3 Battery Generating System

[Matthew Jones]

Just posting a little run. No number or anything of value. Juat had to get used to working next to this thing.
I gotta move it to bench with the bigger batteries tomorrow and start tunning the coils.

https://youtu.be/4m6OFnkhbYE

Matt

[wantomake]

Liars

Dave and Matthew. We all know who are the liars or not here. You two are not. After this last disruptor leaves there will be no more liars.

How can I say this? I HAVE built the 3BGS system and I repeat and, built a version of the larger upright Dave style generator. The generator did SUUL as it was suppose to. Now I personally know this is true. In front of mine own eyes this happened.

I've made it my habit to not respond to those that are paid to disrupt or derail a thread. I've lived many years knowing and understanding how our enemy operates.

Pay no attention and the enemy will leave.

Thanks Matthew I like the video. And how much more of this truth do we need.

wantomake

[axxelxavier]

First test battery swapper

@All,
This is my first test of battery swapper. I was using small wires and clip leads && small batteries, just to see if setup is working.
So, the good news: it's working, so this project can be done; the bad news: as I suspected, when one batteries is on lower limit, the setup is going in a loop...
Any ideas?
https://youtu.be/_EFR4n-dwNk

[citfta]

Please post your code. If you have two separate loops like I suggested it should stay in either loop until that battery reaches the low set level. The program should not even be looking at the other battery until the jump to that loop.

I'll try to write a description of how the program should work a little later. Still on my first cup of coffee. LOL

[citfta]

Okay.

Let's see if this will work for you. The following is not code. It is just a description of what the code should do. I am not that familiar with the code for Arduino. I do most all of my coding for Picaxe.

Beginning of program.

Read battery A
Read battery B
If A>B then go to loop A else go to loop B

Loop A

Pause 30 seconds
Read battery A
If battery A < low set point then go to loop B else return to loop A

Loop B

Pause 30 seconds
Read battery B
If battery B< low set point then go to loop A else return to loop B

I hope this is enough info to help you solve your problem.

Regards,
Carroll

[Matthew Jones]

I would think you could use a "WHILE" loop. I don't think it would end up being complicated.

I would put the reading of the battery into a function "ReadBat1", "ReadBat2"

Then Where both IF/Else statement I would drop into a "WHILE" loop with no parameter "WHILE (0);. Do a voltage read test. If it fails it would drop out reset the switch's to the other direction and go into the next While loop testing until it fails.

So the test can be inside the while loop, if Bat is discharging to Bat2

If ReadBat1 == 12v and ReadBat2 is greater than ReadBat1 Exit loop

So making sure Bat2 is greater than bat1 Would guarantee a good switch and vice versa for the other direction.
Then you could also have fail safe for the voltage levels, you mention that in your code. You could also have a minimum time to run like 1 minute no matter what.

I think the problem now is as they get low there readings switch each other so quick it just turns into a loop. There is no minimum time or not enough.

I hope I am thinking right, its easier when its set up in front of you.

Matt

[axxelxavier]

Please post your code. If you have two separate loops like I suggested it should stay in either loop until that battery reaches the low set level. The program should not even be looking at the other battery until the jump to that loop.

@Carroll, thank you for your post. The code is on post 4113, here.
Yeah, your suggestion looks good, but I am the beginning, and still have to learn how to create such loops.

[axxelxavier]

I would think you could use a "WHILE" loop. I don't think it would end up being complicated. Matt

Thank you, Matt. I just see your post, and I was thinking at the same syntax. Right now I'm learning about „while”, „do while”, „for” and so on.
And I have also to set some boundaries, I think. Hmm. Let me try some scenarios....
Best regards.

[Iamnuts]

My solution was old fashioned, Arduino and latching relays.

[axxelxavier]

My solution was old fashioned, Arduino and latching relays.

Can you be more specific, what kind of relay? And what about the code I posted, what do you think?

[Iamnuts]

Relay.

Hi,
basically a latching or bi-stable relay is a device which switches in response
to a pulse.
Say when your voltage reaches the desired value the relay can be pulsed
and it will remain at that setting until it is pulsed again,thus avoiding cycling.
Unfortunately I’m an old fossil and I have to get help with coding from my
son-in-law, they gave me a couple of hours Arduino coding as a birthday present.
Look up “Relay” in Wikipedia.
John.

[thaelin]

Axxel:
https://uk-rs-online.com if in the uk
or serelays.com in the states. many to choose from
voltages and amp ratings.

[tachyoncatcher]

Differential

@All,
This is my first test of battery swapper. I was using small wires and clip leads && small batteries, just to see if setup is working.
So, the good news: it's working, so this project can be done; the bad news: as I suspected, when one batteries is on lower limit, the setup is going in a loop...
Any ideas?
https://youtu.be/_EFR4n-dwNk

I haven’t done any Arduino programming, however I am proficient in 15+ programming languages. So I would do something like this. Instead of switching on a less than or greater than voltage reading, I would switch on a differential. For example .5 volt. You can make it anything you want. diff = voltage1-voltage2. Two if statements in the loop, should do it.
If (diff > .5)
{
Switch to batt1
}
If (diff < -.5)
{
Switch to batt2
}
// everything else will be ignored

This assumes you are switching to the battery with the higher voltage and the load battery is going down. If the battery is going up, with this logic it will stay on the higher voltage battery. If that is incorrect, you can still apply the logic to your situation.
Have Fun!
Randy

[axxelxavier]

Thank you, Iamnuts. I know about bistable (latching) relays, but I didn't have the chance to play with one. I suppose this will be the next stage of my battery swapper, after I finish all the bugs from Arduino code.

Axxel: https://uk-rs-online.com if in the uk or serelays.com in the states. many to choose from voltages and amp ratings.

Thank you, Thaelin. I found there an interesting relay, THIS one. Maybe I will order a few on my next paytime, just to play with them .

I haven’t done any Arduino programming, however I am proficient in 15+ programming languages. So I would do something like this. Instead of switching on a less than or greater than voltage reading, I would switch on a differential. For example .5 volt. You can make it anything you want. diff = voltage1-voltage2. Two if statements in the loop, should do it [...] Have Fun!Randy

Thank you, Randy. Excellent idea! I will test it today!
About Arduino, I think it is a version of C++, if you want, you can take a look on the code on post 4113, HERE
Now I include also in my setup an 128x64 OLED display (like THIS one), to show both voltages (done!), to indicate the status of switching (to be done...), and elapsed time (also, to be done - actually, here it is a little harder than I thought).
Another video soon, after testing new parameters.
Best regards,
Teodor.

[axxelxavier]

@All,
Here is a quick update on my setup.
Many thanks to all who took time to help me - together will make this project work!
Best regards,
Teo
P.S. I can't post directly the link, so...