Hi,
Being unable to find the right li-ion battery fuel gauge, I decided to build one myself.
I don’t want to keep a voltmeter with me everywhere I go and try to guess the level of my battery according to it.
Also I figured some people might be interested too.
Here is the device
Dimensions are 30mm x 18mm
Thickness of the board itself (without the LED bargraph) is 5mm.
(I voluntary left some edges around the board that can be cut out if needed)
The device provides 10 levels, from 4.2v on max to about 3.4v on min.
So each graduation is about 0.080v.
It draws about 2.2mA per LED, so in full it will draw 10×2.2mA = 22mA.
I tried to make it as small as possible.
You can choose between 4 different colors for the LEDs: BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW, RED
(More like amber)
Options
- If 10 levels is too big, I can provide a 5 levels device
- I can sell it without LED bargraph, you just have to connect regular LEDs on it, and the board actually will be smaller.
Possible Usage
- You can integrate it to your charger, and see the gauge going up while charging (I will show you a Xtar WP2 II with this device incorporated when I have time)
- Or you can use a simple 18650 battery box for example (on 1 side the device, on the other side the battery)
Price
$19 + shipping.
Payment with Paypal.
Or $15 face to face (Bay Area, CA)
How
I don’t have stock for the LED bargraph and I don’t want to keep stock, so I will proceed by batch.
For now I can only make 8 (number of IC left I have)
It will take about 2 weeks for me to receive the parts and build it.
If you are interested let me know the LED color you want.
Reserved
Looks very interesting. Waiting to see the final product and the external dimensions. Nice work!
Nice! What size is that?
~ Ledsmoke ~
Dutch humor:
[quote=djozz]
I do not think that the BLF-community ben
I still am waiting for my new PCB so I can use smd, I should receive it this week.
The size will be about 30mmx18mm and thickness 5mm for the board, without the LED bargraph.
The LED bargraph is the “biggest” part and the thickness will be added on top of it
If the LED bargraph is too big for you, I can sell just the board, and you can use regular smaller LEDs.
Also I can make a 5-levels board, so that you only have to use 5 LEDs.
I just ordered some components, so I think the quantity will be limited to 8.
Alright I updated the post with the picture and the dimensions.
Oh, I thought more people would be interested in a li-ion level meter
I think most people here are willing to make their own so they can have one with a number read out.
My LED comparison thread with links.
Tint, Binning, and CRI Explanation (For the XM-L)
http://budgetlightforum.com/node
Its to expensive… Thais the Point.
If you buy a voltmeter from china, you can get a better performance for less…
I respect your work and will to share this but check this out http://www.ebay.de/itm/Mini-DC-0V-To-99-9V-Red-LED-Digital-Panel-Volt-Voltage-Meter-Voltmeter-/290717802952?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43b021a1c8#ht_3833wt_952
Yeah.. I am not chinese with large quantity of components, and $2 is barely the price of a LED bargraph…
I can reduce the price, but $2 don’t think about it.
The device is smaller, and more readable than just a voltage, that’s the point I stated at the beginning.
I updated the price.
Home made for under $10.
Yeah this is a voltmeter, this is just not the same.
The spectrum led battery meter costs $30.
So, it’s just the meter with two loose wires you have to manually hold onto while the battery is rolling around?
You dont get it…
Thats ok.
I will show you an integration of 2 of these devices into a WP2 II soon.
Not interested people please leave the topic in peace. Thank you.
I don’t get the difference? If the task is to find out the battery status than you can have this for a few bucks. There are a lot of such meters out there you have to compete with.
http://www.ebay.de/itm/new-Voltage-Indicator-Checker-Tester-1S-6S-Batter...
Like yours, it’s made for nimh but in 4.8v mode could work:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/RC-Model-7-LED-Battery-Voltage-Indicator-Monitor-4-8-6V-/300588824980?pt=RC_Modellbau&hash=item45fc7d7994#ht_2555wt_922
You see there are a lot out there, so it would be better to take one of these very cheap ones because they are in every detail better. Also a modification of one of the Chinese meters would make more sense than build a crappy thing up.
