Interest in Charge Doctor-like device?

[Rotator]

On 11/25/2019 at 10:31 AM, Rotator said:

Finally I have got this coulometer working like a charge Doctor.

I have added a small circuit to stop the output when voltage goes up or when the current goes down.

The total price is around usd 15.

...

If there is any interest, I can put the circuit diagram and some pictures.

I am thinking in to connect the serial interface of this coulometer to a ESP8266 to send the charging status parameters to a online web, so you can see the charging process in any place and at any time. Moreover, since my charger is connected to a Sonoff socket (IOT) the process it could be interrupted at any time or when a online configured parameters would be reached. This could be more functional than a bluetooth interface.

...

I have this charge controller ready and tested.

Now it works over wifi. I have and app in my smart phone to start, stop, control and monitor all the parameters.

Moreover, I can adjust the current and voltage in my app to trigger an automatic cutoff when the thereshold is achieved. All this can be made online anywhere.

So the wheel is all the time connected to this charge controller, and the charger is switched on and off through a wifi mains socket device.

Final price was, usd 15 for the charge meter, about usd 4 for an esp8266 (arduino Esp01s), usd 6 for a sonoff wifi socket, and about usd 6 for blynk credits (for the mobile app).

I will post pictures soon.

Now, while I am at work, I can decide where I'll ride when I arrive at home, and charge at the required level my KS16S several hours before arriving (currently I am working in select the charge power from the app as well: 100, 300 or 400w).

[Rotator]

On 12/18/2019 at 11:38 PM, Inductores said:

Ready for testing!

....

Very good job, congratulations!

And very professional look!

[Rotator]

This is my new Charge Doctor:

To be controlled from my smartphone, I have this setup:

Here you can see the APP funcionality, which is:
1.- Display data and charge chart.
2.- Set charge speed (charger's power delivered).
3.- Set cutoff points to stop the charge process.

You have the main screen below.

You can see voltage, current, cutoff points for the charging process, energy, capacity and estimated percent level.

There are a button to start & stop the process and its time. The process will be interrupted automatically if the cufoff thresholds are achieved.

There are another tab with DATA chart and cumulative values for all charges done:

The SETUP tab will allow to set device number (for several devices to charge with this method),  number of cells (to set maximum and mínimum values for the cutoffs) and the speed of the charge, selecting a 100W charger, a 300W charger or both of them for 400W. Remote power buttons are for debug purposes at this time, as well as the LOGS tab.

Since the conectivity is WIFI and mobile phone 4G, you can start and stop the charging process anywhere, which it can not be done through a bluetooth connection.

At the beginning I had done a charger stop circuit with a mosfet (because the meter has a configuration menu with parameters to do that), but now is not needed.

That's all...

Merry christmas everybody!

[Planemo]

Thats simply awesome!

These need to be marketed 

[Grumly]

On 11/25/2019 at 10:31 AM, Rotator said:

Finally I have got this coulometer working like a charge Doctor.

...

I am thinking in to connect the serial interface of this coulometer to a ESP8266 ...

....

Hello,

I have bought one and there seems to be some try and error involved before getting something out of it. Which you seem to have been through already, seeing what you achieved with it.

The documentation here is quite obscure, I can't get how to configure its control output to operate on a current threshold. Getting headaches, that's all :-)

I also tried to get some measurements on the serial port, so I opened the port at 19200 baud/8 data/1 stop/no parity and sent (0x77, 0x33, 0xC0, 0x41) expecting to get a single measurement frame (as per "3. To issue instructions to the device to change the data output mode"). Nothing ever came out.

Also, as you ended up to hook an EXP8266 on it, have you found where to hijack a 3,3v / 5v power rail from the coulometer's board's regulator, and how much current did you take from it ? Or did you end up with an independent power supply for your chip ? Getting low voltages from this 84V rail takes pretty uncommon regulators, as already stated by others previously on this post...

Well, if you can hint you will be most welcome.

Edit : serial port would remain silent due to a dry soldering of the module's RX. This being fixed, after setting the module data output mode to continuous (sending it the command frame 0x77, 0x33, 0xC0, 0x42) I get the expected data frames, as expected from module doc (most measurements are big endian uint32, not clear at first).

Edit : using the control output

• set a current threshold in Main menu > Full Stop
• the the below makes the output signal permanent rather than the default 1s every minute pulse
  • Elec Protect > Hold = ON
  • Elec Protect > Switch = OFF
• there is still the beep every minute when threshold is met, if you don't want that the only way is to cut the buzzer track

now I get a permanent high (3,3v) level when the current goes below the threshold. This is fed to a BC547A NPN bipolar transistor, that drives a IRF3415 N-FET gate to ground level. The FET gate is attached to 84V with a 100K pull-up and to ground with a 10V zener, so to maintain the gate voltage to a level the BC547A can handle. The FET thus cuts the wheel supply by its ground.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Grumly

[Chriull]

On 12/18/2019 at 11:38 PM, Inductores said:

Ready for testing!

And how is it doing?

[Inductores]

7 hours ago, Chriull said:

And how is it doing?

I had a problem with the DC/DC converter, it seems it doesn't work properly with the voltage supplied. I need to debug it but I need some time (yes, I'm still going to my workplace...)

[Inductores]

As I said, a DC/DC failure...

I'm trying to solve it...

[Inductores]

Problem solved! Today I'll try to monitor my Ninebot One S2 charge

[Inductores]

Finally

I still need to improve the code (as you know, I'm not the best programming guy ), but at least it's working

[Delmeekc]

I made a simple battery display that's set for full bars is about 94/95% charge and use the low battery warning for when it reaches that level. Also added 3 input sockets (only use 2) so I can plug in two chargers. I disable the alarm then turn it on when there is in bar left to go. Once the beeps stop I unplug the wheel.  All about £25 on Amazon. Already has some flex for the cabling inside and out.  Used it many times in my MCM5 and MSuperX with no issues.  Kept it simple as I always keep an eye of them when they are being charged.  Made a little card for the alarm setting and the battery range for the visual battery indicator.