ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER

• US 20110267067A1
• Filed: 04/29/2010
• Published: 11/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Franklin Grid Solutions, LLC (EBW, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Franklin Grid Solutions, LLC (EBW, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stukenberg, Tood J., Decker, Jeremy, Bertness, Kevin I.
• Application Number:
  US12/769,911
• Publication Number:
  US 20110267067A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/426
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/386 using test-loads

Abstract

An electronic battery tester for testing a storage battery including electrical connectors configured to couple to the storage battery. Measurement circuitry is coupled to the electrical connectors and a display is configured to display information to an operator. A manual input is configured to receive an input from a user. A microprocessor is coupled to the measurement circuitry and is configured to perform a battery test on the storage battery as a function of a battery parameter measured with the measurement circuitry. The microprocessor is configured to display characters and receive a character select input from the manual input which identifies one character of a plurality of characters displayed on the display. In another aspect, a forcing function is coupled to the battery and has first and second selectable frequencies. The microprocessor is configured to select between the first frequency and the second frequency.

Claims

1. An electronic battery tester for testing a storage battery, comprising:

electrical connectors configured to couple to the storage battery;

measurement circuitry coupled to the electrical connectors;

a display configured to display information to an operator;

a manual input configured to receive an input from a user; and

a microprocessor coupled to the measurement circuitry configured to perform a battery test on the storage battery as a function of a battery parameter measured with the measurement circuitry, the microprocessor configured to display a plurality of characters on the display and receive a character select input from the manual input which identifies one character of a plurality of characters displayed on the display.

2. The electronic battery tester of claim 1 wherein the microprocessor is further configured to display a cursor on the display.

3. The electronic battery tester of claim 2 wherein the manual input is configured to provide an input to the microprocessor related to a desired position of the cursor on the display.

4. The electronic battery tester of claim 3 wherein the manual input comprises four movement buttons.

5. The electronic battery tester of claim 3 wherein the manual input includes an enter button.

6. The electronic battery tester of claim 1 wherein the characters comprise alphabetic characters.

7. The electronic battery tester of claim 1 wherein the characters comprise numeric characters.

8. The electronic battery tester of claim 1 wherein the display comprises a touch screen display and manual input comprises a touch input of the touch screen display.

9. The electronic battery tester of claim 1 including a forcing function source configured to apply a forcing function signal to the battery, the forcing function signal having first and second selectable frequencies.

10. The electronic battery tester of claim 9 wherein the microprocessor is configured to select the first frequency if the storage battery comprises a standby battery and to select the second frequency if the storage battery comprises a vehicle battery.

11. An electronic battery tester for testing a storage battery, comprising:

Kelvin connectors configured to electrically couple to terminals of a storage battery;

a forcing function source configured to apply a forcing function signal to the battery through the Kelvin connectors, the forcing function signal having first and second selectable frequencies;

measurement circuitry configured to measure a parameter of the battery generated in response to the forcing function signal; and

a microprocessor configured to perform a battery test based upon the parameter of the battery, the microprocessor further configured to select the first frequency if the storage battery comprises a standby battery and select the second frequency if the storage battery comprises a vehicle battery.

12. The electronic battery tester of claim 11 including a display and wherein the microprocessor is further configured to display a cursor and characters on the display.

13. The electronic battery tester of claim 12 including a manual input configured to provide an input to the microprocessor related to a desired position of the cursor on the display.

14. The electronic battery tester of claim 13 wherein the manual input comprises four movement buttons.

15. The electronic battery tester of claim 13 wherein the manual input includes an enter button.

16. The electronic battery tester of claim 12 wherein the display comprises a touch screen display.

17. The electronic battery tester of claim 11 including a manual input configured to select between the first and second frequencies.

18. The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the microprocessor is configured to automatically select between the first and second frequencies.

19. The electronic battery tester of claim 18 wherein the automatic selection is based upon a battery voltage of the storage battery.

20. The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the first frequency comprises 22 Hz.

21. The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the second frequency comprises 88 Hz.

22. The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the forcing function comprises an active forcing function.

23. The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the forcing function comprises a passive forcing function.

24. The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the second frequency comprises 100 Hz.