Simulate Battery With Non Current Sinking Power Supply

[danner123]

Hi everyone, I am trying to simulate a battery with a power supply. My power supply DOES NOT have sinking current capabilities. I need to simulate battery charging with a power supply and measure the battery current while charging. Since my power supply does not have sinking current support I have put a diode on the positive terminal of the power supply so that no current will flow into the supply. That would mean that no charging current would flow because the diode would act as an open circuit.

How can I simulate the battery with a power supply without damaging the supply? I need to test the charging circuitry of the device under testing and the plan is to measure the battery current.

Thanks!

 

[CataM]

the plan is to measure the battery current.

Go ahead and measure it.

 

[FvM]

Simply connect a power load resistor that enforces a positive power supply output current.

 

[danner123]

Simulate Simple Battery Load

I have a battery charger circuit that I want to test out. I do not want to use an actual battery to test. I would like to use a power supply. My power supply however does not allow sinking any current. Instead, I was going to put a load on the battery charging circuitry to test out the current.

What kind of load would best simulate a battery load?

Thanks!

 

[schmitt trigger]

Re: Simulate Simple Battery Load

Cheap and dirty...yes you can use a power resistor in parallel with the supply.
Protect your supply with a high current schottky diode in series to avoid injecting current back; you may damage the supply.

Again, this is cheap and dirty. The best way is a programmable electronic load where you can simulate the V/I load curves as the SoC changes.