Note: All pictures that follow are
"clickable". Clicking on them will show you an enlargement!
Under Construction
A lil' history ...
This project involved the building of "SIMPLE-VOLT", a
tiny, light-weight R/C Battery Voltage Monitor using a PIC microcontroller. This simple
PIC project includes a simple A-to-D application that measures the voltage of a
battery pack via a resistor divider network, compares it to a reference voltage (5v regulator) and
then displays the battery voltage on 2 LEDs (indicating battery voltage strength). As a visual warning, all LEDS flash
fast and beeper sounds to indicate that the cutoff voltage has been reached,
telling you to land and stop discharging the depleted LiPo pack (trust me, this
saves LiPo packs!).
The Simple-Volt automatically detects the number of LiPo cells connected (assume
charged pack) and continually monitors the battery voltage and compares it to
the preset cutoff/warning voltage corresponding to the number of detected LiPo
cells (9v for 3s, 12v for 4s and 15v for 5s...
basically, 3 volts minimum per cell).
When the battery voltage is greater than the cutoff voltage +1v, the Green LED
will be on solid. If the battery voltage is > cutoff voltage+.5 but
< cutoff voltage+1v, the Green LED will slowly flash. If the battery
voltage is > cutoff but < cutoff+.5v, then the Red LED will begin
flashing. If the battery voltage < cutoff voltage, both Green and Red LEDs will flash
very fast while also emitting an intermittent beeping sound from the peizo alarm
buzzer.
The user can also set the Simple-Volt so it either
locks onto the first instance of the cutoff or automatically resets once battery
voltage increases. By default, the Simple-Volt will be in "Locked" mode
once powered up (when cutoff is reached, LEDs flash and alarm sounds continually
until power is removed). To get the Mini-Volt into "Auto" mode (where
flashing LEDs and alarm reset once battery voltage recovers above the cutoff
voltage; as if the throttle was decreased) , you need to quickly connect the Mini-Flash to
power (for less than a second) then disconnect from power. Then, reconnecting the
Simple-Volt to power will put it into "Auto" mode.
..more coming soon
Design Criteria Summary:
1) ...more coming soon
Parts & Tools List
...
1) ...more coming soon
Building Instructions...
...more coming soon
Firmware/Code...
Click here to
View Code (currently not available)
Click here to
Download Code (currently not available)
Testing and Operation Instructions...
1. TBD
2. TBD
Additional Notes...
SPECS:
For Initial Voltage
Pack Type/Size
Cutoff Voltage
=========================================================================
5.30V to 7.15V
NiCd/NiMH,
5 Cells 5.3±0.1V
7.16V to 8.55V
NiCd/NiMH,
6 Cells (2C LiPo 5.3±0.1V)
8.56V to 9.95V
NiCd/NiMH,
7 Cells 5.4±0.1V
9.96V to 11.21V
NiCd/NiMH,
8 Cells 7.5±0.1V
11.22V to 12.45V
NiCd/NiMH,
9 Cells (3C LiPo 8.4±0.1V)
12.46V to 14.50V
NiCd/NiMH,
10 Cells 10.0±0.1V
14.51V to 16.05V
NiCd/NiMH,
11 Cells 10.3±0.1V
16.06V and Up
NiCd/NiMH,
12 Cells (4C LiPo 11.0±0.1V)
Earthmen
Productions
© Dec-00-Mar-12
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