Author Topic: battery calculation again  (Read 5906 times)

d00m178

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battery calculation again
« on: November 04, 2015, 05:30:50 PM »
hello

I've read this
https://lowpowerlab.com/forum/index.php/topic,1206.0.html
more that 100 times but I don't understand why my in my case it doesn't work as expected.

I have 4 AA batteries power source == 6.24 V
divider 10M + 1M(1uF) so analog input A2 should see  0.57V
but it sees only 0.46v
analog reads from A2 - 143-144

and 143*0.00322 == 0.46

why it is happens - I don't know..
Please advice..


UPD:
Also I don't understand this

#define BATT_FORMULA(reading) reading * 0.00322 * 1.47

from sender code -https://github.com/LowPowerLab/MailboxNotifier/blob/master/MailboxNotifier4_sender_withWeatherShield.ino

why 1.47 ? if power source == 9V (http://lowpowerlab.com/blog/2013/08/27/mailbox-notifier-project-upgrade/)
and "The 10M+470K gives a ratio of 31.97%. "
this dividerRatio with should be 3.125


9v - 100%
x - 32%

x == 9*32/100 == 2.88v on analog pin
and " inverse of the ratio of the divider (1/0.32)" == 3.125

so why 1.47 ?
and why "to calculate the actual voltage of the battery I need to know what the battery rated voltage is (ie starting point)" ??

very very strange.


« Last Edit: November 04, 2015, 05:37:00 PM by d00m178 »

d00m178

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Re: battery calculation again
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2015, 05:08:06 AM »
Anything?

Felix

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Re: battery calculation again
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2015, 09:30:03 AM »
I guess I would have to repeat myself.
It's a very simple circuit. It just divides voltage just like water from a bottle into 2 smaller cups. If you understand what that divider does then it's pretty easy to figure out that formula. Or you can create your own formula, or change the resistors to change the divider ratio and maximise resolution.
Note that depending on what the voltage of your MCU is, a divider ratio may max out your analog port reading if the divided voltage exceeds the voltage of your MCU (or analog REF voltage).

d00m178

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Re: battery calculation again
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2015, 11:51:25 AM »
Thank you for you answer.

Yes, it is very simply - circuit and formula but.. it doesn't work in my case - there are some differences between voltage which I measure via MCU and voltage that I can measure by voltmeter.

I have Anarduino+RF96 - pretty the same as Moteino.
it has also Vcc == 3.3v
I power it from 4AA battery. Voltmeter shows me 6.11v on Vin pin. On Vcc pin - 3.3v
So I suppose voltmeter works ok.

then I build divider.
now with 1M+470K(1uF)
all online calculators and my calculations says me that after divider I should have 1.95v
then I need to know dividerRatio.

6.11 - 100%
1.95 - x%
x == 1.95*100 / 6.11 == 3.14

so dividerRatio == 3.14

my code:
Code: [Select]
    for (byte i=0; i<10; i++){

      reading += analogRead(BATT_MONITOR);

        }

    DEBUG("reading:"); DEBUGln(reading/10);

    divVolts = (reading / 10.0)* 0.00322;

    DEBUG("divVolts:"); DEBUGln(divVolts);

    batteryVolts = (reading / 10.0)* 0.00322 * 3.14;

    DEBUG("batteryVolts:"); DEBUGln(batteryVolts);

it shows:

reading: 599

divVolts: 1.93

batteryVolts: 6.06

Now I have difference in voltage about 0.5v

Seems I need tune some parameters in formula ? or it is allowable error for MCU ?

Also would  you please explain second part of my previous question - why dividerRatio == 1.47 and why "to calculate the actual voltage of the battery I need to know what the battery rated voltage is (ie starting point)" ??

vlad59

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Re: battery calculation again
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2015, 12:11:19 PM »
if the scheme is like that :

VIN -> 1M -> A2 -> 470K -> GND

then when reading A2 you'll get 470K / (470K + 1000K) = 31,97 % of VIN and you have to multiply by 1/0.3197 = 3.13 to get you real battery voltage

So in you case :

599 * (3.3 / 1023) * 3.13 = 6.04V

Which is not that far from your actual reading : 6.11V

vlad59

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Re: battery calculation again
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2015, 12:16:20 PM »
If you want to have more precision, you can replace the 3.3 in my formula with the output of readVcc / 1000 (you can search the forum)