Finally built the Bob Parker "Blue" ESR Meter

[volkswagenvan]

Originally Posted by stj

doesnt esr on batteries vary with charge?

i know on 18650's i salvage that they look a lot better after a full cycle

I never tried testing 18650's.
Just lead acid, nickel metal hydride and nickel cadmium's.
Can't recall really checking for charged verses dead.
Lots of charged verses charged to compare their health is all.

[volkswagenvan]

Those minor upgrades add up to ease of use!
The longer leads would keep me from dragging my Blue around so much!
Nice job on the holder!

[volkswagenvan]

bcstedt,..

About your FA error code.
Lots of reading gives me this from Bob Parker. (Don't try out the self-diagnostic function unless you really need to. And don't use a 9V battery with the diagnostic function because it will report an 'F2' fault which probably doesn't exist. It must be powered by 5.5v to work properly.)

As far as errors and faults check here. http://www.bobparker.net.au/esr_meter/esrprob.htm

Lots of good Info on errors and problems with the Blue ESR Meter from Bob himself!

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by volkswagenvan

I kinda made one from the old Bob Parker meter.

Thanks for the printout. Doesn't look as "professional" as the original but 10 times more useful.

[volkswagenvan]

Glad to help... looks more professional in color. lol
I know i love mine now!

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by volkswagenvan

Glad to help... looks more professional in color. lol
I know i love mine now!

I should have printed it out at work on our $3000 copier instead of my monochrome $80 home laser printer. It looks good enough and I didn't use sticker paper either. I was just really careful with packing tape and used a razor to trim the excess.

[eccerr0r]

Interesting the "old" table seems to include some compensation to limited testing frequency, but the "new" graphs do not...

Now to attach a table to the AVR transistortester ... heh...

[volkswagenvan]

Looks Good Enough to do the job jayjr !

Everybody can use it if you want. Its not to fancy but it works!

I remember typing the omega / ohm symbol was a pain for me!
The colors just looked kinda cool. I saw similar on the net and they got added at the end.

I have two printers that i use. One HP Laser Jet P1006 for cheap black and white and
a HP Office Jet Pro 8210 for color printing.

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by redwire

What ESR chart did you go with?

I've heard measuring battery ESR can also be done if you add a series DC blocking capacitor. Good for many testing different batteries, LiIon and car batteries with the Blue ESR meter.

This guy seems to think the meter can check batteries charged or not.
https://youtu.be/toq3msUeQ40?t=207

[volkswagenvan]

AnaTek worked with Bob Parker to get the Blue ESR Meter assembled for sale.
I would trust anything he says because he would know!

As for ESR getting better with charge cycles,... It could happen.
I have seen old caps that have just sat around in equipment unused get better
after some time back in service. Reform I guess.

You got me playing with battery's at my desk now!

New AA alkaline 1.5 volt reads .00 on the Blue while Old almost dead ones removed from my belt flashlight read 1.0 ohms. Same brand from the same package!

Interesting!

Another interesting thing is if you put one sharp tip test lead on the bottom of a cheap
AA battery you can touch the positive and negative through the plastic at the same time producing a red glow hot enough to make a small blister on your finger!

Never done that before! Ok,...I`m done testing stuff now. LOL

[redwire]

Some (good) battery blue ESR measurements:
AAA Panasonic alkaline, 0.11 ohms, 0.13 ohms
AAA Ikea alkaline, 0.07 ohms
AAA chinese alkaline [weak almost dead] 0.2 ohms
AAA Energizer lithium, 0.22ohms, 0.24 ohms
----------------------------------------------
AAA Ikea Ladda NiMH 900mAh charged, 0.06 ohms. Discharged, 0.06 ohms
AAA Eneloop NiMH 750mAh charged, 0.17, 0.23
----------------------------------------------
9V Energizer Industrial alkaline, 1.2 ohms
9V Duracell alkaline, 5.0 ohms I just want to take a leak?
----------------------------------------------
12V 7.2Ah gel-cell good 3yrs on standby, 0.03 ohms
----------------------------------------------
AA Ikea Ladda NiMH 2,450mAh new, 0.03 ohms
AA Eneloop Pro NiMH 2,450mAh used, 0.06 ohms
----------------------------------------------
AA Ikea alkaline, 0.05 ohms
AA Duracell alkaline weak, 0.77 ohms I just want to take a leak
AA Duracell Procell alkaline weak, 0.70 ohms I just want to take a leak
AA Duracell Procell alkaline weak, 0.13 ohms
----------------------------------------------

I think the main advantage to using ESR is it doesn't depend on state-of-charge, so dead or alive it checks the plate's active surface area and cell interconnects etc. which go downhill with corrosion.
But I really need to build a new blue ESR meter with an extra digit of resolution.

