"Tony V" wrote in message
...
SoaringXCellence wrote:
I have a Triton (first generation) multi-mode charger that will charge
NiCad, NiMH, LiPoly and SLA. It will cycle and record capacity and
both the charge and discharge rates can be adjusted.


I'll throw my 2 cents in. Ive been using the Accumate charger
(http://www.accumate.com/612/) for the last 9 years. Hook up the battery
and forget about it until you need it. I cycle though 2 batteries - bring
a fresh one to the field, return with the other to recharge.

What I would like is an effective way to measure battery capacity - that
doesn't cost more than the charger.

Here is a very cheap, low tec solution. Make a jumper to tie into your
battery, that has a regular car taillight bulb soldered into the circuit.
Hook it to your battery and measure (inline, of course) the amperage
discharge with a volt ohm meter. Use that reading as the discharge rate,
and hook up the setup while you are sitting around, and take a voltage
reading every 10 minutes, and graph the voltage, time along the horizontal,
and voltage on the vertical. You will see the voltage take a quick nose
dive, at some point. The last reading along your graph before it dives is
you time value you use to figure the capacity. Use some math to figure the
capacity. Like if the drain was one amp, it should take 7 hours to
discharge a 7 amp hour battery.
--
Jim in NC