Glad to help.
I posted a poll here recently asking vapers how long their draws are and how long they wait between draws. The most popular answers were 4 sec draws with 30-60 seconds (or longer) between them. While it sure seems that using pulsed discharges to simulate how a vaper uses a battery would be better, in my testing I haven't found that it changes how one cell rates versus another. But, I will also be doing pulsed testing in the future as it is certainly easier for vapers to relate to the results. I also tested using 15, 30, and 60 second waits between draws and it made almost no difference. The cell recovers sufficiently between discharges even at 15 seconds. I'll be using 4-6 second draws with 30 second rests in my tests.
There is no other temperature sensor that works directly with the CBA than its own sensor, or an equivalent thermistor. You will need a separate thermometer. I use the Omegaette HH308 dual channel unit, with separate type-k thermocouples. IIRC, the HH309 version can connect to a PC to log the temperatures. I haven't found a need to do that yet because all I am interested in is the maximum temperature the cell reaches. You could export the CBA data to Excel and add the HH309 temperature data if you wanted to plot both on the graph though. There are a bunch of other great units out there that are fairly inexpensive, typically around $100, which would work just as well. You can use an infra-red temperature "gun" if you wanted to but it needs to have a narrow field-of-view and you'll need to paint the cells with a very thin layer of infrared opaque paint. You won't get an even remotely accurate temperature measurement off bare metal.
My temperature limits and discharge current levels for my tests are mostly based on manufacturer data sheets for the cells. Their limits for charge, discharge, cycle life, etc., are what I use since we're using their cells. I think that would be the best place for you to start. Dig deep into the details though as they really matter. For example, the VTC5's datasheet shows a cycle life graph with a 30A discharge plot on it. This led a lot of people to believe that it was a 30A cell (it's only 20A). If you look at the parameters for that graph though you will see that the discharges had a temperature limit of only 75°C! Since the VTC5 reaches about 100°C at 30A, IIRC, the cell never heated up enough to reach the temperature it would if used at 30A. At this temperature the damage to the cell with each discharge has increased significantly so the cycle life graph was essentially useless for us vapers (since we don't have a way to limit cell temps in our mods).
A couple parameters, like my 100°C safety limit, are based on reading dozens of research papers on cell thermal runaway. I urge you to do the same as you should never trust anyone else's safety setup.
For testing of cells for vaping I have adjusted the parameters I have used for testing I do for clients. They'll typically come to me wanting specific tests at specific discharge levels. I record the temperatures (no matter what they are), voltages under load, and do cycle life testing to see the effect of those temperatures on the cells. But for vaping we have to have safety limits on temperatures to minimize the chance of cell venting or worse. I often saw temperature instabilities at higher temperatures in my client testing. They typically started at 90°C-105°C, depending on the cell. After stopping the discharge the temperature would not start dropping off continuously. It would surge up and down for a minute or two and then start dropping off. Certain exothermic reactions begin at about 75°C and really start accelerating at above that. This is what eventually leads to thermal runaway if not stopped. What I was seeing were these exothermic reactions right on the edge of really taking off. This also contributed to my setting 100°C as the absolute max temp for any cell in my 18650 Safety Grades table (see my signature for the link).
Another source for the parameters I ended up using for my testing can be found in the industry and university research papers on cell cycle life, aging, thermal runaway, etc. You can often find out why each group used a certain cutoff temperature or other parameter by going through their testing setups.
