I have a lot of batteries (or cells) to test. Can I test them by putting them in series?
Yes and no. If the batteries are voltage charged, like lead acid or lithium ion, then the answer is no you can’t charge
them since any imbalance will result in some cells being overcharged and some undercharged. For NiCd or NiMH
batteries, you can charge them in series provided they are the same model and initial state of charge. For discharging
you’ll get the capacity of the weakest cell.
General
How to you pronounce UBA?
Spell it out, “U” “B” “A”. Do not call it an “Ooba”!
How many UBAs can be connected together?
Theoretically 253, although nobody has every tried that many (at least as far as we know). The record is 30 UBAs on
one serial port (that’s 60 channels). Don’t try this with Win95, Win98 or WinMe as they have limited graphical
resources.
How often does the UBA need to be calibrated?
We recommend a one year calibration interval. We have found that it’s rare for a UBA being recalibrated to require
any changes to the calibration file since there are no adjustable parts inside that can drift.
Can I use a UBA to turn on my charger? Can I use my charger to start a discharge cycle?
Yes and yes. The accessory port on the UBA, which is located inside, has two digital outputs and two analog inputs.
You can control the output lines with your BAR (use external battery load setting) and respond to the analog input
signals (simulate temperature). We sell a connector to bring the accessory port to the back of the UBA and also an
optical isolated output connector. More information can be found in our External Devices Manual located in the
Support : Reference Manuals section of our website.
My UBA gets hot during operation. Why isn’t the fan turning on?
The fan only turns on when the UBA gets very hot. You can have the fan turn on earlier by reducing the turn-on power
limit on the General tab in the Options dialog box (File menu). Enter a power less than 10 Watts (6 for example) and
the fan will turn on when that power (or more) is being dissipated.
My battery is very small and the minimum charge and load current are too high for it.
For small batteries, less than 100mAh, you might consider having the UBA customized by us for low currents. We
have expertise in customizing the UBA all the way down to 1uA full scale.
I have a question about the database.
Stay away from the database functions in UBA Console (unless you really need them). They are only partially
implemented and are not written very well. We will be rewriting them in the future and can’t guarantee backwards
compatibility.
So where is the power switch?
There is none. The UBA draws so little current when it’s not in use that there was no point in installing a power switch.
We’ve thought about having UBA Console turning off the green power LED when you close the UBA network, but that
would be confusing.
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The UBA Let's Get Started Guide
