ENGINEERING
Engineering is the mode for setting the nominal battery capacity, the
battery temperature, and the zero-current. Engineering is accessed by
keeping
ILLUM
pressed until ENG is displayed to show that Engineering
settings are now available. The first value when
ILLUM
is released is the
stored nominal battery capacity in Ampere-hours. Then press the
V&A
key
to move between capacity, battery temperature, and zero-current settings.
In any of these modes, the and
keys alter the chosen setting. All
settings are saved by pressing the
ILLUM
key to exit Engineering.
Setting the battery's nominal capacity
Press
V&A
until the stored capacity appears in the upper numerals, and
the Ahr symbols are showing (the factory default is 100 Ahr). Now press
the key to increase the value, and the key to reduce the value. Keep
the key pressed for repeating adjustments.
The maximum capacity is 600 A-hr, and the minimum is 5 A-hr. When
the correct value has been selected, press the
V&A
key to finish
adjustment, store the new value in memory and to move to temperature
setting, or press the
ILLUM
key to exit Engineering.
Setting the Estimated Battery Temperature
o
Press
V&A
until the battery temperature appears and the symbols C are
o
shown. The factory preset value is 20 C which is the value used by
battery manufacturers to define their products' capacity. Now, if desired,
press the key to increase the value, and the key to reduce the value,
o
which changes by 10 C for each press. The values are limited to the range
o
o
-20 C to +40 C.
Setting the zero-current
If no current is flowing into or out of the battery and a residual current is
shown on the display, the reading can be adjusted to zero.
With no current flowing into or out of the battery, press
V&A
until the
residual current is shown. Now press the key or the key to bring the
value to zero. (Note: eight presses of the key alter the setting by 0.1A). The
desired setting is stored when the
V&A
key is pressed to move to the other
setting again, or the
ILLUM
key is pressed to exit Engineering.
A-Hr
A-Hr
A-Hr
A-Hr
TIME
TIME
TIME
TIME
TIME
TIME
If the BM-1+ is left for long periods registering little or no charge or
discharge current, the estimate of capacity may become unreliable. It is
important to switch some load onto the battery for a few minutes so a
reliable estimate can be calculated, and its value settles, before starting
charging.
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