[volkswagenvan]

Very interesting! No burnt fingers?

I found more reading material, The new blue ring tester is interesting as well!

Bob Parker's Electronic Stuff http://bobparker.net.au/index.html

Anatek Instruments https://muut.com/anatek-forum/#!/ana...ct-discussions

[Bob Parker]

Originally Posted by volkswagenvan

bcstedt,..

About your FA error code.
Lots of reading gives me this from Bob Parker. (Don't try out the self-diagnostic function unless you really need to. And don't use a 9V battery with the diagnostic function because it will report an 'F2' fault which probably doesn't exist. It must be powered by 5.5v to work properly.)

As far as errors and faults check here. http://www.bobparker.net.au/esr_meter/esrprob.htm

Lots of good Info on errors and problems with the Blue ESR Meter from Bob himself!

I know that this is one year late. Before using the diagnostic function in the Blue ESR meter, a few things have to be done first (which are in the instructions): "Before doing the self-test, it’s very important to first set VR1 to the center of its adjustment range, short out R30, 100R and make sure that the meter’s supply voltage is in the range of 6.2 – 6.8V. Do not use a 9V battery for this test because it will cause a false F2 warning!" If you don't short out R30, you will get a false "FA" fault code. I hope this clarifies things a bit.

[volkswagenvan]

Thank`s for the info Bob!

It's never too late to learn something. Example = "Kombi vans" Lol
Thank`s for the clarification!

[Bob Parker]

In case anyone's wondering why it's necessary to power the Blue meter from an unusual voltage and short out R30 before invoking the diagnostic function, it's because the microcontroller's firmware was designed for the Dick Smith Mk2 ESR meter which has a different voltage regulator and there's no R30. I knew that if I changed the firmware to suit the Blue meter, there would be endless mix-ups between the different microcontroller versions.

[volkswagenvan]

Interesting and Good call on keeping the same firmware.

I hope to never have to use the diagnostic function but my biggest fear is doing
something stupid someday and making my Blue meter a Blue brick!

Hopefully that will never happen. I can replace and repair everything but the Zilog!
Your Blue meter is so popular that I would find a replacement with no problem if needed.

You made yourself quite a good piece of test equipment! Thank`s for sharing your Meter with the world!

[Bob Parker]

Originally Posted by volkswagenvan

Interesting and Good call on keeping the same firmware.

I hope to never have to use the diagnostic function but my biggest fear is doing
something stupid someday and making my Blue meter a Blue brick!

Hopefully that will never happen. I can replace and repair everything but the Zilog!
Your Blue meter is so popular that I would find a replacement with no problem if needed.

You made yourself quite a good piece of test equipment! Thank`s for sharing your Meter with the world!

So far I haven't heard of even one microcontroller failure due to connecting the Blue meter to charged high voltage capacitors. In fact the late John Bachman at Anatek who I collaborated with actually tried connecting one of the meters to bigger and more highly charged capacitors until it started blowing tracks off the PCB, but the microcontroller survived.

I only designed the ESR meter to help with my own repairs. I submitted it to a local magazine as a construction project, and the editor gave me a look like "Why would anyone want to measure a capacitor attribute which no one has ever heard of?". But kit sales just exploded and have stayed high for 1/4 of a century.

I'm sure that Andy at Alltronics who makes the kits now would help out if anyone needed a replacement microcontroller IC. He's that kinda guy.

[stj]

how much current does the blue meter use?
just wondering because there is a cheap(free) source of very compact 500ma lion pouch cells

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by stj

how much current does the blue meter use?
just wondering because there is a cheap(free) source of very compact 500ma lion pouch cells

I can check in a little bit for you. I currently use a 9v lithium which is just two lithium cells making it about 8.4v fully charged. Seems to work fine.

[Bob Parker]

Originally Posted by stj

how much current does the blue meter use?
just wondering because there is a cheap(free) source of very compact 500ma lion pouch cells

The current consumption jumps all over the place depending on how many segments of the displays are on. It's about 15mA at idle but can get up to maybe 40mA.

According to Energizer's data, the 522 alkaline 9V battery has a capacity of around 600mAH at that level of discharge, so a 500mAH Li-Ion battery could be expected to last a similar amount of time.

Hope this helps...