Vencon UBA 5 Technisches Datenblatt

The UBA (Ultimate Battery Analyzer) is a battery analyzer, charger, discharger and reconditioner. It’s also a data

logger, thermometer and electronic load . Wow! That’s a lot of stuff in such a small box. How do we do it? Easy. We

get the PC to do most of the work.

The first three chapters in this guide show you how to setup the UBA then takes you step by step through a complete

battery analysis. Once you’ve done your first battery analysis, you can use the online help that comes with the UBA

Software to learn more. We recommend that you read these first three chapters before you run your first battery

analysis (it won’t take that long).

Notes:

●

The latest version of software and online help is available at the private area of our web site. To get there, run

UBA Console and click on Get latest news on Vencon Website (Help menu),or go to:

http://www.vencon.com/UBA4News/B-0.96.html, or use the shortcut on the installation CD.

●

If you need help using the software or testing batteries, don’t hesitate to call or email us. You can also email

us your battery analysis results for assistance in interpreting them.

Printed September 2007 for UBA Console version 1.0.

The UBA Let's Get Started Guide Page i

Batteries are electro-chemical devices that have the potential to burn, explode, or emit harmful chemicals.

Please read these safety warnings:

Safety Warnings:

●

Observe battery temperature. Allow cold batteries to warm up and hot batteries to cool

before charging. Stop the battery test if the battery becomes very hot.

●

Do not attempt to charge non-rechargeable batteries such as alkaline, carbon-zinc,

or non-rechargeable lithium batteries. Attempting to charge them may result in explosion.

●

Do not short the positive and negative battery terminals together.

●

Do not exceed the battery manufacturer’s recommended charge current and voltage limits.

Doing so may damage the battery and result in venting or explosion.

●

Charge and discharge lithium batteries in a fire proof container.

●

Double check the settings before starting a battery analysis.

Page ii The UBA Let's Get Started Guide

Table of Contents

1.Setting Up The UBA.........................................................................................................................................................1

1.1.Connecting the UBA to a Power Supply..................................................................................................................1

1.2.Connecting the UBA to a Computer........................................................................................................................2

1.3.Connecting More than One UBA to a Computer.....................................................................................................2

1.4.Extending the Serial Cable......................................................................................................................................2

1.5.Ventilation................................................................................................................................................................3

1.6.Battery Cables..........................................................................................................................................................3

2.UBA Console Installation instructions..............................................................................................................................4

2.1.Installing UBA Console............................................................................................................................................4

2.2.Starting UBA Console..............................................................................................................................................5

2.3.Initializing the UBAs.................................................................................................................................................5

2.4.Locating and Installing the UBA Calibration File(s).................................................................................................6

3.Is My Battery any Good? The Battery Analysis...............................................................................................................6

3.1.The Multitester.........................................................................................................................................................6

3.2.Setting Up the Battery Analysis...............................................................................................................................7

3.3.Starting the Battery Analysis..................................................................................................................................10

3.4.Monitoring the Battery Analysis.............................................................................................................................11

3.5.Interpreting the Results – Is My Battery Any Good?.............................................................................................11

4.Creating a Battery Analysis Routine..............................................................................................................................13

4.1.“Advanced” BAR Concepts....................................................................................................................................17

4.2.BAR Actions...........................................................................................................................................................19

4.3.BARs Included with UBA Console.........................................................................................................................19

5.Advanced Topics............................................................................................................................................................20

5.1.Choosing and Setting Up a Power Supply.............................................................................................................20

5.2.Importing Results into a Spreadsheet...................................................................................................................22

5.3.Warnings................................................................................................................................................................22

5.4.Current and Power Limitations..............................................................................................................................23

Appendix A – Troubleshooting..........................................................................................................................................24

Appendix B – FAQs...........................................................................................................................................................25

Appendix C – Included Battery Analysis Routines............................................................................................................27

UBA Accessories – Optional Temperature Probes...........................................................................................................29

UBA Accessories - Channel Combiner.............................................................................................................................33

UBA5 Specifications..........................................................................................................................................................35

Two Year Limited Warranty...............................................................................................................................................35

The UBA4 Let's Get Started Guide Page iii

Regulatory Compliance

FCC Class B Information

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of

FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential or

commercial installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed

and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which

can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one

or more of the following measures:

●

Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

●

Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

●

Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver in connected.

●

Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

CE Compliance for Europe

This equipment has been verified to comply with

CISPR22/EN55022 - Class B - Limits and methods of measurements of radio disturbance characteristics of

Information Technology Equipment and

EN50082-1 - Generic Immunity Standards, Residential, Commercial and Light Industry.

