While in St. Louise this year, I stopped by the
AndyMark booth. One of the new toys I saw there really made me happy. They said they should be offering it some time this fall.
What is it? A small battery health tester that had a LCD display on it as a read out. It tested the current charge state as well as load test results of the battery. It used a connector that plugs right into the Anderson Power connector. This thing was about half the size of a deck of cards.
It uses a PIC to control the testing process and drive the display. Testing is performed at a precisely controlled 1A and 10A. It then calculates the internal resistance of the battery and determines the overall health of the battery. All this is performed in about 5 seconds.
Granted, the unit I saw demonstrated was a demo version, thus some changes may take place for the production versions. Regardless, I believe it will be a great addition to any teams tool set.