Testing a battery well means combining three different instruments, not one: a battery tester to measure real performance, a battery simulator to test the electronics around it safely, and a milliohmmeter to catch the earliest signs of ageing. Each covers a stage of the same problem that the others cannot.
Battery testers: measuring real charge and discharge performance
A battery tester runs controlled charge and discharge cycles on a cell, module, or pack, tracking usable capacity, voltage behaviour under load, and how these change as the cell ages. This is how «State of Health» (SoH) and «State of Charge» (SoC) are actually measured, rather than estimated, and it is the only reliable way to predict how a battery will degrade over its real service life.
Battery simulators: testing the electronics without the risk
Validating a charger or a Battery Management System does not always require a real cell. A «battery simulator» electronically reproduces the output behaviour of a battery, including its internal resistance and voltage drop under load, letting engineers test across a full range of voltages and currents without the safety hazards or long charge cycles of a real chemical battery. This is particularly valuable for validating protection and emergency shutdown logic in Aerospace and automotive applications.
Milliohmmeters: catching ageing before it becomes failure
Internal resistance is one of the earliest indicators of battery ageing. A «milliohmmeter» uses precise AC or DC injection to measure internal resistance with milliohm level sensitivity, revealing corrosion, electrolyte depletion, or electrode degradation long before they cause a system failure. This makes milliohmmeters a standard part of incoming inspection and predictive maintenance programs for battery packs.
ALLdata's battery testing range
ALLdata's catalog includes the multi-channel Kewell B2000-EC for charge and discharge testing, the R&S NGU-K106 battery simulator option, and the GW Instek GOM-805 milliohmmeter for internal resistance testing.
Building or expanding a battery test program? Talk to an ALLdata engineer, or browse our battery testing solutions.