how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
(OP)
I have a 5x NiMH AA battery in series to power a bunch of LED.
The open & close circuit switch is a reed relay.
I want to measure the current flow value when the relay is open and close.
How best to draw the discharge rate chart after the relay is closed?
I assume the current is very low when the relay is opened. What kind of current meter (with minimial internal resistance) should I use?
Thank you.
The open & close circuit switch is a reed relay.
I want to measure the current flow value when the relay is open and close.
How best to draw the discharge rate chart after the relay is closed?
I assume the current is very low when the relay is opened. What kind of current meter (with minimial internal resistance) should I use?
Thank you.





RE: how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
Plug in the leads to measure current then place the leads so the current from the battery(ies) has to flow thru the meter, which you've set to measure current.
That's all there is too it, except! All batteries self discharge with time. Some MUCH faster than others. For that you need to look at the manufacture's data sheets, as measuring it yourself is completely impractical.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
We want to determine the openned relay may cause current leakage for 2 years storage of serially connected 5 AA NiMH batteries.
That is why we seek the mininal resistive load in series to the circuit at the point of current measurement (internal resisitive load of the Ammeter.
Thank you.
RE: how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
A reed switch can't possibly leak enough to affect the otherwise grim result.
To test your case do precisely follow my above description only use a meter with a microamps sensing capability. Most new DMM can do this. Just make sure you don't activate the relay while sensing in microamps or you may damage the meter. I'd be interested to hear your leakage results.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
http://www.keithley.nl/data?asset=57514
http://www.meder.com/kt_reed_relays_en.html
http://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Coto%20...
I second the notion of using alkaline, etc., batteries.
TTFN

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RE: how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
The model I am working on are rechargeable models.
I use a simple Fluke hand-held multimeter scale of 300mA. But did not see any leakage current.
I am searching for ammeter with 10-6 scale.
Is there any way to remedy this 5x AA NiMH in series self-discharge? After long storage of months, can we zap and re-awake these rechargeable batteries?
RE: how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
Seriously? We were talking about gigohm isolation, which means leakage current on the order of nA or pA, which are nowhere near 300mA. Even a uA scale might be insufficient to see the leakage of a decent switch.
If you're going to let the batteries sit idle for 2 years, why is there a need to use rechargeable batteries? What exactly is the purpose? If you have to, you can certainly do trickle-charge or even periodic charge, but that seems to be counter-intuitive to the notion of using batteries in a long-term idle situation.
Perhaps, you should start be describing the requirements and the intent.
TTFN

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RE: how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
Since you haven't said what your product is it's not possible to give any other suggests that might otherwise help.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: how to measure leakage current of NiMH battery?
If you're trying to measure ultra small currents then Keithley's instruments are among the best. They ain't cheap, but it's a difficult measurement; your multimeter is frankly useless for this purpose.
The following might be useful reading for you: http://www.keithley.com/knowledgecenter/knowledgec...