The phenomena associated with the load dump or battery voltage (drop) simulation is considered to be one of the most energy intensive and can produce above 10J of energy. This occurrence is tested to by a wide variety of different automotive standards including ISO 7637-2/ISO16750-2, GMW 3172 , Ford, Nissan, SAE as well as many other manufacturer and international standards. ISO 16750-2:2012 breaks out the difference testing waveform requirements for testing both with (5b) and without (5a) centralized load dump suppression. Given the relatively large amount of energy the potential for this pulse to cause damage within automotive electrical systems is quite high. Some of the most common reasons for this occurrence to happen are listed below:
Cable Corrosion
Bad Connection(s)
Intentional Disconnection Engine On
Clipped Load Dump & ISO 16750
The two most mainstream generators offer load dump pulses, both clipped load dump (5b) and non clipped load dump (5a). These waveforms are based off of ISO 16750 and equipment requirements for this type of testing can depend upon how the manufacturer interprets what would accurately reflect this occurrence. A breakout of the different definitions can be found below.
The two main automotive load dump systems, the EM Test LD200N and Teseq NSG 5500 (with LD5505 module) offer compliant testing to a variety of international and OEM specifications. The Teseq system offers a single unit solution for a variety of common transients, the EM Test equipment provides a stand alone systems designed around just the load dump pulses.