Really useful and excellently presented vid. I've been struggling with understanding how, why and when to use an electronic load, so, other than a 100W wire wound resistor, I've not purchased anything yet. Now I feel that I can start to think seriously about one. Many thanks
aah I'm a fanboy for rhode & schwarz equipment, especially the really old stuff is not only capable but also beautifully built. the old units were often called "Rostig & Schwer" - german for Rusty and heavy..because they are.
Can we use nichrome resistance wire as a load for testing discharge Li ion batteries? The same wire that is use in vaporizers or I think as well in fan blowers. Im afraid it could behave as short for the battery. Thanks for any info.
120320/0305H PST-1105H UTC. Greetings from California. Thank you for the introductory information on the 3 variants of EL. For Home DIY hobbyists the first device seems to be a suitable unit than the other 2 devices. There was not much description on the cheapest device, therefore please present a detailed working description on it. Many Electronics enthusiasts will be thankful to you. Unscrupulous Battery sellers do cheat DIY buyers by selling B grade or substandard LiFePo4 cells with lower capacity. The Label may exhibit the Cell capacity, which may not true. (I'm a victim) So to help DIY Group, your detailed Audio/Video presentation will be a boon. A newer model of such EL device has entered the market Viz: ET5420, $200. This device has similar look as the BK Instrument device, perhaps BK unit is made by the same company, EAST TESTER. The contact person of the company is Cathy Wu . This is FYI. Thank you and best wishes. Stay safe.
Good video thanks. Can this device also be used to record the charging of a battery (with another source) and show a plot of V against time on a laptop?
Could you compare Easttester ET5410(+) to the middle one you showed? Can it handle 40A continously or will it overheat? How is the build quality and durability expectation? I guess you cant expect too much of these cheaper chinese loads?
Sir, thanks for your reply. I am a Mechanical Engineer and I have moderate knowledge in electronics but my friends are electronics engineers who help me in restoring. But my important question is can I utilise this old piece for another 3 or 4 years ? PLz let me know about the usability for some years.
You can also find some bulletproof older stuff from HP/Agilent second hand on eBay, which is certainly still usable! Shipping is usually crazy though, since they're heavy. And used test equipment on eBay is a bit of an overpriced dumpster fire right now for some reason... Things were more reasonable just a couple years ago. YMMV
The above load tester which I have mentioned FUJITSU DENSO EUL-300D which is a scrapped one is not working and many be 20 years old. Can I restore this and can I use this for some more years ? Is this old stuff compatible for the current technology ?
Great video. I repair power supplies and use an electronic load. You may be able to answer my question. Some linear PSU's don't seem to like being switched on with an electronic load preset to a CC value, for example, load preset to 5amps maximum capability of PSU 10amps. the PSU sees the load as a short and goes into short circuit protection the PSu works ok if I slowly increase my CC to the maximum, I don't get this problem if I attach a resistance load. is this a phenomenon you have come across, or is it my electronic load settings, I usually only use it in CC mode.
It keeps bothering me (as hobbyist) but I had the idea that an electronic load would simulate a variable power resistor, it looks like CR mode is needed the most. If I want that would be a bad idea to omit the op amp and make a crude one by using only a 10 turn potentiometer for precision to control the gate voltage of the MOSFET? Plus a shunt resistor for some load sharing and that's it.
Never mind, for one more time I think I discovered the answer after I asked you, there is no stability without the op amp I believe, because of heat I guess, thermal runaway effects etc. I did what I proposed and with stable gate voltage current either keeps increasing or decreasing depending if the MOSFET heats up or cools down. But thank you for being about to reply..! But if try it with op amp and still is not stable I'll be back...
As a fellow hobbyist, I could give a tip on something to buy or build, Tekbox Self Powered Active load. The manual has schematics. I have bought product.
