 |
|---|
Phone 203.853.8080 Fax 203.299.0232 |
 |
|
I received MY CBA II yesterday and have been enjoying it ever since. I'll have a few questions once I have
more hands on. The RC Car guys have got to have one especially if they race. Your CBA II is a real winner
and fills a gap in the RC market.
Every thing about the CBA is very professional and well designed. I'll link you when we up date our web site main page. Many Many Thanks
I just recently bought CBA II Computerized Battery Analyzer II from your web site. The order was placed on Sunday 25 September 2005 and I was analyzing on Wednesday. This is great response. My order was complete. Surprisingly there was no quick start sheet or instructions in the box— none were necessary. Stick in the disk, and follow the directions for a flawless install.
| The quality of the CBA II is outstanding. It is very compact and completely finished. There are no components or other projections sticking out of the case. It is just good looking. The USB cable was included and is long enough to get the batteries far enough away from my computer for safe operation. Like most modelers, I have a variety of chargers and batteries. I am glad this is not a charger, just an analyzer. This will allow it to stay current while the battery and charger technology changes. Batteries probably cause more crashes than any other (non pilot) reason. For this reason I chose to start with my airborne packs. Most of my airborne packs are NiCads. I started with my oldest known flyable pack. With the help of the CBA I fouled the best combinations of charge techniques and the pack is now up to rated value. It started at 1300 MaH and now is up to 1960 MaH. The Analyzer is so easy to use, it frees up time to do other model maintenance. The multiple graphs are essential to show the history of the pack. With good charging and the ability to analyze the packs, my confidence has just risen. With this experience under my belt, I next analyzed the power batteries. Sub cell packs, lead acid and gel cells were next. Even with high power test the CBA II do not get too hot. 35 tests have been performed so far, all with great success. I tried the CBA export routine. On some special occasions, like matching cells, the extra data makes it easy to see small changes in the end points. The value of the CBA II is truly excellent. Many of my flying buddies will be buying these units soon. Thanks for such a great product. Topper
Just wanted to state that the CBA-II is one of the primary test devices used at the Battery Clinic. It handles all battery analysis tasks where an accurate display of the battery discharge characteristics are needed. While being one of the most valuable pieces of test equipment in the Battery Clinic lab, it is also one of the easiest to set up and use. Straight forward, easy to understand displays. It should find its place in the modeling device hall of fame should there ever be one. Well done.
|
Red Scholefield
I love my new CBA II, it operates exactly as advertised, thank you. In a future software release please consider adding an on screen elapsed time indicator showing the discharge progress after the start button is pressed and the ability to add simple notes to the printed graphs on setup.
| Best, Gerald L. Keller [Jer]
First, I would like to say how wonderful your little CBA is. I have discovered
things that I never quite saw before in my batteries like... the effects of bad
or dirty contacts in the capacity measurements of a battery. How many batteries
have I charged over the years incorrectly due to less-than-perfect battery
contacts (I'm thinking AA cells in non-soldered battery holders). With CBA I
can wiggle a cell in my battery holder and immediately see the effects of
voltage on the graph. So, I have learned to clean my battery contacts and
terminals much better with an immediate impact on charger efficiency and
battery performance.
|
The list of benefits goes on and is well reflected in the customers comments on your web site. I'm totally hooked on this thing and I hope you continue to develop and improve this product. You can count me in as a loyal customer. Best regards, Carlos Martin
| I just wanted to take a moment and tell you what a wonderful job you folks at West Mountain Radio did on the Computer Battery Analyzer. I have been concentrating on consumer single cell testing of primary and secondary cells. The CBA has allowed me to share information on how well a certain brand does under the loads that we are using them. The graph also tells us how well the voltage is holding up under load. I know the CBA is not sold as a lab grade instrument, but I am continually amazed at its accuracy. I have gone head to head with very expensive battery testing equipment and the CBA results compare quite favorably. I have tested all chemistries at a wide variety of loads and the CBA just keeps churning out the data. I am very pleased with it. Secondary (rechargeable) cells are only as good as the chargers used to charge them up. I have found the CBA to be very valuable in determining how well the various chargers do at charging cells. I did not expect to find much of a difference, but was surprised. The CBA has demonstrated its ability to do consistent tests time after time again. I have logged over 800 single cell tests and over 30 battery pack tests, and would (and do) recommend the CBA to anyone who wants to understand their battery packs and/or cells. Once again, thanks for this wonderful product. Tom Poast
