ZIF DIY AA AAA battery holder - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2024, 11:18:39 am
content: Once in a while I have to test the status of about 50-100 rechargeable AA/AAA cells kept in storage, all in one go.DMM probes are not very comfortable to use, so I'm looking for some sort of ZIF battery holder, something that is easy and fast to attach reliably to a battery. Searched online already, and only found DIY ways to improvisepermanentbattery holders, while I'm interested intemporarybut firm contact.The goal is to connect a load resistor for 1-2 seconds, while reading the cell voltage. Has to be easier and faster to handle than normal DMM probes. Any ideas?

author: Andy Chee
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2024, 11:26:52 am
content: What about the sliding battery holders used in cheap NiMH chargers? Might be able to find a broken charger in e-waste and rewire it to your own test circuit.

author: BILLPOD
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2024, 12:46:19 pm
content: Good Morning RoGeorge, Maybe these cheap testers would work for you. Unknown how much load they put on batteries, but that would be easy to check with a DMM.https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tester-Universal-Checker-Batteries/dp/B07ZMP5DKT

author: ledtester
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2024, 02:39:37 pm
content: I imagine you are testing standard cylindrical batteries - AA, AAA, C, DI've always thought it would nice of there was a battery organizer (like pictured below)where the bottom was a copper plane. To get a health reading all you need to do is just touch a probe to the top of a cell as the other end will already be connected to the measurement circuit via the copper plane.It might actually be better to load the batteries "upside down" as the protrusion of the top end of the cell would make better contact with the copper plane.In your case I could see first loading up the organizer with a bunch of batteries and then testing that batch. As you find bad ones you segregate them into your bad pile. At the end you can just dump the remaining good cells into the good pile by inverting the organizer.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2024, 09:54:28 pm
content: The way I would do it is to have some kind of rotating battery holder, where you put each AA or AAA in its individual tube... tube could have the bottom metal, with a spring on the bottom for good contact and tube should be tall enough to align the battery vertically, but leave it an inch or so at the top.So now I would simply rotate the holder and use an infrared sensor or something to detect if a battery is in the slot directly in front of test jig (the positive probe) or not ... if it is, use a solenoid or something to press the positive contact down on the battery (the spring at the bottom comes into play now) and you can run the tests.. measure voltage, do a load test etc etc. when done, lift the arm with the positive probe and rotate some more.If the battery is bad, you could mark the tube with a marker or some spray or maybe just print the slot number on some thermal paper and then user can manually remove the problem batteries.