Found a Quality Battery Resistance Tester

Really nice looking unit until I saw the price!

https://www.itm.com/product/hioki-bt4560-battery-impedance-meter-5v?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjt3ivN3U2wIVD9VkCh3ESAheEAYYASABEgIWLPD_BwE

Is there any reasonable tester that is fairly accurate without costing an arm and a leg?

WOW, that is expensive!

@kirman, yes, yes there is something that will only cost you a toe and works very well:

You are in luck, as that one is pure quality, with very nice probes. It has been tested, and work very well.

Thanks BlueSword, just what I needed. Never heard of it before but if you say it's good, I want it! Update, just ordered it. Another nice addition to my collection, thanks.

There is a review of it by Daromer, one of the most trusted people on DIYPowerwalls, that says it is great:

In fact, the version he reviewed is actually one which is slightly less accurate than the one I linked.

Very nice and informative video, thank you. Looks like a real decent tester, I'm looking forward to this one, especially after seeing him test and compare it. The one you linked to has nicer probes too.

Hioki is Japanese and made in Japan still thus the price is high. They also make great Multimeters.

Would that be better than the Vapcell YR1030 battery impedance tester reviewed by HKJ?

No, about the same.

The one I linked is more straightforward to use, and easier to find.

Nicer probes too.

BlueSwordM, thanks for the info - just ordered one of these. It is frustrating getting a wide range of IR reading on my LiitoKala and MiBoxer chargers when evaluating Li-ion batteries!

For those who want free shipping from China, you may check this out:

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20180627235349&SearchText=SM8124A

Thank you for this find, I will order one as well.

I am also frustrated with IR reading battery chargers (but at least, when I insert a battery, I have a rough measurement of whether I inserted the battery with proper contact, or not - which is good for making charging termination faster for a given current limit).

Btw, you might want to include BlueSwordM’s and tatasal’s links into the original post as an update. I’m usually not the TLDR man, but that would add convenience :wink:

Mine arrived yesterday and I immediately did a series of measurements to compare suspected fake 30Q batteries to baseline 30Qs. Results are posted HERE (comment #283) in the Massive sale on 18650s in the Littokala Aliexpress store! thread.

I have to admit that this Battery-Resistance-Voltmeter-Internal-Impedance-Meter-LCD-Rechargeable-SM8124A exceeded my expectations. The performance I saw exceeded that demonstrated in the YouTube video: Internal resistance test of SM8124A - Is it worth it. The improvement may be due to a difference in probes. My meter also came sans case. Thank you BlueSwordM for providing this tip on a realistic IR meter!

Just ordered one. Should have it in a few weeks from now. Thanks for all the feedback.
After mine arrives I intend to take IR readings of batteries from the SM8124A but unlike other reviews which showed only battery IR readings, I intend to post tables comparing the IR results I get from My MC3000 and IQ338XL vs the SM8124A on the same batteries to show how far off (or how close) the chargers were to the readings from the SM8124A

The MC3000 I have gives IR readings on the same battery that are often way off from the IR readings I get on the AccuPower IQ338XL although both seem to stick to their guns and present fairly consistent readings for those same batteries on subsequent test cycles. An EE could perhaps use the SM8124A to calibrate the chargers by adding or changing resistors as needed.

I realize that every charger could be slightly different in the IR readings it gives but this should provide a baseline or at least the results from one for general purposes.

I tend to believe the readings on the MC3000 more so than the IQ338XL. But this new device should help resolve the mystery.

In any event….new toys are always fun :slight_smile:

A word of note: The SM8124A shown in the video review on YouTube in the link above is obviously different than the one received when ordered on ebay.
The ebay seller does not provide a case and the lead tips are different. What this indicates I do not know. A knock-off maybe?
Or maybe this is the difference between the SM8124 and the SM8124A ??
Some show dual tips on the probes while others show a single, more stout tip.

I'm pretty sure the newer version is the probes with two ends that we got. Also, by looking looking at many sellers, looks like the blue case and box come with the older version and they tried to keep costs down by just sending the unit itself on the newer version.

That helps. Thanks.
Was just wondering why the difference.

@klrman and ActiveAI, thanks for the compliments.

I should get myself a resistance tester, but I already have a 4 wire tester that does the job quite well.

Thanks BlueSwordM for suggesting a SM8124A battery resistance tester. Today mine arrived from AliExpress.

It came with a pouch by the way, although another than displayed in the sellers picture. My 30Q test 7 mOhm and my VTC6 test 6 mOhm. I guess these cells (both from nkon.nl) are real :wink:

Did it come with the new two-prong probes? This seller is displaying pictures of both the old and new SM8124A models together. Thanks!

Can anyone please post a link to the SM8124A we can 100% trust? I mean there are how many sellers on AliExpress….six, seven?…who offer this nice device, sometimes with different brand names, sometimes without the “A”, sometimes with two cables on both probes, sometimes just one cable. I find it hard to decide whom to trust.

I was unfortunately unlucky with some of these Dolidada batteries…claimed to be IMR-55A cells (like Shockli/Keeppower) but they turned out to be of rather poor quality with much less capacity and even less power drain capabilities.