Battery Monitor
Everything under control
Published in issue 393, September 2009
This circuit was originally designed for monitoring the charge status of the batteries in a solar-powered water feature. However, it can be used in any application where batteries are charged and discharged. The circuit uses an LPC2103 microcontroller connected to a 22-bit analogue-to-digital (A/D) converter to measure charge and discharge currents, battery voltage, charge status (or available capacity) and the instantaneous power being supplied to or drawn from the battery.
Features
- Display of current (in mA or A), voltage (mV), capacity (Ah) and power (mW or W)
- Suitable for monitoring all types of rechargeable battery
- Suitable for battery voltages from 6 V to 42 V
- Maximum measured current: ±6 A
- High precision: voltage resolution 76 mV, current resolution 12 µA (internal), 1 mA (displayed)
- Low power consumption due to use of high-efficiency step-down converters: <200 mW (backlight off), <300 mW (backlight on)
- Module takes into account its own power consumption in calculating current and capacity
- Display update rate 1 Hz
- Over- and under-voltage fault LED
- Backlit 2-by-16-character LCD
- Compact construction
- Serial interface for outputting measured values
- Firmware available for free download from Elektor website
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Click below to download a PDF copy of this article from Elektor magazine. Please note. In view of the complexity of international markets, Elektor cannot guarantee the availability of components for this project.
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