Warehouse Calibration

Process and Procedure Guide

 Warehouse Calibration Procedure Handbook

Table of Contents

Page 3: List of devices requiring calibration

Page 4: Testing Daily Use Hydrometers

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Page 5-6: Testing Carbon Pile Load Testers Amps (with adjustable
ammeter) using Independent Clamp-on Inductive Ammeter

Page 7-8: Testing Carbon Pile Load Testers Amps (with adjustable
ammeter) using ED-182 Accessory Clamp-on Inductive Ammeter

Page 9: Testing Carbon-Pile Load Testers Voltmeter Accuracy

Page 10-11: Testing Daily Use Voltmeter Accuracy

Page 12: Testing Series Chargers Amps

Page 13: Testing Parallel Chargers Amps

Page 14: Battery weight scales

Page 15: Appendix

Warehouse Devices Requiring Calibration

Daily Use Hydrometer

Daily Use Digital Voltmeter

Carbon-Pile Load Tester (Amps)

Carbon-Pile Load Tester (Volts)

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 Charger (Series)

Charger (Parallel)

Battery Scales

Authorized Calibration Devices

Test Verification for:
Daily Use Digital Voltmeter: TPI -190 DMM or equivalent
Daily Use Hydrometer: Upright Freas Hydrometer
Load Tester Amps: Digital Clamp-on Inductive ammeter
Load Tester Volts: TPI -190 DMM or equivalent
Charger Amps: Digital Clamp-on Inductive ammeter

These calibration devices should be stored in a temperature of (70For 21C) to (80F

or 27C).

Daily Use Hydrometer

50 battery test per day Test Monthly

50 battery test per day Test Bi-Monthly
(Maximum recommended life of daily use hydrometers is 6-months)

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Figure 1. Freas Hydrometer

Approximate Testing time 2 minutes

1. Select fully charged battery.
2. Test one battery cell with Daily Use Hydrometer
3. Record Results
4. Test same battery cell with Freas Upright hydrometer. (See figure 1)
5. Record results
6. Compare Results: If Daily Use hydrometer varies more than 10 points, on reading,
from the Upright Freas (or equal) hydrometer; replace Daily Use hydrometer with new
unit.

Notes: Flush Calibrated Freas Hydrometer thoroughly with water several times
immediately after testing and prior to storage.

Testing Carbon Pile Load Tester DC Amps (with adjustable

ammeter) using Independent Clamp-on Inductive Ammeter
Figure 3. DC Amp Scale w/Adjustable Ammeter

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Figure 2. Variable Carbon Pile Calibration Adjustment
load Tester

Figure 4. Independent Clamp-on inductive ammeter

50 battery tests (per load tester) daily - Monthly

50 battery tests (per load tester) daily Bi-Monthly
Testing time: 2 -3 minutes per load tester

1. Select Good fully-charged battery (550 CCA or above)

2. Connect Load Tester to Negative and Positive battery terminals
3. Power up Clamp-on Ammeter.

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 4. Adjust Clamp-on Ammeter to select DC Amps.
5. Zero test clamp-on ammeter (if applicable)
6. Clamp ammeter loop around load testers positive or negative cable.
7. Adjust the load testers amp load as close to 200 amps as possible.
8. If load tester has not been previously used that day, conduct two repetitive load tests
(15 second discharges) @ 200 amps within one minute prior to calibration testing. If
load tester has been used, proceed directly to step 9
9. Apply and maintain 200 amps (3rd test) to battery. Once 200 amp load level has been
achieved, proceed to step 10
10. Compare and note clamp-on ammeter reading to the load amps being produced by
load tester. See Note

Note: If the digital clamp-on ammeter and load tester are both displaying approximately 200
amps or (190 amps- 210 amps), the load tester is within calibration. However; if the load
tester is illustrating 200 amps and the digital ammeter is displaying either low or high by
more than + or 10 amps (190amps to 210amps), adjust the small plastic adjustment
screw located on amps scale clockwise or counterclockwise to within calibration while
load test is in progress.

