Instruction Manual

Note that a different way of measuring this could have been done by starting at the time as above

described, but declaring an end at the time (after discharge and recharge) at which the battery just first

met the “charged” criteria. Thus the additional charging (or gassing) of the battery that occurs after

this, while the battery is pretty well charged would not be counted. That would give a more optimistic

(higher) estimate of battery efficiency (and lower self discharge) than the one actually made by the

PentaMetric, since this “top of charge” may waste some energy due to gassing of the electrolyte. One

reason for not doing it this way is that we have discovered that some significant charging occurs

during this time--and not counting it (in some cases) can result in charging efficiencies that appear

over 100%. We believe that the method we used results in a more realistic evaluation of the total

“amp hours” lost per cycle in the system.

It should be mentioned here that the values of “charge efficiency” and “self discharge” measured here are

not exactly the values that should be used when entering the “battery efficiency” or “self discharge”

amounts in program mode 34 and 35. The values measured represent the most pessimistic values that

should be programmed there, since this value measures also the loss due to gassing of the battery at top

of charge. However it results in a lower value of “efficiency factor” than should be entered as the assumed

battery efficiency P34 and P35, or conversely a high value of self discharge current.

How this data is displayed: It is most easily observed by downloading the data using the computer

interface. (See below in this section) However it is also shown in the display unit as display data

AD29 through AD40. These display the “efficiency factor” in 3 ways: (1) the efficiency (and “self

discharge current”) calculated for the last (most recent) charge/discharge cycle (2) the efficiency

calculated for the last four cycles and (3) the efficiency calculated for the last 15 cycles. Due to the

lack of space in the display, these show up as somewhat cryptic displays as shown and interpreted

here:

Note that in the following, in the “4 cycle” and “15 cycle” cases below, if this number cycles have not

yet accumulated, the result will be shown for the number of cycles already accumulated. For example,

if only 3 cycles total have been recorded, the 4 cycle result would show as:

B1:03CySd= y.yy

. A similar statement holds for the 15 cycle case.

AD29: One Cycle Efficiency Factor: B1:01CyEff= yy%.

Interpretation: “Battery 1, for the last cycle had measured efficiency factor=yy%

AD30: One Cycle Self Discharge current: B1:01CySd= - y.yy

Interpretation: “Battery 1, for the last cycle had measured self discharge current=y.yy amps

AD31: Four Cycle Maximum, Efficiency Factor: B1:04CyEff= yy%.

Interpretation: “Battery 1, for the last 4 cycles had average efficiency factor=yy%

AD32: Four Cycle Maximum, Self Discharge current: B1:04CySd= - y.yy

Interpretation: “Battery 1, for the last 4 cycles had self discharge current=y.yy amps

AD33: 15 Cycle Maximum, Efficiency Factor: B1:15CyEff= yy%.

Interpretation: “Battery 1, for the last 15 cycles had efficiency factor=yy%

AD34: 15 Cycle Maximum, Self Discharge current: B1:15CySd= - y.yy

Interpretation: “Battery 1, for the last 15 cycles had self discharge current=y.yy amps

AD35-AD40: Similar to above, but for battery 2.

The Computer download of logged data shows this data much more clearly: In the download file

“PM(Date)BatCycEfficy.csv” the data is shown in a 10 column spreadsheet table: (1) Date/Time that

the cycle began, (2)Whether the cycle was “valid” or not, (3)Cycle length in hours, (4)Total discharge

(only) in that cycle, (5)Total charge (only) in that cycle, (6)the “net” amp hours, which is the difference