Note: All pictures that follow are
"clickable". Clicking on them will show you an enlargement!
A lil' history ...
This project will describe a neat little PIC-based R/C battery monitoring device that
monitors voltage level and will sound an alarm (and most likely light an LED)
once the user-programmed minimum voltage is set. This type of device is a
necessity when using Lithium Polymer batteries and a speed controller that does
not have a programmable low voltage shutoff feature (like most brushed motor
controllers currently out in the market, whereas most brushless controller do in
fact have this feature). The issue here is that if you drain a single LiPo
cell (usually 3.7v full) down to below 3 volts, you could and will most likely
damage the LiPo cell. The idea here is to indicate to the user (via LEDs
or a beeper) when the voltage level has reached the minimum preset voltage,
where the user would then stop using the model, hence saving the battery.
More coming soon...
Design Criteria Summary:
1) Small compact and light design
2) Capable of monitoring voltage ranging from 6 volts to 18 volts
3) Programmable by the user (user can set low voltage setting, ex. 6v for 2-cell
LiPo, 9v for 3-cell LiPo, etc...)
4) Alarm feature to notify/warn user (either bright flashing LED and/or piezo
alarm/beeper)
09/06/2008
"LiPo-Mon" R/C
Battery Monitoring
Project
Go to Top of Page