11. Turn load tester off

12. Remove Clamp-on Ammeter
13. Turn off ammeter and store for future testing

If the load tester cannot be properly adjusted to within above noted calibration, contact the
load testers manufacturer or Interstates Technical Services Dept. @ Home Office.

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 Testing Carbon Pile Load Tester (with adjustable ammeter)
using ED-18 V2 Accessory Clamp-on Inductive Ammeter

Clamp-on Inductive Ammeter

Figure 5: ED-182 w/Inductive ammeter

50 battery tests per load tester daily - Monthly

50 battery tests per load tester daily Bi-Monthly
Approximate Testing Time: 3 minutes per load tester

1. Use Good fully charged battery for testing (550 CCA or above)
2. Connect Load Tester to Negative and Positive battery terminals
3. Connect ED-182s primary leads to battery terminals. ED-182 should power up.
4. Plug in Accessory Clamp-on Ammeter into ED-182s accessory port.
5. On ED-182 main menu (8 Icons), select DMM and Press Enter
6. Select DC Amp/Volt Icon then Press Enter
7. Choose 700 amp level, Press Enter
8. Zero test clamp-on ammeter as prompted, press Enter
9. Clamp ED-182s ammeter loop around load testers positive or negative cable.
10. Adjust load testers current draw as close to 200 amps as possible.

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11. If load tester has not been used previously that day, Conduct two repetitive load tests (15
second discharges @ 200 amps) within one minute prior to calibration test verification. If load
tester has been used within last 4 hours, proceed directly to step 12

12. Apply a 200 amp load to battery

13. Compare and note the inductive clamp-on ammeters reading to load amps displayed on load
testers amp scale. See Note

Note: If the digital clamp-on ammeter and load tester are both displaying approximately 200
amps (190 amps- 210 amps), the load tester is within calibration. However; if the load
tester is on 200 amps and the digital ammeter is displaying either low or high by more
than + or 10 amps (190amps to 210amps), adjust the small plastic adjustment screw
located on amps scale clockwise or counterclockwise to within calibration while load test
is in progress.

If the load tester cannot be properly adjusted to within above noted calibration, contact the
load testers manufacturer or Interstates Technical Services dept. @ Home Office.

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Testing Carbon-Pile Load Testers Voltmeter Accuracy
Monthly
Note: This test can be completed in conjunction with Load Tester Ammeter Verification Test

Calibration Adjustment
Figure 6. Carbon Pile Load Figure 7. TPI-190 (calibrated voltmeter)
Tester Voltmeter scale

Approximate Testing Time: 2 minutes

1. Choose Good fully charged battery of 550 CCA rating or higher.

2. Power Up DC Calibrated Voltmeter (TPI 190)
3. Select DC Volts (20 volt scale) and connect to battery terminals
4. Connect Carbon Pile Load tester to same battery.
5. Observe and compare Calibrated Voltmeters voltage to Load Testers voltage
6. Note but Do Not adjust at this time.
7. Apply 200 amps to the battery for 15 seconds.
8. Compare load testers voltage to the Calibrated voltmeter under 200-amp load.
9. Adjust load testers voltage reading, if necessary, to compare with calibrated voltmeter while
load is applied.

Note: If the load testers voltmeter will not adjust to reflect the Calibrated voltmeters
voltage to + or - .1 volt, (1) send load tester to manufacturer for repairs or (2) use a

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 recalibrated Daily Use digital voltmeter in conjunction with load tester anytime load
testing batteries. See front cover illustration.

If the load tester cannot be properly adjusted to within above noted calibration, contact the
load testers manufacturer or Tech Services @ Interstates Home Office.

