MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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i've got a new gizmo that runns off a li-ion battery, and i'm trying to figure out if its charging up fully.
i have an old analog multimeter, my digital one seems to have packed up, and i can't really use either.
the stated battery power is 7.4v 2200 mAh
i've put said meter on 10v DC and get a little over 3 in the 10 ac/dc scale (you can no-doubt tell from my explaning that i'm way out my depth).
i thought i'd be clever and test some other batteries to use as a guage to see if i'm measuring correctly... with a fully charged 7.2v 1100 mAh nimh i also get a little more over 3, but then with a new tesco value 9v it goes off the scale so shifted it up to 50dc and i'm getting 25. so i'm guessing i'm doing something wrong!
Are the test leads in the A (amps) or V (volts) sockets?
i've only got one place to plug the leads in.
Piccie of meter will help!
think i may go borrow father-in-laws digital one tomorrow, may be easier.
what sort of reading should i be getting from the battery?
You should get around 8.3V with a fresh off the charger Li ion but the meter can cause the protection circuit on the battery pack to give false readings.
Its the NiMh reading thats weird as you should never get much over 8V on that pack, even if its faulty, its reading should be its rating less 1.2V per faulty cell.