I think I have some 5 volt regulators laying around, but, I do not have a clue as to what to do with it, as pertains to my AD circuit. For my experiment I am using a 9 V battery, so, I just hook up two wires from the battery to the input side of the regulator, and the output side goes to the AD connector? Now I would have a regulated 5 V to the AD, when the voltage on the battery drops to, lets say 8 V, I would still be registering 5 V on the AD, correct? So, how does that help me? I have to be missing something here.
OK, I got it to work!!! After double checking the code, I noticed that two lines of code got included in an 'if" loop. WARNING, when you are working from a print out, it is very easy to get into trouble. Now, I have to find JonnyMac example on how to convert 4095 to a volt value.
I have created a little zip file with all of the programs for the project up to this point. So far everything is working as expected, except for a little bug that showed up. When I am using the terminal program, it's changing the values in my AD code. Especially when I press 'm' in my terminal program, it switches the LED, typically from green to red. I still cannot figure this one out. What does p30,p29 have to do with p7,p6,and p5?
I have included some pictures of my project, that is the robot that the C3 will be controlling. Now that I have the AD thing sort of worked out, I will apply apply it to the batteries on board.
Since the C3 does not have an RTC, does anybody have a lead on a software time clock for the C3(Propeller)? Since I can add a time/date to my terminal program, maybe the C3 can sync with that to keep the correct time on the software clock. I am open to suggestions on this one. I think once I have that going then I can add the SD drivers to do some data logging of the battery status.
I need some input on this. On my robot I have two 6v batteries, which I know how to hook up in series to provide the C3 board with 12v. On the robot, it has two lugs that are used for charging a battery, to do one battery is simple enough. How would I add another battery to the charge circuit, in other words charge two batteries in parallel, while also having a series circuit in place. Since the batteries, in the parallel circuit, will have the positive terminals hooked together, and negative terminals will also be hooked together, what could I use to prevent a short circuit? I was told you could use some diodes to prevent a short circuit, but what else could be used? I want to keep this in a wiring harness setup as opposed to creating a circuit board. I am wondering if a terminal block could be used to solve the problem?
A circuit schematic would be nice, but yes, just put a schottky diode in series with your batteries that will isolate them, so current can only flow in one direction.
With the release of WHS 2011(vail) RC, and SBSE(aurora) RC, I am in the process of evaluating which one will replace my original WHS. So I have put the C3 project on hold for a short time.
Since I have used the C3 for a while, I can say that it is a very nice board, BUT...
This is what I would have preferred to have seen in an "application" board: remove the VGA, TV, sound, PS/2 connectors, and in its place you would have an RTC (this should be a mandatory requirement), terminal block for hooking up external battery power, and a couple of I2C/SPI connectors. Since there is an expansion connector, you could offer the VGA,TV, sound, (2)PS/2 on a module, plus you could probably add some more stuff that was requested.
I know that hindsight is always 20/20, so I am not knocking the product, just stating what I would have preferred to have seen as an entry product. Since there are no other boards that even come close to this description, I will probably have to see if there is a possibility of adding to the board, or just wait until another board, that is closer to what I need, becomes available, decisions, decisions.
@Rsadeika, and if we did that we would have 100 customers saying, "what I really wanted was PS/2, VGA, no real time clock... etc." -- bottom line, you cant' make everyone happy and if you try, you never get ANYTHING done!
Well, I am back on this project. Below is a snippet that I am using to determine the charge level of the 6VDC battery that I am using. The voltage splitter setup puts out 4.94V, I just did not have the resistors needed to bring it to a 5V level. The problem that I am having is, I need some numbers like 6.25, 6.50, and 6.05 coming out of g_temp1 := misc.AD_Read(0). Since I am using a 6VDC battery that charges up to 6.50VDC I need better precision, since I only have 6VDC - 6.50VDC to work with. Any ideas as to how this can be accomplished?
Ray
misc.SPI_Init
misc.AD_Init
repeat
g_temp1 := misc.AD_Read(0)
Volts := (((5_000 * g_temp1/4_095)*constant(151+474)/474)/1000)
misc.waitMS(50)
if Volts > 6 or Volts < 7
misc.high(0) 'green LED
if Volts < 6
misc.low(0) 'green LED
misc.low(2) 'red LED
misc.high(1) 'yellow LED
if Volts < 5
misc.low(0) 'green LED
misc.low(1) 'yellow LED
repeat
misc.high(2)
misc.waitMS(500)
misc.low(2)
misc.waitMS(500)
Comments
Ray
Ray
The 5 volts from the regulator can serve as a reference for your A/D. When your battery drops to 6 volts, your reference is still 5 volts.
Jim
Ray
Since the C3 does not have an RTC, does anybody have a lead on a software time clock for the C3(Propeller)? Since I can add a time/date to my terminal program, maybe the C3 can sync with that to keep the correct time on the software clock. I am open to suggestions on this one. I think once I have that going then I can add the SD drivers to do some data logging of the battery status.
Ray
Ray
Andre'
Since I have used the C3 for a while, I can say that it is a very nice board, BUT...
This is what I would have preferred to have seen in an "application" board: remove the VGA, TV, sound, PS/2 connectors, and in its place you would have an RTC (this should be a mandatory requirement), terminal block for hooking up external battery power, and a couple of I2C/SPI connectors. Since there is an expansion connector, you could offer the VGA,TV, sound, (2)PS/2 on a module, plus you could probably add some more stuff that was requested.
I know that hindsight is always 20/20, so I am not knocking the product, just stating what I would have preferred to have seen as an entry product. Since there are no other boards that even come close to this description, I will probably have to see if there is a possibility of adding to the board, or just wait until another board, that is closer to what I need, becomes available, decisions, decisions.
Ray
Andre'
Ray
misc.SPI_Init misc.AD_Init repeat g_temp1 := misc.AD_Read(0) Volts := (((5_000 * g_temp1/4_095)*constant(151+474)/474)/1000) misc.waitMS(50) if Volts > 6 or Volts < 7 misc.high(0) 'green LED if Volts < 6 misc.low(0) 'green LED misc.low(2) 'red LED misc.high(1) 'yellow LED if Volts < 5 misc.low(0) 'green LED misc.low(1) 'yellow LED repeat misc.high(2) misc.waitMS(500) misc.low(2) misc.waitMS(500)