| I just finished giving my new CBA II a couple of test runs, and I am quite impressed with it's performance as well as ease of use. The last battery tester I used that was this good cost over $5,000, and had only a few more features! Good job, West Mountain Radio! Norm Anderson Just received my Computerized Battery Analyzer, and I'm really happy with what I can now do with my battery packs !! I've been asking around, and even taking shots at building my own device like this one, for many years. Then yours shows up........ Great product !! Thanks again !! I already have three other individuals looking at your package, and I thing all of them will buy....... Would like to see you guys at the Toledo R/C Trade Show.........I've been going every year for over 25 years, and I think it's the Granddaddy of them all !! Hope you make it there in the future. Regards, Duie Matenkosky NOTE: West Mountain Radio will be at Toledo! Hello Del, enjoyed talking to you this morning on the phone. I would like to recommend your product the CBA to any user of rechargeable batteries of any kind. I have learned all kinds of things about my battery packs and now have a valid idea at what voltage figure I need to stop flying my RC planes. I am both a ham operator and an RC flier and use batteries in both hobbies. My CBA was given to me as a gift and it has worked flawlessly from the start. Also, congratulations on software that works. Sincerely Jerry Tanner I happen to have a few very capable chargers/dischargers - none of which can discharge beyond 2 amps (including a $450 Schulze 636). As I type this, my CBA is cranking right along at 3 amps discharging a 700 mAh pack a little over 4C. Sure is nice to have it capacity checked in under 15 minutes! In my opinion, the CBA is far more capable than any charger with a discharge function. The graphs I can print to prove performance are near priceless. I've now tracked all the newest packs and cells from Apogee, Kokam, Tanic and Thunder Power and am very pleased with what I've found While true you can only discharge a 3S pack up to around 10 amps, even on an 8000 mAh pack, this would be a tad over 1C. You can have the capacity check done in less than an hour, rather than 4-8 hours on a Schulze, Triton or Astro. And in single cell (lipo) form for those truly dedicated, 30+ amps is 15C+ on a 2000 mAh cell. Since I'm addicted to testing LiPolys both at home and at work, I buy 2S packs to split down to single cells for testing, and 3S packs to actually gain flight performance data with. Granted, this isn't likely what most will do, but for just about any application in discharging from capacity check, to consistency checks, to discharge capability checks, the CBA cant be beat! Jason @ Thunder Power Add my voice to the positive chorus about the CBA. Yes, charging is important, but discharging and record-keeping is probably more important (no flames, please). It's interesting that while there are untold numbers of very competent battery chargers available commercially, the CBA is the only one I know of that lets you test the batteries under the actual load they see in use and then save the tests! The software (and update) loaded easily on A Sony Vaio on Windows 98 and the unit and software works perfectly! Good job, West Mountain, keep it up! Richard Shilling I'm sitting here using this thing right now -- extraordinarily intuitive! I would have killed for something like this over the past 30 years while sitting there with dummy load, voltmeter, and ruled paper! Congratulations on a superb product. Thanks again,
I received my CBA today. I've been using it and I absolutely love it. This thing is too good to be true. Danny at Shekinah Ok, I've been running tests with this thing for the past several days. I've tested everything from various lipo packs, NiMH packs, and dozens of single cells. The single cell test is very cool. I have some older packs that have bad cells. In one case, a 12 cell GP3300 (details in another thread) I had a bad cell. I ended up breaking the pack up and testing each cell. Using the overlay function, I could clearly see that I had 9 good cells, 2 marginal cells, and one bad cell. Fishstyx Hi, Gents... I bought a CBA, and am extremely pleased with it. Two suggestions for the control panel: 1) A running timer. Once the test has been underway a while, and the stats aren't changing much, one can get the idea the software's hung. It isn't; but something moving like a timer would confirm everything was still on the tracks and chugging along. (WMR comment, there is a "running" software indicator and a test in progress LED) 2) A cut-off alarm. Maybe a gong sound as the test terminates. Or provide a hook where some other user-selected WAV file could be triggered as the test ends. (WMR comment, good idea, maybe a future downloadable software update) One suggestion for the physical device: A slightly longer Red/Black cord coming from the device. One foot would be way better than the short-short that's on there. The first thing one has to do is make an adaptor extension... ;-) (WMR comment, we had to keep it short so we measure as accurate battery terminal voltage as possible) Even so, a VERY cool device. Congratulations! You'll sell a lot of these to the film and video production business. We all use and abuse batteries like Chickletts... Conditioner testers for film & video are WAY crazy expensive... I hope you find these comments useful. Nice device... Bill Barrett, W1WJB
It's already paid for itself in resurrecting some batteries I was about to replace for professional video uses. Each saved battery retails for more than the CBA does... The thing has hardly been idle since it arrived... Nice job... 73 Bill Barrett, W1WJB Been using the CBA now for about 2 weeks. Very nice device. Software seems to run flawlessly even on Windows 98 second edition. My main use of the CBA is evaluating cells donated to my ARES organization from several municipality utilities. One comment I have is on larger capacity, lead acid cells such as Gel Cells. I started to find that the capacity via the CBA test was way below published capacity. I notice a voltage drop across the power pole connectors and associated wiring, especially if I'm drawing 8 amps or greater during a test. If the CBA cutoff for a 6 volt battery is 5.7 volts, I'm actually reading 6.05 volts at the battery terminals and early shutdown occurs. Obviously this small error makes a big difference in computing capacity. I've tried to overcome the error by adjusting the cutoff down after measuring the voltage drop with another precision meter on the battery terminals. Results have been much better with the adjustment and I'm more in line with published specs for a new battery, therefore I'm more accurate in my assessment of used cells. I'm wondering if a future accessory is possible such as external reference voltage leads, which could connect directly to the battery terminals. Again, thanks for a great product and the PowerPole line of connectors. Emergency communications is greatly enhanced by your products. 73, Bob, WX2NJ
Top of Page | |
|---|