1.5. Ventilation
The UBA can generate up to 90 Watts of heat during a battery discharge or charge. Do not obstruct the air holes on
the top or bottom. Be careful when touching the UBA during a high current discharge or charge, as it can get quite hot
(the fan automatically turns on when the UBA gets too warm). Avoid running a high power discharge or charge when
the UBA is in a hot environment (greater than 30 degrees Celsius).
It is normal for the UBA to get get warm (some might call it hot) before the fan turns on. You can check that the fan is
functioning by watching if it turns on when power is applied to the UBA or during network initialization or you can turn it
on from the Multitester instrument (described later). If you would prefer that the fan turn on earlier, there is an option
for this in the Options... menu (under File, click on Options... and select the General tab).
1.6. Battery Cables
Figure 3: Connecting a battery to the UBA.
The UBA uses standard
banana jacks for its battery connections and comes with two sets of battery cables with alligator clips. Additional plugs
or cables are available from us. Plug the cables into the front of the UBA and connect the red clip to the positive
terminal of the battery being tested and the black clip to the negative terminal of the battery.
NOTE: The UBA inputs are polarity protected, thus connecting the battery backwards will not damage your battery,
nor the UBA.
CAUTION: When the battery cables are connected to a battery but not plugged into the UBA, the banana plugs can
touch each other resulting in very high currents potentially causing burns or the battery might gas or explode. For this
reason, we recommend that the banana plugs be plugged into the UBA before connecting them to your battery. In our
lab banana plugs connected to a battery, when not connected to a UBA, are inserted into a piece of wood with 11/64”
(4.5mm) holes that keep the plugs safely apart.
Figure 4: Using a block of wood to keep battery banana plugs from shorting.
Hint: If you expect to be testing cylindrical cells (like AA, AAA, C, ...) then consider using battery connectors
with magnets. Contact us for ordering information.
The UBA Let's Get Started Guide
Page 3
UBA
Vencon
Battery
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