West Mountain Radio CBA A2 User manual

©2023 West Mountain Radio, All rights reserved. All trademarks are
the property of their respective owners.
www.westmountainradio.com
1020 Spring City Drive
Waukesha, WI 53186
262-522-6503
[email protected]
CBA A2 Amplier

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West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
Anderson Power Products®and Powerpole® is a registered
trademark of Anderson Power Products, Inc.
Recommended Usage
Thank you for choosing the CBA Amplier for making testing batteries
at high rates easier than ever.
IMPORTANT: The amplier should be used with the latest CBA soft-
ware (version 2.1 or later).
The CBA amplier is designed and recommended only for commercial
or industrial use. It is not intended for a hobbyist, as it will easily test
batteries at destructive limits. We DO NOT recommend testing batter-
ies at advertised maximum ratings as these ratings may be written for
sales purposes instead of scientic reasons. Unless you are extremely
knowledgeable about batteries, do not attempt testing at maximum rat-
ings. Even if a manufacturer was truthful about these ratings, maxi-
mum discharges may signicantly shorten the cycle life of a battery.
Testing at maximum ratings should never be necessary to tell if a bat-
tery is good or bad. A 1C or less discharge will tell you if the battery is
meeting capacity specs and whether or not it is good. That should be
all you need to determine if you can continue to use a battery. Testing
at maximum discharge ratings is only necessary to tell whether or not a
battery is safe at those ratings, how much the cycle life is shortened or
if it will overheat and sustain damage or ignite.
Safety Precautions
The West Mountain Radio CBA when used with the amplier is inher-
ently safe but the batteries it tests are not. Anything that stores energy
is potentially dangerous! A can of gasoline can be safe if treated prop-
erly but imagine what can happen. Some types of batteries are safer
than others but they are all capable of causing explosions or res.
Primary safety considerations:
Never discharge a battery at a higher discharge rate than it is designed for. Do not
assume that the manufacturer’s ratings are correct. Testing at a higher discharge rate
than 1C (one hour) may damage a battery. High discharge rate specications are usu-
ally an intermittent or peak rating and most batteries will not sustain a 100 % discharge
at these rates without overheating and damage.

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West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
• Never use a battery that has poorly insulated or frayed wiring or exposed metal
parts.
• Never short out or connect a battery with reverse polarity.
• Never test a battery near ammable materials.
• Never allow a battery to reach a temperature that causes it to get so hot that it
may be too hot to touch.
• Never test or discharge your batteries while unattended.
• Have a re extinguisher nearby
CBA and amplier operating precautions and requirements:
• Never connect a battery with the polarity reversed!
• Always turn o󰀨 the amplier, using the power switch, before connecting a battery.
• Never attempt to test a battery with any type of temporary or low current con-
nection!
The battery must be solidly connected to the amplier with bolts. Attempting to use
jumper cables or alligator clips is dangerous! Any intermittent connection could cause
the amplier to momentarily go full on to try and maintain the current. When the con-
nection is re-established there will be a near innite current spike possibly damaging
the amplier.
Do not leave a battery connected if you are not running a test. (There is a residual cur-
rent drawn from the CBA and amplier that will discharge a battery over long periods of
time even if a test is not being run.)
Operate the CBA and amplier in a cool dry location.
Never allow metal parts or wiring of the battery to come in contact with the CBA’s heat-
sink or amplier’s metal case.
Never test a battery that is also connected to some other equipment, such as a charger
or the device that the battery is intended to power. The only exception to this is a device
such as a battery powered meter which is totally isolated from the rest of the system.
Never allow the cooling fans to be blocked or jammed. Do not use the CBA’s or ampli-
er’s fans to cool your batteries.
Do not ignore the warnings that our software may give you.
Never exceed the 500 watt continuous rating of the CBA combined with the amplier.
To calculate watts multiply the fully charged battery voltage in volts times the current
in amps. You may divide 500 (watts) by the measured fully charged battery voltage to
determine the current that will produce the 500 watt maximum.
DO NOT USE THE NOMINAL AVERAGE BATTERY VOLTAGE
RATING; USE THE FULLY CHARGED VOLTAGE!

