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Tell if batteries are available to fire igniters, is it useful?

S

Stephen

Member
Joined
Nov 2019
Messages
5
Hello everyone here!

We are developing a technology which is with the ability to tell if batteries are available to fire igniters, we are going to use this technology in our future firing systems. Do you think it is useful?

With our experience, people use meters to measure the voltages of batteries, the voltages will probably indicate high, then actually they can flow very few amperes and can't fire igniters at all, especially when the batteries are used for a long time, so the technology is been developing by us.

Your comments are appreciated.

Stephen Ye
 
FireOne control panels that I've worked with show their voltage on startup, though I don't know if they offer any sort of low voltage warning other than the field modules beeping as they charge.

Cobra offers a power level (1 to 9) on their systems with a low battery warning when the power level drops to a certain point.

There are other systems which I haven't worked with so I can't say anything regarding them; perhaps others will chime in?

If you can implement a power level monitoring feature I'd say it's a good idea.
 
I donno...

I mean, it would give an indication that your battery was capable of firing what? One E-match? 5? 25? the Entire show???

I'm sure we all throw out perfectly good batteries at the beginning of the season, batteries that have enough life left to shoot the next show and all, but,,,, maybe fresh batteries so you know you're good-2-Go might be best ;)
 
Some of our existing firing systems are with the ability warning when the VOLTAGE is low, but some types of used battery are charged full or even some of them are fresh, they can flow very low current and can't fire at all, the firing systems do not have any warning. On the contrary, some alkaline batteries, though the voltage is low and the firing systems give warning, these batteries can still flow enough current to fire igniters. So LOW VOLTAGE and LOW POWER are completely different. Many devices are with LOW VOLTAGE warning but not LOW POWER warning i.e. most mobile phones.

I don't know how Fireone and Cobra's work with their warning. Information is welcome.

Regards,

Stephen
 
I understand the difference between Static Voltage and the actual reserve Current capacity when loaded. So, you can perform a kind of Load Test that will give you a measure of the battery's heath but, Again,,, how would you predict the the usefulness in a show with regard to how many E-matches they have left? ;)

Big picture is, batteries are too cheap to take such a chance with...
 
This must be known the required quantity of ematches to set the parameters of the firing system.
Surely normally batteries are inexpensive, then some users will probably neglect weak powers to lead to firing failure. A warning will obviously help.

Regards,

Stephen Ye

Blaster said:
I understand the difference between Static Voltage and the actual reserve Current capacity when loaded. So, you can perform a kind of Load Test that will give you a measure of the battery's heath but, Again,,, how would you predict the the usefulness in a show with regard to how many E-matches they have left? ;)

Big picture is, batteries are too cheap to take such a chance with...
Click to expand...
 
I have a load tester for car batteries and one for smaller batteries like AAA, AA, C, D and button cells. Does anyone know how to load test the small SLA batteries? Those 7 to 9 amp hour batteries used in home alarms, deer feeders, UPS units and so on. Like this one.SLA.jpg
 
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