leonzak
Published © CC BY-NC

Smart Battery Charger Multiplexer with Smart Display

Use a smart battery charger on up to 6 batteries - wave your hand to turn display on and check charging.

IntermediateFull instructions provided15,113
Smart Battery Charger Multiplexer with Smart Display

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino UNO
Arduino UNO
×1
Arduino Proto Shield
Arduino Proto Shield
×1
Ultrasonic Sensor - HC-SR04 (Generic)
Ultrasonic Sensor - HC-SR04 (Generic)
×1
Adafruit MCP-3008 8 channel 10-bit Adc
×1
5V Relay - 2 channel optocoupler
×3
LM2596 Power Supply Module DC / DC BUCK 3A adjustable
×1
Resistor 1k ohm
Resistor 1k ohm
×12
6 Position Terminal Strip
Check the picture - most any type of connection system can be used.
×1

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)
Soldering iron (generic)

Story

Read more

Schematics

Battery Multiplexer Schematic

Schematic for multiplexer

Code

Battery Multiplexer Arduino Code

Arduino
I used an Arduino Uno.
#include <Wire.h>
#include <LiquidCrystal_I2C.h> // Using version 1.2.1
#include <timer.h>
#include <HCSR04.h>

auto timer = timer_create_default(); // create a timer with default settings

// The LCD constructor - address shown is 0x27 - may or may not be correct for yours
// Also based on YWRobot LCM1602 IIC V1
LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(0x27, 2, 1, 0, 4, 5, 6, 7, 3, POSITIVE);

int zcnt = 0;
int acnt = 0; // general purpuse right now
int chargeTime = (10 * 1000); // how much time to spend on each battery
int charge_time_counter = 59; // how many chargetimes were passed?
int charge_time_max = 60; // how many chargetimes were passed?
int relay1 = 3; // each relay on it's own pin
int relay2 = 4;
int relay3 = 5;
int relay4 = 6;
int current_relay = 0; // which relay is the one on now?
int max_relays = 3; // how may relays - 0 based. Start expecting all three.
float volts1; // what's the voltage of each battery
float volts2;
float volts3;
int min_volts = 1; // what is the minimum voltage a batter voltage should be to be charged.
int volts_update_count = 5; // how often to update the voltage reading in seconds
int volts_update_counter = 0; // track the count of seconds gone by
int volts_update = (500);
int read_distance_update = (500); // update the distance reader every millis
int time_on_counter = 0; // counter for the display on/off
int time_on_count = 100; //seconds to be on
int heart_beat = 0; // flip this 0 to 1 to 0 to show the heart beat

UltraSonicDistanceSensor distanceSensor(11, 12);  // Initialize sensor that uses digital pins 13 and 12.
int distance;

int relays[] = { relay1, relay2, relay3 };
int is_live[] = { 0, 0, 0}; // 1 if live, 0 if not. I have only 3

int debug = 5; // set this to the level of debug msgs to go to the serial printer

void all_change_to(int which) { // change all relays to HIGH or LOW, you tell me which:)
  digitalWrite(relay1, which);
  digitalWrite(relay2, which);
  digitalWrite(relay3, which);
}

void toggle_relays(int whichOne) {
  lcd.setCursor(0, 0); // show which relay is the current one on
  lcd.print("Relay on:");
  lcd.print(current_relay + 1); // current_relay is zero based
  all_change_to(HIGH); // turn all off first
  digitalWrite(relays[current_relay], LOW); // and set the one that should be on on
  acnt++; // just a counter to show me it's working
  lcd.print("  ");
  lcd.print(acnt);
}

void checkRelays() {
  // move the current_relay to the next relay
  // if we hit the max, start at 0
  // while you're here, call toggle_relays to make sure we're not charge a blank or dead one
  charge_time_counter++;
  if (charge_time_counter >= charge_time_max) {
    current_relay++;
    if (current_relay >= max_relays) {
      current_relay = 0;
    }
    toggle_relays(current_relay);
    charge_time_counter = 0;
  }
}

void read_distance() {
  // reaad the distance of anything from the HC-S204
  // if it's something within 80cm then turn the display on and reset the display on counter
  // if the counter is reached then nothing is within 80cm so turn the display off
  distance = distanceSensor.measureDistanceCm();
  // uncomment these to see the actual distance measured
  // Serial.print("Distance in CM: ");
  // Serial.println(distance);
  if (distance < 80) { // can be anything under 200 for my system uncomment above and check yours
    lcd.backlight();   // turn display on
    time_on_counter = 0;
  } else { // maybe going off?
    time_on_counter++;
    if (time_on_counter > time_on_count) {
      time_on_counter = 0;
      lcd.noBacklight();
    }
  }
}

void read_show_volts() {
  // read the volts at each battery input
  // then if less then min_volts, there is nothing there worth charging, skip that connection
  // this gets called over and over so if a wire gets knocked off or
  // whatever it won't be in the charge loop
  volts1 = analogRead(0);
  volts1 = (volts1 * 0.016);
  lcd.setCursor(0, 1); lcd.print("                "); // clear the line
  lcd.setCursor(11, 0);
  lcd.print(volts1);
  volts2 = analogRead(1);
  volts2 = (volts2 * 0.0164);
  lcd.setCursor(4, 1);
  lcd.print(volts2);
  volts3 = analogRead(2);
  volts3 = (volts3 * 0.0166);
  lcd.setCursor(11, 1);
  lcd.print(volts3);
  // now test the voltages. If less than 10, then let's assume dead/bad or no battery
  // so take it out of rotation
  // start by clearing all relays out
  int temp_cnt = 0;
  // set all arrays to 0 - that's off
  relays[0] = 0;
  relays[1] = 0;
  relays[2] = 0;
  if (volts1 > min_volts) {
    relays[temp_cnt] = relay1;  // relay 1 is good
    temp_cnt++;
  }
  if (volts2 > min_volts) {
    relays[temp_cnt] = relay2;  // relay 2 is good
    temp_cnt++;
  }
  if (volts3 > min_volts) {
    relays[temp_cnt] = relay3;  // relay 3 is good
    temp_cnt++;
  }
  max_relays = temp_cnt;
  // this is a heart bet on the lcd - just shows me it's running
  lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
  if (heart_beat == 1) {
    lcd.print("<>");
    heart_beat = 0;
  } else {
    lcd.print("><");
    heart_beat = 1;
  }
  lcd.print(charge_time_counter);
  read_distance();
}

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(19200);
  Serial.println("Starting");
  lcd.begin(16, 2); // sixteen characters across - 2 lines
  lcd.backlight();
  pinMode(relay1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(relay2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(relay3, OUTPUT);
  all_change_to(HIGH);
  // setup timers. 3 timers - the time to turn the charger on each battery,
  // how often to show the voltage update
  // and how often to check for distance read to turn on the display
  read_show_volts(); // do the first time so we don't have to wait for the timer.
  checkRelays();
  timer.every(chargeTime, checkRelays);
  timer.every(volts_update, read_show_volts);
}

void loop()
{
  timer.tick(); // tick the timer
}

Credits

leonzak

leonzak

1 project • 9 followers

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