The UBA Let's Get Started Guide Page v

1. Setting Up The UBA

●

Unpack the UBA shipping box and check that you’ve received the following:

●

The UBA battery analyzer, charger, and conditioner.

●

Vencon UBA Console CD, which contains the software for the UBA.

●

A 2 metre 9 pin male to female shielded serial cable.

●

Two sets of test leads with alligator clips.

●

A printed copy of this guide.

●

A power supply (if you purchased a UBA Combo).

What you need to get started (in addition to the above):

●

A power supply (included with the UBA Combo).

●

A PC with a free serial port or a USB port and a USB to serial converter.

1.1. Connecting the UBA to a Power Supply

The UBA requires a power supply with a DC voltage from 15 to 24V (see section 5.1 “Choosing and Setting Up a

Power Supply” for more information). Connect the power supply output cable to the back of the UBA and plug the

power supply’s AC cable into a wall outlet. The battery red LEDs will flash once, the fan will spin a couple of times and

the power LED will turn on. If this doesn’t happen then check the voltage on the power cable: it should be at least 15V

with the centre pin positive.

If you use your own power supply ensure that it has a 2.1mm DC barrel plug that mates with the power input on the

back of the UBA. The UBA is reverse voltage protected, if you reverse wire the DC supply cable no damage will result,

but the UBA won't turn on. Also ensure that the power supply voltage is no more than 25V no-load, otherwise you risk

damaging the UBA.

The UBA Let's Get Started Guide Page 1

1.2. Connecting the UBA to a Computer

The UBA connects to any unused serial port the PC. You can use a USB port with a USB to serial port converter -

“RS232 from Computer or other UBA”) and the other end to the PC serial port or USB converter.

1.3. Connecting More than One UBA to a Computer

If you are using more than one UBA, then connect the first one to the PC as described above and the second UBA to

the first UBA. No adapters or gender changers are required. Repeat this for any additional UBAs (the maximum is

253 UBAs per serial port, but performance and memory limits are reached before that). Each UBA requires its own

power supply or they can share a single power supply with enough current to power them all. You can connect the

UBAs while they are on, but you will have to re-initialize the UBA network for any new UBAs to be recognized.

1.4. Extending the Serial Cable

You can extend the UBA's serial cable with a shielded extension cable. We have successfully run the UBA with a 30m

(100ft) cable. Check for resent commands in the communication port display (accessible from the UBA Network

window by right clicking on the comm port). You really shouldn't have any, but if you do, don't worry as the UBA uses

advanced error correction so that any corrupted transmissions are resent.

Figure 2: Communication port display showing UBAs connected and the number of commands sent and resent

(commands are resent if there is a communication error). Here 21 million commands were sent without error.

This is an actual image from our burn-in station where UBAs are run for at least 12 hours.

Page 2 The UBA Let's Get Started Guide

Figure 1: UBA serial port connections for one or more UBAs.

UBA

Vencon

Serial

Port

Second UBA

Serial cable

(1 per UBA)

To Additional

UBAs

First UBA

USB

Port

USB Converter

1.5. Ventilation

The UBA can generate up to 90 Watts of heat during a battery discharge or charge. Do not obstruct the air holes on

the top or bottom. Be careful when touching the UBA during a high current discharge or charge, as it can get quite hot

(the fan automatically turns on when the UBA gets too warm). Avoid running a high power discharge or charge when

the UBA is in a hot environment (greater than 30 degrees Celsius).

It is normal for the UBA to get get warm (some might call it hot) before the fan turns on. You can check that the fan is

functioning by watching if it turns on when power is applied to the UBA or during network initialization or you can turn it

on from the Multitester instrument (described later). If you would prefer that the fan turn on earlier, there is an option

for this in the Options... menu (under File, click on Options... and select the General tab).

1.6. Battery Cables

Figure 3: Connecting a battery to the UBA. The UBA uses standard

banana jacks for its battery connections and comes with two sets of battery cables with alligator clips. Additional plugs

or cables are available from us. Plug the cables into the front of the UBA and connect the red clip to the positive

terminal of the battery being tested and the black clip to the negative terminal of the battery.

NOTE: The UBA inputs are polarity protected, thus connecting the battery backwards will not damage your battery,

nor the UBA.

CAUTION: When the battery cables are connected to a battery but not plugged into the UBA, the banana plugs can

touch each other resulting in very high currents potentially causing burns or the battery might gas or explode. For this

reason, we recommend that the banana plugs be plugged into the UBA before connecting them to your battery. In our

lab banana plugs connected to a battery, when not connected to a UBA, are inserted into a piece of wood with 11/64”

(4.5mm) holes that keep the plugs safely apart.

