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E-Meter

From SeattleEVA
Revision as of 00:24, 26 January 2007 by 199.33.32.40 (talk)
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An E-meter measures the state of charge of batteries.

In a nutshell, it measures the current flow into and out of the battery pack. The thing is that the effective capacity of a lead-acid battery is dependent on the rate at which it's discharged. A simplified example:

A 100 Ah (amp-hour) battery can provide 1 amp for 100 hours, or 2 amps for 50 hours, or 5 amps for 20 hours. That's the theory. In actuality, the more current you draw, the lower the actual capacity you get out. So, you may get 1 amp for 100 hours, but 5 amps for only 19 hours, and instead of 50 amps for 2 hours, you'd only get 50 amps for 1 hour. This is known as the [Law]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peukert's_Law

Anyhow, an e-meter not only measures the total amps that go into (charging) and out of (discharging) a battery, but takes into account the rate that it's used, and uses Peukert's empirical formula to calculate the effective charge, giving a more accurate indication of the battery's true state of charge (SOC).

Short version: Battery Fuel Gauge.

A commonly used E-Meter for electric vehicles it the Xantrex Link-10. http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/237/p/1/pt/5/product.asp The Link 10 is a state-of-the-art battery bank monitor that uses sophisticated microprocesor technology to report all significant battery information.

Xantrex also make the Link-20 and the XBM e-meters.