Knoxies got some new toys

[scoot]

Hi

Well its actually Garys cellog circuit, I used different optos as I wanted to get them local, I have posted bits on it on another link, I will post up a proper connection diagram showing it hooked up, vero board is nice and simple to use although to be honest you could cut the legs off short and just solder all those bits in to some heat shrink I just like vero board...i am old school :lol:

Cheers

Knoxie

That would be more helpful than you know, Knoxie. I know of a few other CellLog users with less than sophisticated skills in such matters (myself included), and that have not posted here, that would greatly appreciate your instruction.

BTW, I have to say, you are the KING of CLEAN when comes to packaging, connecting and installation 8) . I love following your exploits in this thread.

 

[The Journey Guy]

Hi

Well its actually Garys cellog circuit, I used different optos as I wanted to get them local, I have posted bits on it on another link, I will post up a proper connection diagram showing it hooked up, vero board is nice and simple to use although to be honest you could cut the legs off short and just solder all those bits in to some heat shrink I just like vero board...i am old school :lol:

Cheers

Knoxie

Thanks! We'll all be looking forward to it!

TJG

 

[mwkeefer]

Knoxie,

What type of instrument case, where did you source the actual "box" you used for the lipo - it's a nice dimension and would go a long way to making my life easier (enclosures are a PITA)!

Thanks in advance,
-Mike

 

[knoxie]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the comments! I will sort out the connection diagram as soon as I get a minute, the case is a perfect fit, I spotted it at my local Maplins store
here http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=265883 I got the RM2095M they have other sizes available, I am sure they will be available in other areas as well.

The bottom of the case comes as standard with raised fixing holes for PC Boards I just drilled them off so the batteries sat nice and flat, having the removable sides gives you options as well, if its a warm day take 1 x side out of the box :wink: etc.

Here is the main UK supplier, the supplier that supplies Maplins

http://www.hammondmfg.com/scpg.htm

Cheers

Knoxie

 

[The Journey Guy]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the comments! I will sort out the connection diagram as soon as I get a minute

Cheers

Knoxie

Hiya Knoxie.

Have you had any time to make the connection diagram and such? A few of us are waiting on pins and needles for your instructions so that we can make our alarm circuits.

Many thanks!

TJG

 

[hydro-one]

hi peoples....I just finished wiring and testing my alarm circuit. follow garys diagram in the cellog thread. Basically make sure you run resistors on eveything untill you get it figured out, that way you wont blow outputs on the cellog (most important!!). Use any opto's. They really are easy to use!!!!

I am ganging my opto outputs in parrellel, which will pull a relay.

Just saying its really not that hard!!!

mike

 

[The Journey Guy]

And you are probably right, for the majority of members here. But for some of us, a step by step instructional would be invaluable! You know the kind I'm talking about, that includes a parts list, and how to assemble, etc....

I don't think I'm the dumbest crayon in the box, but I certainly do need a step by step for these CellLog alarm circuits. Don't know why, but that's just the way it is.

Thanks.

TJG

 

[hydro-one]

Yeah I agree that it would be very helpful. I just blew the alarm outputs on 2 out of my 3 cellogs. hooked it up wrong. treat those little wires like gold!! human error. Its not rocket science, but very unforgiving with errors, this stuff...... You just cross your fingers and plug it in!!!! a bit of praying involved.....

But really its just a matter of perfection in wiring. practice.

One thing ive found that will work better is, get your circuit up and running , with the cheapest parts first. test everything and add the more expensive parts in one at a time, and test as you go. That way your not wondering WTF, when it dosent work . Saves alot of time.

Im fairly new at this too,

mike

anybody know what parts are invoved with the alarm output, is it q9 the little smt transistor near the alarm wires? could i beef it up a bit?

haha after reading my post above, i guess i deserve this, i hadnt "finished" persay.....

