ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER
An electronic battery tester for testing a storage battery including electrical connectors configured to couple to the storage battery. Measurement circuitry is coupled to the electrical connectors and a display is configured to display information to an operator. A manual input is configured to receive an input from a user. A microprocessor is coupled to the measurement circuitry and is configured to perform a battery test on the storage battery as a function of a battery parameter measured with the measurement circuitry. The microprocessor is configured to display characters and receive a character select input from the manual input which identifies one character of a plurality of characters displayed on the display. In another aspect, a forcing function is coupled to the battery and has first and second selectable frequencies. The microprocessor is configured to select between the first frequency and the second frequency.
1 . An electronic battery tester for testing a storage battery, comprising:
electrical connectors configured to couple to the storage battery;
measurement circuitry coupled to the electrical connectors;
a display configured to display information to an operator;
a manual input configured to receive an input from a user; and
a microprocessor coupled to the measurement circuitry configured to perform a battery test on the storage battery as a function of a battery parameter measured with the measurement circuitry, the microprocessor configured to display a plurality of characters on the display and receive a character select input from the manual input which identifies one character of a plurality of characters displayed on the display.
2 . The electronic battery tester of claim 1 wherein the microprocessor is further configured to display a cursor on the display.
3 . The electronic battery tester of claim 2 wherein the manual input is configured to provide an input to the microprocessor related to a desired position of the cursor on the display.
4 . The electronic battery tester of claim 3 wherein the manual input comprises four movement buttons.
5 . The electronic battery tester of claim 3 wherein the manual input includes an enter button.
6 . The electronic battery tester of claim 1 wherein the characters comprise alphabetic characters.
7 . The electronic battery tester of claim 1 wherein the characters comprise numeric characters.
8 . The electronic battery tester of claim 1 wherein the display comprises a touch screen display and manual input comprises a touch input of the touch screen display.
9 . The electronic battery tester of claim 1 including a forcing function source configured to apply a forcing function signal to the battery, the forcing function signal having first and second selectable frequencies.
10 . The electronic battery tester of claim 9 wherein the microprocessor is configured to select the first frequency if the storage battery comprises a standby battery and to select the second frequency if the storage battery comprises a vehicle battery.
11 . An electronic battery tester for testing a storage battery, comprising:
Kelvin connectors configured to electrically couple to terminals of a storage battery;
a forcing function source configured to apply a forcing function signal to the battery through the Kelvin connectors, the forcing function signal having first and second selectable frequencies;
measurement circuitry configured to measure a parameter of the battery generated in response to the forcing function signal; and
a microprocessor configured to perform a battery test based upon the parameter of the battery, the microprocessor further configured to select the first frequency if the storage battery comprises a standby battery and select the second frequency if the storage battery comprises a vehicle battery.
12 . The electronic battery tester of claim 11 including a display and wherein the microprocessor is further configured to display a cursor and characters on the display.
13 . The electronic battery tester of claim 12 including a manual input configured to provide an input to the microprocessor related to a desired position of the cursor on the display.
14 . The electronic battery tester of claim 13 wherein the manual input comprises four movement buttons.
15 . The electronic battery tester of claim 13 wherein the manual input includes an enter button.
16 . The electronic battery tester of claim 12 wherein the display comprises a touch screen display.
17 . The electronic battery tester of claim 11 including a manual input configured to select between the first and second frequencies.
18 . The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the microprocessor is configured to automatically select between the first and second frequencies.
19 . The electronic battery tester of claim 18 wherein the automatic selection is based upon a battery voltage of the storage battery.
20 . The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the first frequency comprises 22 Hz.
21 . The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the second frequency comprises 88 Hz.
22 . The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the forcing function comprises an active forcing function.
23 . The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the forcing function comprises a passive forcing function.
24 . The electronic battery tester of claim 11 wherein the second frequency comprises 100 Hz.