wonwinglo

WEST MOUNTAIN RADIO CBA-Computerised Battery Analyzer

This is far more than a simple battery voltage tester,with such a wide variety of battery sizes and types in use by modellers today,and with any chemistry make up and provided they are below a massive 48 volts then this unit will perform sophisticated scientific tests of these batteries.

The unit is perfectly capable of much higher test rates than any other tester on the market today up to 40 amps or 150 watts,whichever is the higher.It also functions just as well with great accuracy below 3 amps and at small currents so is ideal for small batteries as well.

While testing the total amount of energy stored in a battery ie capacity in amp hours,combined with the excellent software supplied can graphically display and saved and printed for comparison at a later stage,you can even do multiple tests of the same battery and information overlaid for study.Batteries can be suitably labelled,numbered and their respective life monitored.

The CBA will even test the temperature of a battery with the use of an optional external temperature probe with the safety of an automatic temperature cut off control.One unique feature for such a small unit is a built in cooling fan which kicks in during the battery test,the fan is so quiet that it can hardly be heard.

The unit features an integrated plug and play USB interface direct to the computer or lap top.The software supplied loaded well and is straightforward to use with a top level display,it provides automated sensing of the cell count,a safety check of the test rate and most importantly recommends a safe minimum discharge for the batteries that you are testing.No longer do you need to work in the dark with your valuable batteries,you will continue to learn important and valuable information about the batteries in your inventory.

To use the equipment is simplicity itself,once the software is opened and the battery connected the following procedure is undertaken-A green LED comes on the CBA and the software legend displays ‘stopped’ to get started a test name is placed in the top left hand window,each test can be easily saved for later comparison between different batteries,next the battery make up chemistry is added ie nicad,nimh,lipo etc,the battery can be connected at this stage,once the green start button has been pressed then the graph will start to appear and auto scale,all reading windows then change from green to red,the red LED comes on and the green word ‘stopped’ changes to red which denotes running and the fan gets going.The current display then comes up to the test level,and the wattage will be displayed and the amp hours will build up as the graph traces the path.The test continues until the test cut off point is reached,the program displays ‘test complete’ and everything returns to the stopped condition.At this stage the battery can be carefully dis-connected,you can then go to the file menu and save the results,or if you wish make a coloured printout.





Further consecutive tests can be made by placing in another test number in the left hand window and the above steps simply repeated.

The great thing also about the CBA is its compactness and portability,take your lap top with you to the flying field or boating lake and take the guesswork out of your valuable batteries,coupled with a set of interchangeable power leads or adapters this unit will prove an invaluable part of your toolkit.

Mention must be made of the first class instructions and a useful glossary of terms for beginners.

I have no hestitation in recommending this useful and versatile unit,once you have used it then you really will begin to wonder how on earth that you did without it !





The compact CBA battery tester wired up,utilises USB connection on your computer.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

adzam

Excellent barry !

i have to say that the usefulness of this piece of kit could be no end for the rc car enthusiast (or fast boat electrics!), buying matched cell packs can be very expensive as your paying the premium on the cells purely for the company/person doing the matching, for the equivalent of a matched set of cells you can do your own matching ! Bulk buying cells is easy if you hunt about on the net.

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wonwinglo

Exactly Adz,I have had a few of my older cells on test all day linked up to the trusty laptop,before I did not know exactly what was wrong or even where to look,this will detect any faults straight away and assist any recovery of older cells,it is a bit like looking for a fault without a spectrum analyser with radio equipment,or taking your car in without a Crypton device fitted,as equipment such as batteries get more sophisticated then we need to get the very best from them,for the model car enthusiast into racing this really is the bees-knees as they say !
I forgot to mention the heat detection probe in the review,this simply plugs into the side of the CBA and touches the cells, this gives a read out on the graph.
Already I can determine which of my battery inventory are matched,now they carry numbers which goes into my battery log.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

Nigel.D

For hose less experienced Adz and Barry were conversing in Croation I think that if a graduate to r/c i will first invest in a thesaurus!!! or just say "thingy" "firkin" "whatsit" and "Gubbins" there you are technical terms learned!!! Now I can converse on an equal footing with the other r/c guys

wonwinglo

*** Well Nigel,you gave me an idea ! have just compiled the first glossary of terms to gen up on,you will find them under 'Glossary of terms-Transmitters'

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

Great material Nigel.

periscope

Sounds good to me - thanks for the info.

Ian

Paul

Amazing coincidence, I've been seriously considering the CBA analyser after talking to Dez Chand about it, he raves about it too! However, the only shortcoming with the CBA seems to be that it doesn't measure individual cells capacity/voltage so is impossible to tell which, if any, cells are on their way out. A friend of mine has a Pro Trak charger which does measure individual cells, but doesn't give graphical discharge curve......... What I really need is a combination of the two......

wonwinglo

Good morning Paul I cannot comment on the Pro Trak as I have never used one,however I think that once you used the CBA you would be quickly able to see its enormous potential,advantages and ease of use,it is easy to see any errors as the graphs will quickly show any faults in the cell packs themselves,once a cell goes it normally affects the rest very quickly.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

Bunkerbarge

Barry,

Just getting right back to basics, does this unit actualy charge batteries or does it simply discharge and generate the characteristics from that.

Conditioning to me has always implied discharging and then recharging but there is no other mention of charging in your description.

Thanks for the evaluation, I am seriously looking at this fitting into a slot in my Christmas list.