 

[knoxie]

Hi

Yes the circuit diagram is the same as the one in my post for the Cellog alarm circuit, I will draw it up again, one thing, I am going to modify that box as I blew out the balance wires on 1 x pair of cells I made such a stupid mistake and put a series link in to the packs forgetting that the cellog was connected, totally fried the balance leads.

To counter this ever happening again I have bought a bunch of 600ma resettable fuses, they are tiny little devices, they will sit on bread board and form a link between the pairs of balance wires, they will serve 2 purposes, 1 to protect the balance wires from over current and 2 to prevent any 2 widely out of balance cells balancing through the balance wires which is possible, this is nice as my cellog is setup normally closed to open on alarm then that feeds in to a normally open relay , this way it will shut the controller off if any of the poly fuses goes or the cellogs loose power, I decided against running the poly fuses at the batteries as I dont want the extra resistance that they present to affect the balancing protocols of the charger, it would have been nice but ultimately I want that to stay as low VD as I can make it.

It makes the connections easier, I will run all the wires from the D socket to pins on the vero board, makes soldering so much easier this way so even If I ever do have a beer too many I wont ever blow the balance leads and if I ever forget to charge one of the pairs of packs they wont burn out the leads, its such a simple solution.

There will be a small Volt drop though each one which isnt a bad thing as it will mean that the cutoff for low voltage will happen a little sooner which is no bad thing, I can of course adjust this on the cellog to make up for any difference.

So I will post a complete schematic of my Bomb Proof :lol: Cellog controller, I now have the interface wires installed on all my rides just got to try to stop blowing things up and get and use it ha ha.

Cheers

Knoxie

 

[The Journey Guy]

Hi

Yes the circuit diagram is the same as the one in my post for the Cellog alarm circuit
Knoxie

Knoxie, I cannot even find that thread. There again, I'm not an 'Ace' when it comes to doing searches on this forum. I can Goggle just about anything, but I can't seem to find the thread you are talking about above.

Would you mind posting a link to that thread, so I can start to study there while you are making your new diagram?

Thanks for your patience.

TJG

 

[knoxie]

Hi Journey guy

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=19099&p=282963&hilit=cellog#p282963

Check Garys drawing about half way down, like I said I will be adding in protection to my balance tap wires but you dont have to do that its just me being over cautious I figure I did it once by mistake its likely I may do it again :lol:

I will post more pictures and details of what I am up to, I also have a really nice unit with 4 x lipo buzzers in 1 x box all protected with poly fuses for low voltage alarm, it looks so nice, this is the box that I will use most of the time to be honest as I only use the pack mainly for a very short commutes the cellog will be used only when I run longer journeys and am in more danger of hitting LVC on any 1 pack in the bunch, to be honest I doubt that it will ever happen as I dont ever want to run the packs lower than 80 PC discharge and that will be once in a while.

PM me if you have any specific questions, I can send you info or do you some video instruction on what to do, its pretty easy really I think buzzers are fine for day to day use and a proper cutoff is a must for long distance stuff, the buzz word is really watt meters and watching your usage, if a pack decides to go bad even with LVC and alarms it will still go bad, I have had this on all 8 count em! of my point-1 lipo packs, the are all going to the recycling centre very soon.

Cheers

Knoxie

 

[The Journey Guy]

Thank you, knoxie!! I'm off to study that thread while I wait for your instructional to get done.

And I'll certainly take you up on your offer to be PMed if I get stumped along the way. All I'm looking to do is to do a simple buzzer alarm for low voltage on either the cell level, or the pack level. So, hopefully it won't be all that difficult for me to learn how to make one of those circuits.

Again, thanks much!!

TJG

 

[knoxie]

Hi Again

Yes PM me let me know what your setup is and your usage and I will gladly help you, buzzers are fine for day to day stuff, if you go down the buzzer route its better to run the packs in series first then parallel them up, this way each buzzer monitors each pack 2S+2P, if you parallel them up then series them each buzzer is duplicated still works no fires but not as good.