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West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
Never use the CBA on an external USB hub or with a computer that has screen saver,
hibernate or sleep modes enabled.
Do not plug in or disconnect other USB devices while running a test. (Windows mo-
mentarily suspends USB communications and our software and rmware instantly
stops a test if USB communications is lost to insure safe operation.)
The CBA or amplier can get hot. Do not touch the metal heat sink during, or shortly
after a high power test.
Always monitor a battery’s temperature during a test. An option is to use the CBA
temperature probe to automatically terminate a test with high battery temperature. The
trigger temperature should be set somewhat lower than what might be safe as it is dif-
cult to measure at the center of a pack where the temperature is the highest. Take into
account that the inside of the pack may be much hotter than the outside surface. For
an instantaneous reading of temperature, use a good quality IR thermometer.
Note: The CBA temperature probe should be calibrated near the temperature of inter-
est. The probe requires an intimate thermal contact with the pack in order to read the
actual surface temperature of a battery and it should be mounted with tape to minimize
external cooling e󰀨ects.
Do not operate the CBA within close proximity of any radio transmitter, in strong RF
elds or with any radio transmitter within a few feet. This includes walkie-talkies, RC
transmitters and cell phones.
Lead acid battery safety warnings:
This warning may not be a consideration while testing a battery with the CBA but it
certainly is while charging lead acid batteries. These batteries, especially automotive
and marine types, give o󰀨 explosive hydrogen gas when charged. A nearby or inter-
nal spark or ame can cause a lead acid battery to explode, sending liquid acid and
lead shrapnel in all directions. This possibility is particularly dangerous and frequently
causes blindness or severe scarring injuries.
Never use a standard lead acid battery without proper ventilation. Sealed lead acid
batteries such as gelled or AGM (absorbed glass mat) types are much safer. Flooded
electrolyte vented automotive and marine batteries are not as safe and should be used
in protective ventilated housings, such as under the closed hood of a car.
Never make the last connection to a lead acid battery causing a spark on the terminal.
Always connect the load or charger last, and at a safe distance away from the battery.
NiCad, NiMH, and Alkaline safety warnings:
These batteries can be dangerous also. If they are shorted out, or charged or dis-
charged at too high a rate, they can overheat and explode. A single D size NiCad cell
can actually melt a 10 penny nail, don’t try this!

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West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
Lithium safety warnings:
Reprinted with permission of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
Words in “()” were added by West Mountain Radio
Lithium Battery Fires
Lithium batteries are becoming very popular for powering the control and power sys-
tems in our models. This is true because of their very high energy density (amp-hrs/wt.
ratio) compared to NiCads or other batteries. With high energy comes increased risk
in their use. The, principal, risk is FIRE which can result from improper charging, crash
damage, or shorting the batteries. All vendors of these batteries warn their customers
of this danger and recommend extreme caution in their use. In spite of this many res
have occurred as a result of the use of Lithium Polymer batteries, resulting in loss of
models, automobiles, and other property. Homes and garages and workshops have
also burned. A lithium battery re is very hot (several thousand degrees) and is an ex-
cellent initiator for ancillary (resulting) res. Fire occurs due to contact between Lithium
and oxygen in the air. It does not need any other source of ignition, or fuel to start, and
burns almost explosively.
These batteries must be used in a manner that precludes ancillary re. The following
is recommended:
1. Store and charge (discharge) in a reproof container; never in your model.
2. Charge (discharge), in a protected area devoid of combustibles. Always watch
over the charging (discharging), process. Never leave the charging process unat-
tended.
3. In the event of damage from crashes, etc, carefully remove to a safe place for at
least a half hour to observe. Physically damaged cells could erupt into ame, and,
after su󰀩cient time to ensure safety, should be discarded in accordance with the
instructions which came with the batteries. Never attempt to charge (discharge) a
cell with physical damage, regardless of how slight.
4. Always use chargers designed for the specic purpose, preferably having a xed
setting for your particular pack. Many res occur in using selectable/adjustable
chargers improperly set. Never attempt to charge Lithium cells with a charger
which is not, specically, designed for charging Lithium cells. Never use chargers
designed for Nickel Cadmium batteries.
5. Use charging systems that monitor and control the charge state of each cell in the
pack. Unbalanced cells can lead to disaster if it permits overcharge of a single cell
in the pack. If the batteries show any sign of swelling, discontinue charging, and
remove them to a safe place outside as they could erupt into ames.
6. Most important: NEVER PLUG IN A BATTERY AND LEAVE IT TO CHARGE (DIS-
CHARGE), UNATTENDED OVERNIGHT. Serious res have resulted from this
practice.
7. Do not attempt to make your own battery packs from individual cells. These bat-
teries CANNOT be handled and charged casually such as has been the practice
for years with other types of batteries. The consequence of this practice can be
very serious resulting in major property damage and/ or personal harm.

