A GREAT cheap 6 cells voltage meter!

Doctorbass

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I just bought 5 of those from ebay at 5$ + shipping this great tool!

it can display cells voltage from 1 to 6 cells with cell no 1 higher than 3.5V and can display voltages of 2 to 6 cells with all cells from 3 to 4.5V!

And... like usual, ... it use the famous ATMEL chip

Just search on ebay for: 2s - 6s Lipo Battery Voltage Meter Indicator 7.4v 22.2v

I did this little videt to give you an idea of what it look like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XKDyP5M_x4

That's my pleasure to share my great find ! :wink:

Doc
 

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Well dang! I was just wishing for something like that a couple of days ago.

Thanks Doc.

Now... Do I have to search all of eBay, or are you gonna post a link to the seller? ;)
 
Never mind.

I found a few different sellers:

I got these because they has a "Buy it Now" price of two dollars each:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150234711521
which is cheaper than this guy's $5.88 each:
http://cgi.ebay.com/RC-lipo-battery-Voltage-meter-Indicator-7-4v-22-2v-6s_W0QQitemZ140222003472QQihZ004QQ
but not as cheap as this guy's opening bid:
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-6S-lipo-li-po-A123-Li-fe-balance-voltage-meter_W0QQitemZ360040674446QQihZ023QQ

I assume that that last one is who Doc got his from since he said five for five dollars??

But I didn't want to compete on bids, so I don't mind spending a bit more.

Thanks for the lead, Doc....

Now if they would keep that kind of price but build them for more cells so we don't have to use multiples for our battery packs.
 
Will it work with the a123 can you hook a pack to show us on if it works ...cause if you say the first cell has to be at least 3.5 volts then when on a discharge when the cells go under 3.5 volts it won t work or what ? just curious...
 
Hmm... I didn't notice that 3.5 V first cell thing; :!:

I'm guessing that the circuit/LED meter needs 3.5V to run correctly, and draws its power only from the first cell???? :?:

If so, a workaround would be to power the first position with a stand alone battery... a small 'old school' lipo' or three throw away alkaline AA or AAA bateries in a holder should give MANY hours of service there.
No big deal to people running 10S packs since you would have to use 2 meters anyway with 2 unused 'ports'. But if you are using more than 10S, it starts becoming a hassle.... 16S and you would have to use 4 meters, with only one drive battery measured on the last one.... although 20S or 21S packs would be back to being not too big a waste.. :?:
 
I have had this item for awhile and posted it on V is for Voltage... I can tell you that it WILL WORK with A123 and the voltage range I have seen all the way down to 1.9v to over 6v (I am afraid to go higher--Doc, did you test highest scale yet?) You must connect 2 cells before any measurement is available. I would like to see the actual specs of this if anyone has it. The web ads are very vague as you can see...
Jeff K. Burbank, CA "Deep Cycle"
 
jeffkay said:
I have had this item for awhile and posted it on V is for Voltage... I can tell you that it WILL WORK with A123 and the voltage range I have seen all the way down to 1.9v to over 6v (I am afraid to go higher--Doc, did you test highest scale yet?) You must connect 2 cells before any measurement is available. I would like to see the actual specs of this if anyone has it. The web ads are very vague as you can see...
Jeff K. Burbank, CA "Deep Cycle"


I tested those at lowest voltage possible WHEN USING ONLY ONE CELL (in the worst case)

-It appear that the lowest V is 3.4V in the cell 1 input,

-The circuit need at least 3.4V to operate correctly i guess.
The cell 2 to 6 start at 1.0v volt... so you can measure 3.4 - 1.0 - 1.0 - 1.0 - 1.0 - 1.0

I tested it and it work. I plugged 3.4V on the first cell input and then i added 1V step to each next wires...

3.44V for the first cell is a problem for the A123 becuse thse cells oprrate at lower voltages...

But if you add an independent isolated low power DC-DC IC to supply the first cell that could be usefull for the 5 next input use at starting 1.0V...

or Always keep your first cell higher than 3.40V :lol:

Doc
 
The small one is a voltage 5V regulator.

The big one is an ATMEL ic

ATMEGA8L
BAU 0750I


or if you prefer:

8-bit with 8K Bytes In-System Programmable Flash :mrgreen:

http://www.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheets_pdf/A/T/M/E/ATMEGA8L.shtml

or:

High-performance, Low-power AVR® 8-bit Microcontroller
• Advanced RISC Architecture
– 130 Powerful Instructions – Most Single-clock Cycle Execution
– 32 x 8 General Purpose Working Registers
– Fully Static Operation
– Up to 16 MIPS Throughput at 16 MHz
– On-chip 2-cycle Multiplier
• Nonvolatile Program and Data Memories
– 8K Bytes of In-System Self-Programmable Flash
Endurance: 10,000 Write/Erase Cycles
– Optional Boot Code Section with Independent Lock Bits
In-System Programming by On-chip Boot Program
True Read-While-Write Operation
– 512 Bytes EEPROM
Endurance: 100,000 Write/Erase Cycles
– 1K Byte Internal SRAM
– Programming Lock for Software Security
• Peripheral Features
– Two 8-bit Timer/Counters with Separate Prescaler, one Compare Mode
– One 16-bit Timer/Counter with Separate Prescaler, Compare Mode, and Capture
Mode
– Real Time Counter with Separate Oscillator
– Three PWM Channels
– 8-channel ADC in TQFP and MLF package
Six Channels 10-bit Accuracy
Two Channels 8-bit Accuracy
– 6-channel ADC in PDIP package
Four Channels 10-bit Accuracy
Two Channels 8-bit Accuracy
– Byte-oriented Two-wire Serial Interface
– Programmable Serial USART
– Master/Slave SPI Serial Interface
– Programmable Watchdog Timer with Separate On-chip Oscillator
– On-chip Analog Comparator
• Special Microcontroller Features
– Power-on Reset and Programmable Brown-out Detection
– Internal Calibrated RC Oscillator
– External and Internal Interrupt Sources
– Five Sleep Modes: Idle, ADC Noise Reduction, Power-save, Power-down, and
Standby
• I/O and Packages
– 23 Programmable I/O Lines
– 28-lead PDIP, 32-lead TQFP, and 32-pad MLF
• Operating Voltages
– 2.7 - 5.5V (ATmega8L)
– 4.5 - 5.5V (ATmega8)
• Speed Grades
– 0 - 8 MHz (ATmega8L)
– 0 - 16 MHz (ATmega8)
• Power Consumption at 4 Mhz, 3V, 25°C
– Active: 3.6 mA
– Idle Mode: 1.0 mA
– Power-down Mode: 0.5 μA


:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :!:

For your info the 3 digit display led have 12 pins (3 common anode i believe and 7 segments and 3dots)...... but wher is the last dot pin :?: :eek: ...

Hope this help Fechter!
 
Thanks Doc.

Those are $3.66 ea. at DigiKey. Obviously it can monitor the voltage of 6 cells fairly accurately. They also come in a 28 dip package... :idea:

Is there a way to see how they handled the input voltages? I'm assuming they used resistor dividers on each input, but just a guess. I also wonder if all the dividers are all equal or are different for each input?
 
fechter said:
Thanks Doc.

Those are $3.66 ea. at DigiKey. Obviously it can monitor the voltage of 6 cells fairly accurately. They also come in a 28 dip package... :idea:

Is there a way to see how they handled the input voltages? I'm assuming they used resistor dividers on each input, but just a guess. I also wonder if all the dividers are all equal or are different for each input?


Fechter, i'm not sure i would blown one just to see it's voltage limit :|

They are very cheap so try buy one or more.. I bought 5 because i need 5 :wink:

I've noted that they have a TX-RX pins.. so would it be easy to extract the code of the flash of one of those to built our own?
 
I got four of them, and have noticed, after trying them on several different setups, that they are not super accurate, nor consistent between units in their inaccuracy....

Perhaps I'm expecting too much of such inexpensive devices but FYI / FME:

They are all, at MINIMUM .03V off as compared to a good multimeter and my CBAII.
Swap the different units in the same circuit, and they will vary as much as .08 V on any given cell.

In general, they seem to read a little low on the first couple of cells, and too high on the last two cells.

So, I wouldn't suggest trusting them at resolutions below the 10ths of a Volt, and give yourself a + 0.1V margin of error just to be safe.
 
RLT said:
I got four of them, and have noticed, after trying them on several different setups, that they are not super accurate, nor consistent between units in their inaccuracy....

Perhaps I'm expecting too much of such inexpensive devices but FYI / FME:

They are all, at MINIMUM .03V off as compared to a good multimeter and my CBAII.
Swap the different units in the same circuit, and they will vary as much as .08 V on any given cell.

In general, they seem to read a little low on the first couple of cells, and too high on the last two cells.

So, I wouldn't suggest trusting them at resolutions below the 10ths of a Volt, and give yourself a + 0.1V margin of error just to be safe.


I recommnand to use them to disgnose balance state of the cells. because for cell measurement caracteristic, it would be preferable to use a multimeter as well!

but for the price it's the best tradeoff !...
 
:oops: I just found out the unfortunate way that it does not like 60 volts directly across one channel !
 
NEW! I just received the NEW version of this device from China. They now step through 2-6 cells and there is an added "ALL" readout that shows the pack voltage. This is handy. Oh, and the display "speed" of stepping through these channels is now about twice as fast. Before it was about 1 sec per reading. I am assuming that the same venders will now ship this version.

Jeff K. "Deep Cycle" project
 
jeffkay said:
NEW! I just received the NEW version of this device from China. They now step through 2-6 cells and there is an added "ALL" readout that shows the pack voltage. This is handy. Oh, and the display "speed" of stepping through these channels is now about twice as fast. Before it was about 1 sec per reading. I am assuming that the same venders will now ship this version.

Jeff K. "Deep Cycle" project


that's great news!
 
So Doc, I made a box with a 5p4t rotary switch so I can see all 4 of my sub-packs that contain 12p4s cells... It connects to the pack with two 9-pin d-subs since I had some cables laying about. Very handy indeed. I will post a pic later.

Jeff K. "Deep Cycle" Project
 
jeffkay said:
So Doc, I made a box with a 5p4t rotary switch so I can see all 4 of my sub-packs that contain 12p4s cells... It connects to the pack with two 9-pin d-subs since I had some cables laying about. Very handy indeed. I will post a pic later.

Jeff K. "Deep Cycle" Project

i'll wait for that pics!
 
This meter is reading 4 lithium cell packs and gives current "all" voltage of the 4 in series... It is enclosed in a reCYCLEed computer switch box. It is mounted for test on the "Deep Cycle" electric motorcycle conversion. Here is a video of the new type meter operating: [youtube]U-SPD9sdZaQ[/youtube]

As you can see, the cells are somewhat discharged and fairly close in balance given that many were abused and many were new cells in this pack...
Jeff K. "Deep Cycle" project
 
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