Testing Daily Use Voltmeter Accuracy

Monthly
Approximate Testing Time: 2 minutes

Figure 8. Example of Daily Use Voltmeter with Calibration Adjustment

Figure 9. Example of Daily Use Voltmeter without Calibration Adjustment

1. Select Good fully charged battery (12.70 volts or above)

2. Power Up DC Calibrated Voltmeter (TPI 190) See Figure 7.
3. Select DC Volts 20 volt scale

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4. Connect Calibrated voltmeter to pos. and neg. battery terminals
5. Power up Daily Use voltmeter and select 20-volt scale (where applicable)
6. Connect Daily Use voltmeter to same battery terminals as Calibrated voltmeter.
7. Record any voltage difference in Daily Use voltmeter to Calibrated voltmeter.

8. Adjust Daily Use voltage calibration setting (if applicable) or apply removable sticker to
Daily Use voltmeter with voltage difference. See example below.
9. Number your warehouse Daily Use voltmeters and maintain records of voltage variation or
calibration required.

Note: If the working voltmeter has calibration accessibility, always follow voltmeter
manufacturers recommended calibration procedures. If the daily use voltmeter does not have
accessibility to calibrate, apply removable sticker to voltmeter with date and voltage variation.

Example: Calibrated Voltmeter displays 12.76 volts and Daily Use voltmeter displays 12.74
volts. Adjust (when applicable) or attach sticker to working voltmeter with + .02 volts. Add .02 to
every voltmeter test reading when using that Daily Use voltmeter.

#4

Example of sticker with date tested and variance

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Testing Series charger to verify amp reading (analog ammeter
gauges only)

Figure 10. Example of Series Charger

Annually
1. Connect Series charger to good batteries.
2. Turn on charger
3. Adjust charger to 5 amps or highest amp level available.
4. Connect clamp-on inductive ammeter (see figure 4 or 5) around one of the series charger
leads.
5. Power up amp clamp
6. Compare amp adjustment of charger to clamp-on digital ammeter reading.
7. Place removable sticker on charger noting amp difference. Example: If charger is displaying
5-amps and digital ammeter displays 4-amps, place sticker on charger faceplate indicating
charger is -1amp. If the charger is displaying 4 amps and digital displays 5 amps, place a + 1
amp sticker on charger. See Example below

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Example of sticker with date and variance.

If chargers amp reading varies more than 1-amp, contact charger manufacturer or Interstate
Batteries Technical Services Dept. at Home Office.

Testing Parallel charger to verify Amp reading (analog ammeter)

Figure 11: Example of Multiple battery Parallel charger

Time: Annually
Note: Some parallel chargers will not allow any adjustment process.

1. Connect Parallel charger to good/discharged batteries (12.00 volts 12.45 volts)

2. Turn on charger
3. Adjust charger to 5 amp or 10 amp range.
4. Connect clamp-on inductive ammeter around charger lead.
5. Turn on inductive ammeter
6. Compare amp adjustment of charger to clamp-on digital ammeter reading.
7. Place Sticker on charger noting amp difference. Example: If charger is displaying 4-amps and
digital ammeter displays 5-amps, place sticker on charger faceplate indicating charger is + 1
amp. If the charger is displaying 6 amps and digital displays 5 amps, place a 1 amp sticker
on charger.

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 Example of sticker with date and variance.
If chargers amp reading varies more than 1 amp, contact charger manufacturer or Interstate
Batteries Technical Services Dept. at Home Office.

Battery Scales
Annually

Weigh-Tronix WI125 Indicator w/5000 lb Prodec Floor Scale.

1. Contact Weigh-Tronix WI 125 (see Interstate memo dated Jan. 2006)

2. Maintain a record in your files that the calibration was done.

If you have any questions about the program, please call Gale Kimbrough @

469.221.4657. or ext. 4657

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Appendix

Item IBS Part #

TPI -190 DMM 384909
Upright Freas Hydrometer 381100
TPI -296 Digital Clamp-on Inductive ammeter 384912
ED-18 Clamp-on inductive meter 426170

Note: For pricing information, contact Supply Chain Management at Interstate

Batteries

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