Sorry for opening your eyes but you have to see everything in context…
Guys if you want to discuss this type of thing do it in another thread. This is a sales thread NOT a discussion thread.
Silicon, sorry for my part in this.
My LED comparison thread with links.
Tint, Binning, and CRI Explanation (For the XM-L)
http://budgetlightforum.com/node
This one is from 4.8v to 6v, doesnt work with 1 li-ion battery.
Thanks scaru.
No I Don’t, but I want to. I just need something more visual so I can see it in application. I’d like to see how it connects and works with a wP2 myself, and maybe it’s integration with a battery carrier. I’m not knocking it, I just want to see more detail pics of its usage and installment. I wouldn’t mind having something that shows me charging status on my SP2 while its running. Mine is just a voltage meter for testing after the fact. Would it be complicated for me to install? Help me out here.
Essentially what you would have to do is dissasemble the charger and then solder two wires onto the positive and negative. Then you have the wires lead out of the charger and mount the board wherever you want to.
My LED comparison thread with links.
Tint, Binning, and CRI Explanation (For the XM-L)
http://budgetlightforum.com/node
I will show you some pics soon.
Before doing that I checked the whole internet to find the right one, none of them was what I was looking for.
The reasons I did this are,
- The device assesses from 3.3v/3.4v to 4.2v, which is the best range to check li-ion batteries, not from 3v to 4.2, etc. (I can configure it to change the range also, or for 2 batteries, etc…)
- It is small enough to be included in battery chargers.
- I can configure it to have 10 levels or 5 levels, which makes it smaller to integrate in battery chargers.
- I can implement 1 indicator for each slot in my WP2 II.
Ive never quite understood how that works. I always think it would just be showing the current running into the batteries from the charger when it’s turned on. How does it know. I love this kind of stuff, but I really need step by step visuals to try it myself.
It uses voltage not current. I'll explain exactly how later.
My LED comparison thread with links.
Tint, Binning, and CRI Explanation (For the XM-L)
http://budgetlightforum.com/node
I wish I could stick one of these on my SRK
Here a diagram on measuring charge voltage v/s battery voltage is. I hope this helps.
It could hypothetically be done, you may need a CNC milling machine to mill the slots in it but not impossible.
My LED comparison thread with links.
Tint, Binning, and CRI Explanation (For the XM-L)
http://budgetlightforum.com/node
2 new pics with my 2 redilasts. This really shows that we get the level of the battery at a glance.
We can see right away if we are closer to 25%, 50%, or 75%. I can’t imagine an iphone showing the battery voltage instead of the remaining level, it would be very awkward..
Yeah i can see what you’re saying. Much nicer than a voltmeter, i think you would have to be a real nerd to have memorized what voltages equate to percentage of battery. I’ve got battery discharge graphs but my brain is to far gone to remember them. Where as that gives a instant read out.
I like the idea but I have memorized battery graphs and find it more useful to know the voltage. Also your thing doesn't quite show the full amount of power as yours only works down to 3.4 volts while a lot of 18650s go down to either 2.5, 2.75, or 3.
In response to the iphone thing one of the main reasons I jailbroke my iphone was so I could do that. What I learned is interestingly they (apple) charge it up to 4.2 volts but only discharge it to 3.5 volts.
My LED comparison thread with links.
Tint, Binning, and CRI Explanation (For the XM-L)
http://budgetlightforum.com/node
So when measuring unloaded voltage on say a 3400 mah cell I should consider it dead at 3.4 volts?
My LED comparison thread with links.
Tint, Binning, and CRI Explanation (For the XM-L)
http://budgetlightforum.com/node
If you use HKJ's image of estimated remaining capacity you could also provide a link to his article.
Pages