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battery water level measuring

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jrz126

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I'm doing a water consumption test at work on some batteries. I need an accurate way of measuring the water level inside.

The opening is about 3/4" in diameter, and the depth is about 3-4", there are 2 batteries with 16 cells each. the test will run for 14 days and measurements will be taken once a day. (448 measurments :shock: )

The only method I can think of now is to use a glass tube like a dipstick. (stick it in and plug the other end. then pull it out and measure the height of the water trapped in the tube). The only problem with this is trying to find a tube that has graduations on it for easy and accurate measurements.

Anyone have any suggestions?
 
A couple months ago there was a circuit cellar article about building a water level mesurement device using Freescale's e-feild sensor. It was just a big aluminim foil sheet that changed capacitance at different water levels.

I've also heard of using two tubes to form a water level probe. Take two copper tubes where one will fit inside the other. Coat them in paint or something to insulate them from the water and each other. This makes a weird cylindrical capacitor that changes capacitance as water fills the space between the 2 tubes - the water changes the dielectric. Then all you need is a multimeter that measures capacitance and a couple known water levels to calibrate.

Just some thoughts.
 
Someone suggested a "wine theif", it's kinda like the pipet that theone suggested, well almost exactly identical....

I'd put the pipet in the hole of the battery all the way down until it hit on the metal plate and let it fill up. I'd then plug the end and pull it out and empty the pipet into a graduated cylinder. once I record the amount in the cylinder, I'll pour it back into the battery.
I wont be able to return all of the water back to the battery, there will still be a small amount that sticks to the cylinder and pipet. Hopefully this wont throw my results off too much.

Since we are looking for the amount of water consumed, I can just look at how much this amount decreases between the days, it doesnt have to be how much water is still in the battery.

I'm gonna go look around some of the chemical labs and see if they have anything that will work, if not, I'll head to the wine shop and see what they have.
 
thats what the manufacturer recommended, but we want the consumption of each cell. which means we would have to take the battery apart. to weigh it. these batts are pretty big too, about 4ft x 2 ft.
 
jrz126 said:
The only problem with this is trying to find a tube that has graduations on it for easy and accurate measurements.

Why not make your own graduations, glass tube is (fairly) easy to mark using a file.

Or, try calling a laboratory supplies company? they may have something suitable off the shelf.

JimB
 
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