Home-brew battery measuring station

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Sounds similar to what I was envisioning, albeit a little simpler. Since I can't read German (and much is lost in translation), do they also test lipos in "car mode"? Meaning, do they test the lipos with fairly low average current and then spike the current to 8X the average? This is what cars typically see. A battery that can provide a steady, but high current, may not act the same when subjected to car-style loads.

I suggest you look at this a bit closer, even though you don't understand every word. http://www.slowflyer.ch/downloads/pa06002v2.pdf
Whenever you see "lade", it's charging, while "entlade" ist discharging. You can figure out the rest with the units, though.
BTW, the test reports are in English, e.g. Kokam 5000 mAh 30C: http://www.slowflyer.ch/downloads/tn07008kokam5000.pdf

On page 4, you find the shematics of the equipment.

Basically, they do "static" testing every 25 cycles or so and the rest is "dynamic". You find this on page 2 of the first document and at the end of every test report.
Yes, I would say their procedure does represent "car mode", as they pull 30C peaks and average current of 8.5C or even 10C.

Best thing is, I know my batteries will last 400 cycles and loose less than 10% capacity, IF I even get to use them that much and don't abuse them.