Figure 4: Using a block of wood to keep battery banana plugs from shorting.

Hint: If you expect to be testing cylindrical cells (like AA, AAA, C, ...) then consider using battery connectors

with magnets. Contact us for ordering information.

The UBA Let's Get Started Guide Page 3

UBA

Vencon

Battery

2. UBA Console Installation instructions

The software that runs on the PC and controls the UBA is called UBA Console. Install it on a PC running Microsoft

Windows (Win95 or later) or Linux (we have an application note on our website explaining how to do run UBA Console

under Wine).

Windows 95 and NT users: If you will be installing UBA Console on a PC with a fresh install of Windows 95

or NT then you might have to install the HTML help application and some other upgrades to your operating

system. See the troubleshooting section at the back of this guide.

2.1. Installing UBA Console

Insert the UBA CD into the PC’s CD drive. Installation should start automatically. If it doesn’t, run SETUP.EXE on the

CD. If you’re installing from a file that you downloaded from our website, then run that file.

Important -- Data Location:

During the installation you will be asked where to locate the “application's database”. This folder, called VenconUBA,

is where the files containing battery analysis routines are stored as well as where the analysis results are stored. By

default it's put in the same folder as UBA Console, i.e.:

C:\Program Files\Vencon\VenconUBA <- default (not recommended)

We recommend you choose a different location which is regularly backed up. For example on our PCs we put it in My

Documents:

C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\My Documents\VenconUBA <- recommended

You can change the folder location after UBA Console has been installed by moving (or dragging) the VenconUBA

folder to the new location then specifying it on the Folder tab in the Options dialog box (File menu).

The following four folders are created in the VenconUBA folder:

AnalysisResults – Analysis results are stored here.

BARs – Battery Analysis Routines are stored here.

Page 4 The UBA Let's Get Started Guide

Figure 5: Example folder paths.

Database&Cal – Database, calibration, and sound files are stored here.

Logs – Log files are stored here.

2.2. Starting UBA Console

Start UBA Console (accessible from the Windows Start menu).

Figure 6: UBA Console - UBA Network not yet initialized.

If you don’t get this, see Appendix A - Troubleshooting.

Don’t be surprised if your version of UBA Console appears slightly different then this as we’re always improving the

software.

2.3. Initializing the UBAs

UBA Console is now running, but its not yet communicating with the UBA. For that to happen, you have to initialize the

UBA Network. Tell the software which comm port(s) to use on the Serial Port tab in the Options dialog box (File

menu). Only free comm ports are displayed. You can choose more then one comm port, UBA Console will check

them all for a UBA each time you initialize the UBA network.

You can initialize the UBA Network by clicking on the first icon on the main menu (the “on/off” switch) or by the other

ways shown below.

Figure 7: Multiple ways to initialize the UBA Network.

Either way UBA Console will try to connect to the UBA using the serial ports that you have selected. You can close the

UBA Network window by clicking on the Close button or the X(this does not close the UBA network).

The UBA Let's Get Started Guide Page 5

Four ways to initialize the UBA

network:

Right click here or here.

or click here or here

2.4. Locating and Installing the UBA Calibration File(s)

Every time UBA Console initializes a UBA Network, it reads the calibration file for each UBA that it detects. If it can’t

locate the calibration file in the VenconUBA\Database&Cal folder, it will put up a Calibration file not found dialog box.

Every UBA comes with a calibration file that can be found on the installation CD or it was emailed to you. Once

located, UBA Console copies it into the VenconUBA\Database&Cal folder so that it can find it next time.

Don’t lose the UBA’s calibration file, but if you do, don’t panic. We keep a copy. If you’ve made it so far you should

see this:

Figure 8: UBA Console with the UBA network initialized (icons are enabled).

UBA Console has now established communications with the UBA(s) and you can start any instrument.

3. Is My Battery any Good? The Battery Analysis

In this chapter, we're going for a quick tour of the UBA and to run a battery analysis. Start up UBA Console and

initialize the UBA Network.

3.1. The Multitester

Before starting a battery analysis, let’s do some exploring. Click on the third icon, which starts the Multitester. The

Multitester is a great place to start, as you can check the battery’s voltage and the operation of the UBA.

Figure 9:

UBA Console ready to start an instrument. Click on the circled icon to start a Multitester.

Page 6 The UBA Let's Get Started Guide

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