide the discharger ad begi chargig. The discharger will shut off. You may start a cycle with either a charge or a discharge. If you start the cyclig with the charger first, the discharger will default to Liear (L) type discharge. If you start the cyclig with the discharge first, you may select Lier, Pulse, or Ramp, ad that mode will be used for all cycles. The cyclig will ru util the cycle couter reaches zero. The last half of the cycle sequece is always a charge. Cyclig cells whe they are ew or have bee sittig for may moths will help them to develop better performace. 3-6 cycles, with the Power-Flex set to 2-3 will give best results. Whe the charger ad the discharger are coected together, it is recommeded that you set the trickle charge curret to zero, for accurate dischargig. DISCHARGE PROFILES The DIS-350 has 3 complete discharge profiles to eable you to get the most out of your cells. Each time you press the start butto, you will icremet through the three discharge modes. LINEAR Liear is a covetioal liear costat curret discharge. The discharge curret is steady ad costat all the way through the discharge. Use this mode for optimum results whe oval racig. PULSE Pulse applies a pulsatig curret discharge to the cells. The discharge curret will chage automatically while dischargig, so the cells become coditioed to operate i actual chagig load coditios. This helps prevet E cells K from I goig Nflat, ad develop more power. I pulse mode, the discharge curret chages from 100%, to 150%, to 100% to 50% ad back to 100% of the omial value curret you set. For example, if you set the discharge curret to 10 amps, the pulse will go from 10 to 15, 8
to 10,to 5, to 10 amps, ad repeat the patter every 4 secods. This works the cells harder, ad simulates actual drivig coditios, for a more accurate test, ad better cell performace. The cells are stressed higher i this mode, ad weak cells will occasioally fail. This is good to use before puttig a ew or uproved battery i a car before a importat ru. STEP Step mode is similar to pulse, but chages i a radom patter, with 8 differet load levels. Step mode also puts a higher stress o the cells, ad is tued to simulate road course (both o ad off road) drivig. Uder these coditios there is typically a high curret flow whe acceleratig out of the corer, ad reduced curret as speed is reached. The peak curret i the step mode is 1.5 times the average. (45 amps whe dischargig at 30 amps). SELECTING THE DISCHARGE CURRENT The correct discharge curret settig is importat to avoid damagig the batteries, ad for best testig results. Geerally, the higher the rated capacity of the cell, the higher the discharge curret to use. For geeral i-cad battery testig, use a discharge curret 4 times the rated capacity of the cell. For example, if the cell is rated at 1200 mah (1200 milliamp/hours) you would discharge it at 1200 x 4 = 4800 milliamps (or 4.8 amps). This is a geerally safe test rate. A fully charged cell will discharge i about 15 miutes. If you are usig Sub-C size i-cads rated at 1400 to 2000 mah desiged for R/C use, you may discharge at higher tha 4 times the rated capacity for a quicker ad more realistic discharge rate. Typical discharge rates are 10-20 amps for 1400 cells, 15-25 amps for 1700, ad 15-30 amps for 2000 mah cells. The exact rate to use will deped o the applicatio. For example, if you are ruig a 1/12 th scale car setup for 8 miute rus, you would use the lower ed of the curret rage. If ruig offroad or other 4 miute set-ups, you would use currets ear the upper ed of the rage for best results. If you are ot certai which discharge curret to use, it is best to use a reduced curret or check with the battery supplier. Use cautio whe dischargig i the P ad S modes as the peak discharge curret is up to 45 amps. This ca cause the electrolyte to boil o weaker cells, possibly causig damage. Whe you are fiished with tests o a cell, you may wish to either umber the cells ad write the test results i a log book, or write the data o a small label ad place o the cell for future referece. FRONT PANEL LIGHTS ERROR The error light will come o if there is a problem with the discharge. Normally it idicates a bad coectio to the battery pack, a battery that is already discharged, or a battery that failed while uder test. It may also idicate excessive operatig temperature. This ca happe if you are dischargig more tha 7 cells at very high currets. I this case, reduce the discharge curret or use a fa o the uit. If the error light comes o, the discharge will be stopped, ad will eed to be maually re-started. DISCHARGE The discharge light comes o whe a discharge is i progress. It will come o if all systems are workig correctly. CYCLE The cycle light comes o while cyclig is i progress. It will stay o util the last cycle is complete. LINEAR, PULSE, AND STEP (RAMP) Idicates which type of discharge mode is curretly selected. PRECAUTIONS 1) The heatsik may become warm i operatio, use cautio. 2) The heatsik ad case are electrically live, ad should ot touch ay wires, batteries, or grouded automobile parts. This may cause a short to occur ad could blow the fuse or damage the batteries. 3) Make sure you use the correct discharge curret to avoid damagig the cells. 4) If the Ni-Cd battery is coected to the discharger backward, very high currets will flow. This may possibly result i damage to the cells. The fuses MAY blow, but ot i every case. If you otice a large spark whe coectig the battery, you may wish to double check the polarity. 9 10
INSTALLING THE DIS-350 TO A BC112C CHARGER The DIS-350 may be mouted to a BC112c charger to form a coveiet charge/test statio. This procedure takes about 30 miutes. There are three bolts located o the back of the charger for this purpose. To istall the discharger, you will eed a medium ad a large phillips screwdriver. Use the smaller screwdriver to remove the four screws holdig the cover of the discharger to the heatsik. The carefully pull the cover away from the heatsik, ad slide the wire grommets out of place. Be careful ot to touch or bump the circuitry iside the uit, ad especially the LCD uit, as NON-Warratee damage may easily be doe. If you thik you may eed some help, your dealer may be able to assist you, or sed the uits to Teki Electroics. Oce the top cover of the discharger is off, use a large phillips screwdriver to LOOSEN the three screws o the back of the charger. Oce the screws are loose, use your figers oly to uthread the screws all the way. BE CAREFUL ot to press i o the screw, as there is a blid ut o the iside of the charger that may come loose ad require factory service. Place the discharger cover over the back of the charger the re-istall the 3 screws with light figer pressure oly. Alig the cover util it is straight, the tighte the screws. The discharger heatsik is the slid back ito the discharger cover, with the wires ad grommets i place. Be sure the LED lights alig with the holes. Re-istall the 4 cover screws. Use the patch cord supplied whe also operatig a secod BC112A charger with the BC112C. To Ni-Cd battery LIMITED WARRANTEE Figure 1 DIS350 ad BC112c cofigured for cycle mode. TEKIN ELECTRONICS, INC. guaratees this battery tester to be free from factory defects i materials ad workmaship for 120 days from the date of purchase, verified by sales receipt. This warraty does ot cover: suitability for specific applicatio; compoets wor by use; applicatio of reverse or improper voltage; tamperig; misuse, or shippig. Our warraty liability shall be limited to repairig the uit to our origial specificatios. Because we have o cotrol over the istallatio or use of this product, i o case shall our liability exceed the origial cost of the product. By the act of usig this device the user accepts all resultig liability. Batteries ad other equipmet damaged i coectio with the use of this device are ot covered. We reserve the right to modify the provisios of this warraty without otice. 12 7 Teki Electroics, Ic. 940 Calle Negocio Sa Clemete, Ca. 92673 (714) 498-9518 1998