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West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
CBA Amplier Connection and Use
Plug the supplied 15 VDC wall power supply into a 120 VAC 60Hz AC outlet.
For international operation be certain that the Amplier was supplied with the
correct wall power supply. Connect the DC plug of the power supply to the
amplier’s DC input jack.
IMPORTANT: Turn o󰀨 the amplier, using power switch, before connecting a
battery.
Connect the battery to be tested directly across the large copper straps us-
ing the 5/16” bolts. Make the lowest resistance connection possible! Any
additional resistance introduced will show up as reduced battery voltage and
a proportionately lower capacity reading. A very low resistance connection
to the battery is particularly necessary for high discharge rates. A poor con-
nection or cells with high internal resistance may cause the amplier not to
regulate current at its design goal of 160 amps at 0.9 volts.
To have the most accurate CBA voltage readings, use Extended version
software’s lab calibration feature. See the help les that come with the
software.
CAUTION! BE SURE THAT YOU CONNECT THE
BATTERY WITH THE CORRECT POLARITY!
– minus / black to – + plus / red to +
The incorrect polarity will cause the amplier’s FET body diodes to
conduct the full current that the battery is capable of and possibly
damage the FETs. If connected with reverse polarity, even if the
battery is not capable of damaging the CBA and amplier it will dis-
charge a battery very quickly and could possibly destroy the battery
or cause a re!
When connecting any battery to anything be very careful not to short
out the battery while making the connections. Damage or re may
result!
There are two ways to connect an amplier to the computer. If the system
came with a CBA, then you will use the traditional method described below.
If instead the system came with an AIU unit, then skip to the AIU section.

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West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
Traditional CBA Interface
The traditional interface uses a CBA unit. In the software, tell it what
kind of Amplier system is in use and the software will command
the CBA to draw a fraction of the normal current. The Ampliers are
designed to detect the current draw from the CBA and then to draw
many times more current to reach the target current draw. This is
where the “Amplier” name is derived. Note that the multiplication
factor is di󰀨erent depending on the Amplier system. The multiplica-
tion factor is programmed in to the Amplier at the factory.
To use the amplier, connect the CBA’s red and black Powerpole® connector
to the connector on the amplier marked CBA. Do not place additional wiring
or connections in between the CBA and the amplier. If you have replaced
the Powerpole® connector that comes with a CBA you should re-install a
Powerpole®. It is not recommend to use an adaptor.
Tip: Leave the amplier in-line, but switched o󰀨, and de-selected in the software, for
discharge rates less than 100 watts (An amplier is bypassed and disabled whenever
it is powered o󰀨).

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West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
AIU Interface Unit
The AIU interface connects to the PC using a USB
cable. Next connect the AIU using the modular
cables up to four Ampliers. In larger systems,
multiple AIU units are used. The connection to the
Amplier is using a modular cable connected to
the diagnostic port of an Amplier that has rm-
ware from mid-2022 or newer (V2).
The 2000W system is congured as show below.
In the software, the AIU selection is shown when starting a test as shown
in the following screenshot.

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West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
Multiple Amplier Systems
CBA Ampliers may be connected in parallel to test at higher power. In the
case of the Traditional CBA Interface, connect both the battery connectors
and CBA connections in parallel.
When using an AIU, just the battery connections are in parallel. Each AIU
can connect up to four Ampliers. Multiple AIUs may be used for larger
systems. West Mountain Radio provides services to upgrade an existing
system for higher wattages with additional units.
Usage of the Amplier System
When all is connected and the Ampliers powered on, use the soft-
ware to start a test. Make sure all the hardware settings (in the lower
right corner of the software screen) are correct for your system.
Operational LED Patterns:
V1 Firmware V2 Firmware
Stand-by Blinking Green
Test in Progress Solid Green
Battery Not
Recognized Rapid Green Flash

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West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
Fault Detected
Solid Red
Fixed number of Red blinks,
a pause and then it repeats.
Blink Count:
1 - Unit needs calibration
2 - Temp sensor is bad
3 - Battery Voltage too high
4 - Wrong power adapter
5-8 Internal part failure
9-10 Current too high
11 - AIU unplugged
Hi-Temp LED: The “Hi-Temp” LED is o󰀨 in normal operation, but will
blink when the amplier temperature is nearing the maximum tem-
perature range before shutdown. If the amplier cooling is blocked,
or if for any reason the amplier temperature gets too high, over
temperature protection will be activated. When activated, the red
“Hi” temp LED will light solid and the amplier will stop the discharge.
With an AIU, the test will stop. With a CBA there will be a noticeable
voltage jump up, but the test will continue.
Recovering from a Fault: When using the V2 rmware, most faults
are cleared when the test terminates. In older rmware, a power
cycle on the CBA Amplifer is required to clear a fault.