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Old 12-20-2009, 10:13 PM   #10 (permalink)
NiHaoMike
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Texas
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I once put together a simple circuit to check the capacity of rechargeable AA batteries. I had a single transistor and two resistors as a voltage detector along with a switchable current sink (two transistors and two resistors) and a relay to connect a charger. I had the circuit connected to the RS-232 port on my PC (two output lines controlling the relay and current sink, one input line checking the voltage detector). I wrote a simple Java program to first connect the charger for a few hours, then disconnect the charger and connect the current sink while polling the voltage detector every few seconds. It then calculates the capacity once the discharge is complete.
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