I had 1 x buzzer go bad on me got 3 x more coming this week, I will post some nice pictures of my buzzer box! ha ha its cool in blue see through so you can see the led indications and like I said it will be protected, the buzzer that I had that went bad ran my balance wire very warm :? I finished it off a few days later ha ha but still, the poly fuse will prevent this from happening ever again.

http://www.bourns.com/pdfs/mfr.pdf

Such great cheap little devices, I got 40 off ebay Mf-R030 really cheap, they will protect all my tap wires peace of mind they have too high standing resistance to be in the balance wires whilst balancing IMHO but are fine for discharge and balance tap joint protection.

Knoxie

 

[liveforphysics]

Great work Knoxie! Loving your work.

 

[knoxie]

Cheers Luke

Got a few updates coming this week assuming my parts arrive, will get them posted thanks for PM as well.

Knoxie

 

[knoxie]

Hello

Well have been busy tonight, over the weekend I got distracted and made a big old mistake and connected 2 of the packs in series whilst I had my Cellog interface plugged in, much smoke and melted balance wires later I had to put it to one side till my new JST wires came in from the model shop.

Got all my bits today so I repaired both batteries 2 x new balance wires, got them all fitted back in to the box, I have then sorted all the buzzers in to a nice little blue see through box, I am going to use this for my commute and use the cellog on long runs only.

Its gone together nice, I had to get another one of the little buzzers as one of them did die on me last week, new one seems fine, they are so cheap its not worth worrying about, I wasnt going to run them but I have been playing around with them and figure they arent bad, they do work as well, tested them with my bench supply.

Here are a few pics of the buzzer box, it monitors all 4 packs at the discharge leads, so not cell level but its monitoring each pack as the packs are series parallel with the links I have at the moment, I have also made the links fuses as well, after seeing that smoke I have got a bit more cautious :lol:

The packs are all balanced fine and look great again!! its started raining now though anyway some pics of my snazzy box, plug and play time!! so glad no more JST connectors for me...happy days.

Knoxie

 

[AussieJester]

Hello

Well have been busy tonight, over the weekend I got distracted and made a big old mistake and connected 2 of the packs in series whilst I had my Cellog interface plugged in, much smoke and melted balance wires later I had to put it to one side till my new JST wires came in from the model shop.

DAMN! Knoxie...we was just talking about what can happen when you do this in another thread werent we! even those that know what they're doing make this mistake sometimes ... The new buzzer box setup looks excellent!

KiM

 

[knoxie]

Cheers Kim

Yes you have to be careful got a rather distracting phone call and came back, happens so fast no time to pull wires they were gone before I could do anything, so I have made the discharge lead link wires 40A blade fuses, nice and simple, something I always used to do back in the day anyhow.
You need a hot iron to solder to those pads on the battery as well.

Right off to bed, been on this all night and my good lady is going to kill me if I stay up on here..as much as id love to!!

Laters

Knoxie

 

[dogman dan]

Stuff happens, that's for sure. Really nice box for the buzzers, I like it a lot and may have to make one similar.

Riding the other day, I never heard the cheep till the second warning with em back in the battery box. Seeing the lights would have helped. Once they all went off, you could notice that! sounded like a flock of hungry baby birds in my battery box. But by then a few cells were down close to 3v. Not so good, but now I know they do go off early enough. But you really can fail to hear that first warning single cheep.

 

[AussieJester]

Cheers Kim

Yes you have to be careful got a rather distracting phone call and came back, happens so fast

Tiz why i opted for Mr GGoodrums parallel boards, i would be KFF every second time i went to charge if i had to connect and reconnect wires to charge and discharge, i'm an electronics retard Knoxie hahaha

KiM

 

[knoxie]

Cheers Dog

Yeah they arent the loudest! but I can hear them.

