$2.46 Battery Voltage Digital Readout

[erco]

http://cgi.ebay.com/2S-6S-RC-Lipo-ba...item20ba4b2833

$2.46 shipped from China. Designed for 2-6 LiPo batteries, not sure if it can be adapted for other battery chemistries or as a general DVM.

Check this seller's other interesting R/C-related items at http://shop.ebay.com/planemodel-a/m....&_trksid=p3686

[localroger]

For general purpose use, you can get a full blown general purpose DVM form Harbor Freight for around $3 if you wait for a sale.

[Dr_Acula]

I love Erco's "deal of the day", and this one is a great find. Thanks!

[erco]

@localroger: I love those HF Centech meters. Thanks for reminding me, I have their coupon (exp 8/14) for a FREE one with any purchase. Far better than their free LED flashlight!

[Microcontrolled]

@erco: I had one of those multimeters, and I accidentally hooked it up backward to 30VDC (500mA) and it literally exploded. Still, very good for the cost. I now use one of their good ($20) multimeters and I love it!

[erco]

@uC: There is a fuse inside that blows pretty easily. You sure you didn't (in a moment of fuseless weakness) wrap aluminum foil around a blown fuse to "fix" the problem?

[Microcontrolled]

No, it fried the ground trace right off the board rather than blowing the fuse. :-)
I opened it up and reconnected it with a thick copper wire. Then, a few weeks later, I did the same thing and it blew again. After fixing THAT I managed to blow it AGAIN a few weeks later! The knob traces were completely fried off the board, and I had to throw it out.

So, great for low voltage, not so good for high. :-)

[erco]

Look at the bright side; you three-peated your mistake and results, so you certainly got $5 worth of fireworks alone... ! AND you learned not to repeat a fourth time, n'est-ce pas?

[GordonMcComb]

But if you are going to be testing batteries with a DMM be sure to do it when the batteries are under load. Most multimeters don't have a Battery Test feature that alternately places and releases a load on the battery, so the reading is a pretty inaccurate scale of the actual capacity left on the battery. Get out those resistors!

-- Gordon

[Microcontrolled]

@erco: I'll say! Not $5, though, I got it on sale for $3!
The third time blew the knob off. Good times! :-)

[iDave]

Is this voltage readout (erco's deal) breadboardable? ...to get an in circuit voltage reading? I can't tell from the listing. But I guess for the price, what the hay

[piguy101]

...AND you learned not to repeat a fourth time, n'est-ce pas?

Pourquoi en français?

[erco]

Got one, pretty nice. It scrolls through each cell voltage and then shows the total voltage. Haven't tried other battery types yet. I don't wanna release the magic smoke just yet...

video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpTFLZngoNA

Somewhat similar to this $13 "Cell Spy" unit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zleStIMkbY but cheap enough to be built in to a project.

[erco]

Just tested this unit as a 5V/9V voltage monitor and it worked. No smoke! These babies aren't just for LiPos anymore. Might be handy in your Stamp/Prop projects. Pin0 to ground, Pin1 to Vdd (5V), Pin2 to Vin (9V):


These are widely available for ~$2.31 on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RC-Voltage-L...item43a2df5393

TTYTT, I recognized the readout from ExDxV's latest video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3u0rTNBCuA He used it this way and realized I never followed up on my original post. So thanks for the unintentional kick in the pants, ExDxV!

[Ron Czapala]

@erco,

Have you ever found any documentation/specs on these gizmos? I wonder if they would work with 12 volts...

[erco]

At the MOST, it would cost you $2.31 to find out...

JK, I'll smoke test it right now...

[erco]

Works fine on 12V. I just put 12V into the same Stamp2 HW board as that video, so cell No. 1 showed 5.01V, cell No.2 showed 7.25V, All showed 12.2V.

Phew...!

[Ron Czapala]

Works fine on 12V. I just put 12V into the same Stamp2 HW board as that video, so cell No. 1 showed 5.01V, cell No.2 showed 7.25V, All showed 12.2V.

Phew...!

Great! How long does shipping take from China??

[erco]

10-14 days to Los Angeles.

[Ron Czapala]

10-14 days to Los Angeles.

Not too bad - I just ordered two.

Thanks for testing it with 12V!!

- Ron