ZTS multi battery tester

August 9th, 2006

Electronics have become almost as vital to the American military as ammunition. Portable devices like flashlights, lasers, radios, and NVGs all need batteries. You can count the ammunition you’re carrying, but you have to test your batteries to be sure.

I’ve heard from some troops that batteries are hard to come by, and others that they can get batteries by the truckload. In either case, you know your device is working when you head outside the wire, but you are never sure if they’re at 90% capacity, or 10%. And even if you have plenty of spares, the middle of a firefight is not a good time to replace batteries.

Because of this, our newest Hobbit Hole “product” is the ZTS battery tester. The military uses this brand, but we want to get the tester into the hands of the troops, rather than leaving the testers at battalion or brigade level.

This pocket-sized tester runs on four AAA batteries, and uses a computerized pulse test to determine battery capacity. This particular unit tests all 1.5v and 9v alkaline batteries, and 1.2v “coin” batteries. Even more important, it tests most 3v lithium batteries, such as the CR123. These batteries are common in NVGs, flashlights, and other high-tech electronics.

The Gunnery Sergeant who received a tester to go along with a large number of xenon flashlights and CR123 batteries said he was surprised at how much he was checking batteries before sending his Marines outside the wire. That convinced us that this would be a valuable item for the troops.

This tester is not overly expensive, costing about as much as a Camillus Rescue knife. However, we’d really rather not give it out just for some individual to check batteries on his iPod or digital camera.

So we’re asking that requests be limited to officers and senior NCOs who have responsibilities for troops working outside the wire who need to be certain about their batteries. I’m sure they won’t mind checking your camera batteries for you, but business needs have to come first.

Entry Filed under: General, Troop Tech