Yeah Kim Garys board is great, this only happened as I was ironically testing my own LV cutoff box out, it wont happen ever again as a the batteries will be parallel series, and B the cellog alarm box is protected against it, IE a bunch of resetable polyfuses will be in there just incase.

Im a tart :lol: I like the colour of the blue box more than the black one :wink: its used for commuting only, my setup is super simple but very configurable, I simply unplug the box from the bike, plug it in to the charger and press start, the charger lets me know whilst its charging what each cell in each pack is up to in realtime, I like that, thats why I did it this way.

Next thing will be to switch any four of these alarms through another louder buzzer, pretty easy to do

Knoxie

 

[Ypedal]

Very nice work Knox !!!!.. loven it ! ( I like pictures, how many times have i read something and am positive i have it right.. then smoke the project before i realize i had it all wrong lol.. )

I'm a fan of black, but must admit the blue box looks the part. I think i'd notice the bright LED before the buzzer..

I"m looking to do something similar for my 100v chaos with cellogs so i can monitor single cell voltages while i ride.. the bar graph screen is my favourite.

Is all this for the BMX ?

 

[knoxie]

Hi Y

Thanks for the comments, yes pleased with the way that this has come out, love these batteries so much though they just rock think I may even buy shares in them :lol: best batteries I have ever used bar none.

This pack is being used on all my rides, sitting in the topeak bag I can simply slide it off that and put it on the BMX or the Trek or the KMX one pack suits all bikes! the blue box is very handy and as its a straight connection I can easily put an extension cable in there and run the box pretty much where ever I like.

I was going to run a black box for it and cut holes for the lights, i then saw the sea through cases in my local electronics store and figured that they were a better bet, nice plastic to work with as well, couldn't believe I got all holes perfectly in line! ha ha.

Next job is add protection to the cellog box and we should be good to go, when HK get more stock in i will most likely make another pack up as well but this one really is all I need.

Looking forward to seeing more vids from you, I am off out tonight to shadow the local bike club, they do an evening time trial on their bikes, the good weather and the Tour De France should ensure there are a few to play with

Cheers

Knoxie

 

[geoff57]

Hi Knoxie
I have just sent the files off to china to get the first batch of Thumbnail LVC made, once the problems with what I sent and what the factory need has been sorted they will be made no matter what.
The software I used to make the board has error detection to make sure I have got the circuit correct always a worry. It is 38 mm by 25 mm has a 90 degree JST HX input that is compatable with the balance connector of the LiPo battery packs up to 6 cells there is a corisponding output connector of the same type that an extention cable can be connected to of the type with connectors at both ends identical to the connector on the balance wires like this one for 6 cells at hobbyking http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/...me=JST-XH_Wire_Extension_6S_20cm_(10pcs/bag)_, this is not needed unless the LVC board is put inline and you intend to charge through the board or want to fit a second type of lvc for some reason!

When they are ready do you want a few knoxie if you are just running motors with freewheels in or the controllers have no regen then the LVC can be fitted to the brake line otherwiseit will need to be connected to the throttle line.I have plenty of JST connectors here so can make up a brakeout throttle connector for the LVC boards and the throttle.

I know when it comes to testing you will test the hell out of it.

Geoff

 

[knoxie]

Hi G

Yes thanks for the offer I will surely test them for you, I hate those pesky JST connectors though, I got some extension leads from Ebay and they were pants, the pins arent soldered very well at the socket end and they make intermittent connections! so annoying.

I am ordering a load of proper JST sockets and will solder the pins on myself, bit of a pain but at least you know the job has been done properly, id say at least half of them were dry joints :x the crimp end of the leads seems fine though.

Top tip is to hot glue the plug and the socket tops to stop the pins being pushed out, the cheap extensions I am sure have slightly thinner pins? hoping the real ones will be better, I think they would perform better if I soldered them in to vero board and soldered the wires on to header pins, but thats too messy.

I have lost count of the times that I have had my battery pack apart! :lol: still its all good fun and beats watching the tele.

Knoxie