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Re: Battery Voltage Monitoring Circuit

From: Steve Mann <>
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 11:51:22 -0500 (EST)

for many applications, all you really need is a comparator that signals
to powerd to do a graceful shutdown appropriately.  wearcomp5 had full
battery monitoring (battery level), but i found that i seldom actually
used it.  all i really wanted in the end was to save myself from fsck.

steve

Prof. Steve Mann
University of Toronto

> In line with my previous message:
> 
> It would be fairly simple to put together a small A/D converter which could
> monitor battery voltage.  It could be connected to the normally unused printer
> port available on most PC/104 CPU modules.  Modern A/D converter chips are 
> small and need only a few passive components.  A software driver would be 
> quite simple and could be made to run periodically to monitor the battery and 
> alert the user when it crosses a specific threshold.
> 
> I would think that an 8-bit device (small and low power) would be sufficient.  
> That would provide 256 scaled voltages (e.g., from 12 v to 10 v).
> 
> The ADC0844CCN 8-bit A/D converter is a CMOS device (low power) which contains
> full microprocessor interface circuitry on a 20-pin DIP.  It even contains a
> multiplexer for measuring four different voltages.  Cost of this chip is about 
> $6.00 US.
> 
> Such a device would also be useful in tracking long-term battery performance.  
> The driver would only have to keep a history of the voltages.
> 
> I will look into this and come up with a simple design if there is interest.
> 
> Regards,
> Arne

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