ULC S536-19 Battery testing. 5 Minute load test. To all my fellow fire alarm technicians out there. Here is a safer way to complete this required testing. Get an old single zone panel (I'm using a Mircom 5 zone panel). Remove all the guts and install your 5Ah 200w resister(s). Use standoff posts so you have air flow all around your resister as they get very hot. (after testing my second battery, the resister was 152 degrees F) Do not try and hold or pick up resister after test!!!!!! I installed two resisters, for two reasons. First, I connected two different lead ends for different battery posts. Second, if panel has more then one set of batteries, I'm not sure how many batteries can be tested in a short period of time safely. This way you can alternate back and forth if needed. Or test two sets at the same time. Hope this helps, please share with other technicians so we keep everyone safe.
This is great! I went for a bit more of a compacted approach with a on/off switch so you can ensure safe connection before running the test. Also the resistor and heatsink are floating about 1 inch off the bottom of the case. The case does not get warm at all. Also have a fan that can be used if doing multiple batteries in a row.
Can someone explain to me why we’re not using potentiometers for this? Why are we not testing the batteries to the unique load of each system, rather than a fixed amount? I understand it’s a S536-19 requirement but I don’t get the rationale behind it
I can’t believe we have to do this, we’re going backwards, ULC needs to give their head a shake.
Its ridiculous, someone is going to START a fire testing like this.
Since you have two 5 ohm resistors, test each 12v battery by itself. Each will pull 12/5 amps or 2.5 amps. The power is going to be 2.5 x 12 and that is 30 watts and the resistor will not get hot
Looks like a piece de resistance. Looks good.
Funny how everything needs to be ULC aproved for testing purposes. Smoke spray, manometers, db meters, solo kits, but were supposed to build our own battery capacity tester 🤣😂. Get a patent on that thing quick and start mass producing them for the rest of Canada!
Fire Alarm Projects | Supporting code and regulatory compliance | Past CFAA Alberta Chapter President
9moThe 500 watt resistors get a little “less” hot, but this is a good suggestion to ensure a tech never needs to touch the resistors. Technicians need to account for how many batteries need to be tested during an inspection and do their best to space out that testing to allow these resistors time to cool between tests.